By Jed Lanyon
The bright artistic talents of local students will be on display as the VCE Creative Showcase takes over The Memo.
The exciting exhibition is the largest showcase of emerging artist from across the entire Yarra Ranges, allowing visitors to take a glimpse inside the imaginative minds of our youngest creative.
The showcase begins with the exhibition opening party on Friday 21 February 6pm with an evening full of live music, food and drinks in support of the young artists.
The showcase week opens from 24 February to 28 February where visitors can book private gallery tours, VCE Art and Studio Art viewing and hear from recent VCE Art graduates.
Then, on Saturday 29 February, the creative takeover day takes place where visitors can come along to an exciting day of activities curated by the showcase alumni team, who have returned to help deliver the exhibition.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2UqDOCU.
Gianna – Upwey High School
Upwey High School student, Gianna, said her work is inspired by mythology and that she wanted to evoke a sense of discomfort with her work.
“I want people to appreciate what’s in their dreams. A lot of people can forget about it, but I think that can be a big inspiration for an artist. It’s hard to interpret other people’s dreams so I think it can be a really good medium to bring forth those ideas.
“It’s nice to get recognition … I think a lot of people may not appreciate the sheer workload that goes into the folios and to sort of have to force your creativity. You have to work under time constraints as well as make something that you like.
Ambrose – Little Yarra Steiner School
Ambrose, a student from Little Yarra Steiner School, said his work, ‘Are You Okay?’ aims to make people think the many layers a person can have.
“This year, instead of looking outwards, I started to look in. I explored insecurities and how they affect me. I wanted to send a strong message to people who are viewing my artwork by creating a back layer and a fore layer to show how people can have two layers.
“I wanted to show that people on the outside may appear okay or perfect by portraying this idealistic and normal face. But looking deeper, people can be experiencing these things that we can’t see.
“I want people to be able to relate to these backgrounds of confusion and insecurity … and see that they are not alone and that everyone is experiencing this.
“This is the first time that I have been able to convey this message through my artwork. I haven’t been too confident within my art work and this hopefully will grow my confidence and maybe spark some inspiration for further works.
April – Lilydale Heights College
April from Lilydale Heights College created a three dimensional paper quilled hippocampus, which is half horse, half sea creature from Greek mythology.
“My overall topic was Greek mythology and the four realms of the sky, the sea, the earth and the underworld.
“I had to curl each bit of paper individually, I had to cut them down to size, I had to shape them the way I wanted it, I had to make sure they glued properly … It was a long process and it was pretty stressful, but I really enjoyed it because it was kind of therapeutic at the same time.
April said she is excited to bring back an old form of art and show it in a new light.
“I can’t wait for people to see it. I like creating creatures that are different and weird and this is a perfect representation of that. I want people to let the imagination run wild.”
