The opportunities provided to the Year 8 students on the Central Australia Camp, to draw inspiration from the landscape and Indigenous artists, has allowed them to explore expressive and creative subject matter for their painting and drawing tasks this year.

The Central Australia Camp provided the Year 8 students the opportunity to draw inspiration from the landscape and Indigenous artists for their painting and drawing tasks this year.

Preparation for the camp begins at the end of Year 7, when they visit The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Federation Square and the Koori Heritage Trust, to learn about Indigenous art and culture. This gives them an understanding of different art practice and heritage. While on camp, they capture images that inspire them and use these as a starting point for their large expressive painting onto fabric back at school.

The students enjoyed the freedom to explore interesting applications of paint, creating different visual effects to represent their individual subject matter. These classes are full of movement and excitement, as they discover how to mix colours, use rollers, brushes and less conventional art tools to apply the paint on a scale they have not used before. They learn to share resources, use materials wisely and respect each other’s interpretation of the task, resulting in a wonderful, individual array of artworks. The large paintings will then be used to sew an apron, a lovely reminder of all they have learnt this year.