wallpaper
The process of Year 11’s 'Wallpaper' designs was a challenge. With moving away from Year 10 and starting the Preliminary course, there is definitely more freedom which can be taken in both a good and bad way. For the topic 'Culture Vultures', we started off by looking at a range of artists including Gustav Klimt, Chinese-Australian Ah Xian and British-Nigerian artists Yinka Shonibare., and how they draw upon their cultures in order to express themselves in their own artmaking. We then started exploring different designs for our wallpaper in order for it to truly express our different cultures as individuals. The use of the programs Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop were the key aspect to creating our patterns.
For my pattern, I decided to explore the similarities between Israelis and Palestinians. My aim was not just to express my own culture, but to also try and send a message to the world. I can happily admit, although it was quite a struggle for me to establish my design, I am extremely happy with the outcome. As Year 11s, I feel that we definitely stepped it up a notch with the amount of effort put into developing, creating and perfecting our wallpapers…
Tali Oziel
future artefact
Making my vessel was a struggle at times, to say the least.
The basics of ceramics and ceramic techniques were taught to year 11 at the beginning of term two, of this year. These techniques, matched with our creative processes and thoughtful ideas were used to create ceramic vessels which embodied our cultural context and linked to our wallpaper designs from the previous term. For me personally, this task fluctuated between failure and success. I found that throughout creating my vessel, it was constantly falling to one side, ultimately slanting my whole vessel and creating a harder foundation to build upon. Additionally, my measurements did not match those of my plan, leaving me to improvise in creating a hopefully successful vessel. Through the use of many, many layers of gold glaze, I eventually managed to embody the flower / honeycomb-type vessel that I originally set out to achieve. This draining, yet rewarding process of making these vessels allowed me to appreciate the hard work that is hidden behind the shiny artworks that we usually see.
Nina Brown