years 11 & 12 visit the art gallery of nsw
In the final week of Term 1, Years 11 and 12 IB visual art students visited the ART EXPRESS exhibition at the AGNSW. The first ever ARTEXPRESS exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales was held in 1983.
The exhibition is still going strong, and it is often the highlight of the year for many gallery goers. It is an annual exhibition featuring a selection of outstanding student artworks developed for the artmaking component of the HSC examination in visual arts in NSW. It includes a broad range of approaches and expressive forms, including ceramics, collection of works, documented forms, drawing, graphic design, painting, photomedia, printmaking, sculpture, textiles and fibre, and time-based forms. These are all forms, which our own IB students must show evidence of in their process portfolios during their IB art journey.
GISS students used the morning to look for inspiration and were asked to consider the following questions:
- Which works are you drawn to and why? Explain how they resonate with you, how they make you feel, describe what you like about them, what techniques have been used, what do you think the artist is trying to communicate with you?
- When you read the artists statements, does it help you to understand the work? Were you able to appreciate the work without having read the exhibition text? Did the text give you more insight into the artist’s intentions? Did reading the texts after you looked at the work affect your response?
- Make a list of all the different mediums which have been used in the student art works. How many did you find? Now list those mediums which you would like to try out.
- Year 12, think about your own studio work and imagine how it will look in our exhibition. Write down at least three ideas you can take away from the Art Express exhibition e.g., Improvements and amendments to a certain work inspired by something you have seen, ideas about framing, presentation, and curation. Ideas about how to write your own exhibition texts.
- Year 11, think about the themes and imagery in the bodies of work you can see in Art Express. Are there any reoccurring themes? What are these artists passionate about? What is important to them? What narratives are being told? Write down at least three topics which you could imagine making a body of work about.
- Take photos and make notes of the works which interest you. Be prepared to share your photos and reflections in a class discussion during the next art lesson at school.
After looking at the Art Express exhibition, the students had some free time to wander around the permanent collect at the gallery and also take a look inside the new Sydney Modern Project. This new wing has transformed the Art Gallery of New South Wales into a unique art museum campus with two buildings and an art garden, on Gadigal Country, overlooking one of the world’s most beautiful harbours. However, despite the views, the outdoor terraces and huge exhibition spaces filled with an abundance of natural light, many of the students most enjoyed the lowest level of the new north building, which is a reclaimed underground fuel bunker for storing oil built during World War II and previously inaccessible to the public. The dark eerie bunker currently shows an installation by Adrián Villar Rojas: The End of Imagination, which is a series of time-travelling sculptural forms in a darkened and dramatic space.
The students had a great day, and if you haven’t had a chance to check out the Sydney Modern yet, our GISS visual art students highly recommend it. - Nicola Hartley
ib sTUDENTS ATTEND ACADEMIC SPEAKER SERIES
On the 02.05.23, we were invited by the Cranbrook school to attend their academy speaker series. Upon arrival, the three of us were greeted by IB students from many other schools, which presented an amazing opportunity to talk to peers in the programme.
Ed Copper, a leading expert on communications for impact, and the author of “Facts & Other Lies”, held an insightful and engaging talk on how fake news and disinformation has fractured society, even threatening democracy itself. We (three Year 11 students) went, as part of TOK. However, this talk also informed us on how to stay safe and find reliable information when surfing the internet, which will come in handy when we will begin writing our essays. The talk covered many aspects of fake news and offered some interesting new ideas we hadn’t heard before.
Thank you to Miss Annie for enabling us to attend this amazing event! - Lena Merkert Year 11
ib sTUDENTS ATTEND ACADEMIC SPEAKER SERIES
ia woche klasse 12
Die IA (Internal Assessment) - Woche war eine intensive Lernwoche für die SchülerInnen der 12. Klasse, als sie rund um die Uhr daran arbeiteten, ihre wissenschaftlichen Experimente abzuschließen und sicherzustellen, dass sie genügend brauchbare Daten für die von ihnen gewählte Erkundung sammelten.
Die SchülerInnen arbeiteten auch mit den LehrerInnen, um die gesammelten Daten und Berechnungen in Mathematik, ihre Forschungen und Untersuchungen in Geschichte und ihre Mikro- und Makrokommentare in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften zu verfeinern, während sich die Kunst-SchülerInnen, unterstützt von ihrer kreativen Vorstellungen, sich auf mehr Studioarbeit für ihr Prozessportfolio konzentrierten.
Alle SchülerInnen der 12. Klasse sollten jetzt auf bestem Weg sein, ihre IA-Arbeit vor der Winterpause mit ihren LehrerInnen abzuschließen, um sicherzustellen, dass sie während den Ferien Zeit haben, sich für ihre Probeprüfungen, die in den ersten zwei Wochen von Term 3 stattfinden, vorzubereiten.
IA (Internal Assessmeent) Week was an intensive week of learning for our Year12 students as they worked around the clock to complete their Science experiments, ensuring to gather enough workable data for their chosen exploration.
The students also worked with their teachers to refine their data and calculations in Maths, their research and investigations in History, and their micro and macro commentaries in Economics, while Art students focused on completing more studio work supported by their creative vision in their Process Portfolio.
All our Year12 students should now be well on track with their IA work, which they are aiming to finalise with their teachers prior to the winter break, ensuring they have time over the break to revise and prep for their mocks exams that are scheduled for the first two weeks of Term 3. - Annie Thomson
year 12 Ia week
The IB retreat in Huskisson Beach was an exciting opportunity for us students to connect with each other. Various team-building activities were offered, including a Murder Mystery game and a Trivia night.
This allowed us to explore our creativity, develop our problem-solving skills and bond with each other. We learned to analyse situations from different perspectives and think strategically. It was a unique opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and participate and engage in activities that challenged us both mentally and socially.
The retreat also provided an opportunity for us students to unwind and recharge from our academic pressures so that we could return to our studies with a refreshed perspective.
All in all, our IB retreats in Huskisson Beach (2023 and 2022) were a valuable experience for the students to grow personally and academically. - Maximilian, Year 12
Our 2023 CAS IB retreat was a wonderful experience for the year 11 and 12 students and teachers. We had the pleasure of being able to partake in many exiting and unique activities during our stay in Huskisson.
One of my personal favourites activities at the retreat was the master chef as we were able to get together as teams and chef up delicious meals for us and our teachers, I learnt many new skills such as cooking skills and collaborative skills. - Raphael, Year 12
For the second year in the row the IB cohort had the privilege of visiting Huskisson Bay for the annual IB retreat, in which both IB classes come together to bond and learn valuable skills from one another. Following a three-hour drive we found ourselves on the beach playing games and enjoying a week of activities. We had luck on our side throughout the week, barely seeing a drop of rain and plenty of sun instead.
After two years Huskission we have now seen it all; Huskission Maritime Museum, Huskisson Bowling Club, Dolphin Watch Cruises, Huskisson Cinema and most importantly Huskisson Beach. The IB retreat was a valuable and rewarding experience that will never be forgotten. - Felix, Year 12
From the 27 to 30 March, the IB students spent their IB Retreat in Huskisson Beach (Jervis Bay), on the beautiful South Coast of NSW.
What a week of activities, challenges, surprise meals and team bonding.
Student Challenge 1: How do plan and shop for four days to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a cabin full of hungry teenagers? Interesting meal decisions were made, and some not so healthy food made its way into the trolleys and then the shock at the till when the group went over budget and had to put some of the chosen delicatessen away again. In the end everybody survived, and some people really excelled in the art of cooking. There certainly were always delicious aromas coming from the cabin that Benedict, Filipe and Tillman occupied.
Student Challenge 2: All this eating had to be worked off with our everyday morning activities which included Tennis, Ping Pong, Beach Walking, Bike Riding and of course Stand up Paddleboarding with Mr. Day!
Student Challenge 3: Who solves the Murder Mystery? Students were divided into groups, given a script, and had to act out a Murder Mystery at the Pizzeria. A quick trip to the op-shops in Huskissons made sure that everybody arrived at the ‘pizzeria’ dressed up as their character and some clever interrogation and detective work ensured that the villain was identified at the end of the night.
Student Challenge 4: This was the test! Had people bought enough food to host the teachers for a tasting of their Masterchef meals? To make things even more tricky, each of the contending cabins had to stick to a colour scheme for their food creation. Needless to say, everybody rose to the challenge: brown, red, white, orange, violet, etc. food was displayed and as teachers professed it even tasted good, especially the purple food was mouth-watering and deserved a Nouveau Cuisine prize for presentation.
Student Challenge 5: The week had flown, and we were almost on our way home when thing got serious and some of us dared to get close to a pod of dolphins, sitting in cold water in the net of the dolphin cruise ship. It was fun!
All in all we had a fantastic time and apart from our little challenges we also went to the cinema, visited the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum and enjoyed hours of beautiful sunshine at the beach right in front of our cabins.
What a treat this retreat was! - Mechthild Broehl-Foster / class teacher Year 11
