29 September 2022
As a school, we seek to ensure our ongoing relevancy and innovation by nurturing a dynamic learning community; both within and beyond the school gate. We are all about exploring potential. It is exploration that brings education to life.
At 91制片厂 we have over 40 years of experience working with visiting artists in the Arts, and we are also embracing other creatives from across all industries to engage with students in interdisciplinary projects.
The annual Middle School Art Show reflects the work that the Art teachers have pursued with their classes. In addition to this it features as the central installation the creative work undertaken by our students engaged in the 2022 Tone Process Interdisciplinary Project led by Resident Creative, Dave Court (), a multidisciplinary contemporary artist. Dave collaborated with Year 8 and 9 Visual Art students, Year 10 Digital Technology students and their teachers, and the results are stunning!
Harrison, Year 9
The project real颅ly inspired our cre颅ativ颅i颅ty in a unique way where we became part of the art and it was fun to have con颅trol of the out颅come includ颅ing col颅lab颅o颅rat颅ing on our designs.
It was fun, we did weird pos颅es for the pho颅tos, or adopt颅ed mod颅el like pos颅es鈥� we kind of blend颅ed into the back颅ground and I liked the bright colours.
It was real颅ly fun paint颅ing the jump颅suits, but we had to make sure they didn鈥檛 stick togeth颅er; we had a plan to start but it end颅ed up unlike oth颅er art because we had such free颅dom in the design process, and I had nev颅er seen any颅thing like this before.
The Tone Process Interdisciplinary Project (May 鈥� June 2022) involved students in abstract image making and drawing, abstract painting techniques, large-scale painting, jumpsuit/costume painting, creating a light projection installation using the Touchdesigner software, and finally the photography in bringing them all together.
Dur颅ing Term 2 Res颅i颅dent Cre颅ative Dave Court worked with our Year 8 and Year 9 Visu颅al Art stu颅dents to cre颅ate an immer颅sive instal颅la颅tion of vibrant colour, abstract design, pat颅tern, shape, and form. We cre颅at颅ed art颅works which took inspi颅ra颅tion from the myr颅i颅ad of visu颅al infor颅ma颅tion which sur颅round us 鈥� all dis颅tilled into abstract designs applied to can颅vas drop sheets, dis颅pos颅able jump颅suits and off颅cuts of wood and plas颅tic recy颅cled from our own Design Tech颅nol颅o颅gy Depart颅ment. This all cul颅mi颅nat颅ed in a pho颅to颅shoot, con颅ceived, and orches颅trat颅ed by Dave, which coa颅lesced the entire project in a series of delight颅ful pic颅tures of our stu颅dents and their work. The joy of cre颅ative play is indeed evi颅dent in these images, and we look for颅ward to this project com颅ing to fruition when com颅bined with the efforts of our Year 10 Dig颅i颅tal Tech颅nol颅o颅gy students.
I think in the end the vision was well received, it is dif颅fi颅cult to con颅vey and com颅mu颅ni颅cate what the out颅comes of an exper颅i颅men颅tal process-based prac颅tice or project will be鈥夆�斺�墂hat I find excit颅ing about this kind of work is leav颅ing room for impro颅vi颅sa颅tion, and not know颅ing exact颅ly what the out颅come will be.
Lara, Binbin, Emilee and Paolo (Year 9 Visual Art students)
Often in schools things can end up being didactic, but it is possible to evolve from the directed to the self-directed. When asked how he saw this happen during the life of the Tone Process Project, Resident Artist Dave Court said...
鈥淚 tried to make it a feature of the project in all parts to leave a lot of freedom for students to self-direct within parameters, whether this was colour palettes, tools available or image making processes at different times. With the art classes it was a fairly fast paced project throughout, to address a range of processes through the term and then bring everything together in the final week - abstract image making and drawing, abstract painting techniques, large scale painting, jumpsuit/costume painting and then photography bringing them all together.
With the digital class it was a lot more of a direct imparting of technical skills, teaching the class the basics of using visual programming software Touchdesigner. This kind of learning curve was a bit of a hump to get over, but once we got there it provided room for self-direction and experimentation, a new toolkit to make things in new ways. Throughout this learning process I tried to leave room to self-direct as well, demonstrating small elements of the program and then encouraging experimentation with each new tool to get a feel for these new ways of working.鈥� Dave Court
Dave working with the Year 10 Digital Design class on interactive projection art, utilising the programming software, Touchdesigner
Ms Ella Camporeale, Assistant Head of Design and Technology and the participating Digital Design teacher said, 鈥淚n working with Dave, the Year 10 Digital Design students developed skills in TouchDesigner software to produce immersive and interactive projection art. Dave was able to transfer his knowledge and experience in using contemporary technologies such as computer-generated modelling, Augmented Reality and projection mapping through conducting a range of workshops with the class. The students conducted research into and sought inspiration from local and international immersive artists like those recently exhibiting at Illuminate Adelaide, such as Istanbul based, Ouchhh Studio. The Year 10s generated their own programs using mathematical, sound, camera and touch inputs, also developing techniques in projection mapping used in the process of creating an immersive installation, overlaying the art works from Years 8 and 9 Visual Art classes."
Georgia and Emily (Year 8 Visual Art class)
Dave found the project a challenge, but also rewarding to be working with such a large group of people with much to juggle. He appreciated the unique perspectives and styles brought to the table and was keen to encourage this through the painting project, setting certain parameters but allowing a lot of freedom for students to choose what imagery, styles or ideas they wanted to bring to the collaborative project. Dave cast himself in the role of learner as well as that of expert. He ensured the students were exposed to lots of intrinsic and implicit learning moments, play and plenty of interaction, trialling, experimenting, and sharing. Work between departments across 16 days spread throughout 8 weeks and creating opportunities for classes at three year levels was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all involved.
Thus, once again, our collaboration with a resident creative from industry provided a wonderful opportunity to our students and staff. We are grateful to Dave Court for the generous and unique contribution to our program and to our teachers, Michael Ferrier, Ella Camporeale and Penny Cowell for their willingness to connect with the wider community and collaborate in this exploration.
Howard (Mac) MacPherson
Coordinator of Enterprise for the Pembroke Academy
