Published on: 27 February 2020




Boys from our Years 11 and 12 Art course were at Curtin University’s School of Art & Design recently receiving guidance and tuition from some of WA’s leading arts educators and artists.

The Curtin University Fine Arts Conference saw our young artists join high school students from around Perth across two days which included:

  • Talks with Perth Festival artists Ian Strange and Sandra Hill on ways to engage and talk about work
  • An introduction to life drawing using wet and dry materials with Tori Benz
  • A painting session with Dr Kevin Robertson, exploring composition and depth of field through colour, tone and perspective
  • Art analysis with Professor Kit-Messham-Muir, discovering ways of thought and awareness when critiquing your own and/or others’ artwork. Also included was a discussion about the written component of the Visual Arts WACE exam
  • A print media session with Emma Jolley, exploring processing photographs and drawings and how artists develop studio work from basic visual information to sophisticated outcomes.
  • A sculpture session with Mark Parfitt examining the physical qualities of an object and ways to deconstruct and rebuild

Christ Church Grammar School Head of Art, Ms Pam Yordanoff said, “The immersive experience provided the boys with an insight into how to develop an art practice that is meaningful, conceptually intriguing and skilfully challenging.”

“This opportunity provides the groundwork for not only their own art practice to be developed at school over the next few years, but also a direct link to a leading tertiary setting.”

“One of the key highlights of this year’s Art Camp was our boys being invited to exhibit in Curtin’s Container Gallery.”

“They impressed the Head of School Professor Bruce Slatter so much that he made the time to create a new exhibition space just for our boys!”

“The energy the boys brought and sustained across the two days was sensational, along with the maturity and genuine curiosity when engaging with the artists, educators and industry professionals from Curtin University.”

Mark Parfitt, Major Coordinator of Fine Art at Curtin’s School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry commented, “It was sensational to have the boys come to Curtin for another fantastic art conference. They did an outstanding job engaging in all that was on offer, and we hope they have laid the groundwork for a great creative year ahead.”

Watch footage from sculpture session with Mark Parfitt