Visual arts students marvelled by artworks

On 8 April, 11 bleary-eyed Year 11 and Year 12 Visual Arts students from Parkes High School, boarded a Western Roadliners bus at 5am to travel to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Excited chatter soon gave way to blissful slumber, something their accompanying Visual Arts Teacher Miss McLachlan and SLSO Mrs Pope were thankful of, as the bus drove through the early hours of the morning. A brief breakfast stop at Lithgow McDonald's revived everyone, before continuing to Sydney. The drive through Sydney traffic towards the Art Gallery of New South Wales proved exciting for all. Slow moving vehicles and traffic lights allowed everyone to take in some people watching and gaze at the many shops that lined the inner-city streets. Before long the destination was in sight. Excited murmurs filled the bus as the beautiful sandstone architecture of the gallery came into view. Once inside the gallery, students marvelled at the thousands of artworks on display. Miss McLachlan pointed out artworks to Year 12 students that would help them in the development of their HSC body of work. Eager Year 11 students asked questions about works of art that caught their eye and phone cameras worked overtime to capture the excitement. Everyone then made their way to the Art Express exhibition to view artworks created by the 2024 HSC Visual Arts students from across NSW. Students were in awe of the hard work and dedication that went into creating the artworks. Excited discussions between students filled the exhibition, notes about artworks were made and photographs were taken. After lunch at the gallery’s outdoor cafe, the students, Miss McLachlan and Mrs Pope visited the Naala Badu building of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. This part of the gallery contained artworks by Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander artists, along with artworks by contemporary Australian and international artists. The students were intrigued by the size of each artwork and amazed by the ways artists used colour and patterns to represent country. After a long day of looking at artworks, it was time to make the trip back to Parkes. Slow moving Sydney afternoon traffic made for more people watching and window shopping. Another restorative stop at Lithgow McDonalds for dinner, ensured a quite trip back to Parkes High School. A big thank you to Chris McQuie at Western Roadliners for taking everyone to Sydney safely for this amazing opportunity.