One of the Sunshine Coast’s favourite annual youth art events, the Flinders Art Exhibition, is on from 27-30 October at Matthew Flinders Anglican College in Buderim.
The exhibition features more than 400 artworks as a snapshot of art created during the year by Flinders students from Prep to Year 12.
The Sunshine Coast community is invited to the COVID-safe event, held over four days in the Flinders Performance Centre foyer.
Flinders’ Head of Visual Art, Mrs Ros Braithwaite said the 2020 Flinders Art Exhibition was a significant event as it celebrated 30 years of art making at the College.
“This is the 26th year we have held the Flinders Art Exhibition, however, art has been an important part of learning at our College since our foundation in 1990,” Ros said.
“At Flinders, we guide and encourage our students to explore their unique creativity and build diverse skills so they may grow in confidence as artists,” she said.
“Our Flinders Art Exhibition involves all year levels from our young Preppies all the way up to our Year 12s in their final year of their schooling journey at Flinders.
“In other art news, our Year 11 students are looking forward to a workshop with visiting printmaker artist Glen Skein, while Sydney-based artist Mulga, Joel Moore will paint a vibrant new mural in the Primary School.”
Due to COVID, the 2020 Flinders Art Exhibition will be a refined collection of artworks as some College art programs had to be rewritten to suit the remote online learning environment experienced during Term 1 and Term 2.
“During remote learning, it was difficult to work in some media areas, such as sculpture, however, we were delighted to see students experiment creatively with what they had available to them at home,” Ros said.
“Students managed to produce digital folios and some even set up temporary studio spaces in their home, clearly having a lot of fun in the process!”
Flinders Primary Visual Arts Teacher Mrs Emma Ferris said the Primary Art Department’s focus in 2020 was ‘to bring real life into the classroom'.
“Students from Prep to Year 6 have had an exciting year of exploration through painting, mixed media, drawing and sculpture, elements of which will be on display,” Emma said.
“Our Year 3 students loved art mapping with the Flinders artist in residence, Zodi Spencer, and our Year 1 students drew real vintage cars from observation, which were later made from clay,” she said.
“In Semester 1, students produced slightly less work as they were learning remotely, however, it was wonderful to see many impressive artworks created in the home environment using limited materials.
“These remote learning artworks will feature in a PowerPoint display at the exhibition.”
Families are invited to visit the COVID-safe exhibition from 8am to 5pm (with an early 3pm finish on the final day).
Flinders Art Exhibition Event
Flinders Art Exhibition
Open 8am to 5pm (3pm finish on Friday) from Tuesday, 27 October to Friday, 30 October
Flinders Performance Centre
Stringybark Road, Matthew Flinders Anglican College
