Students’ creative energy and diverse approach to artmaking on show at Art Gallery of New South Wales ARTEXPRESS 2016 exhibition

The Art Gallery of New South Wales is delighted to present ARTEXPRESS 2016, one of the Gallery’s most popular annual exhibitions, this year showcasing 55 outstanding artworks produced by the 2015 New South Wales Higher School Certificate (HSC) Visual Arts student cohort. A total of 9000 students from across NSW completed the 2015 HSC Visual Arts examination.

ARTEXPRESS student works highlight the great diversity of contemporary artmaking, encompassing a broad range of approaches and expressive forms including drawing, ceramics, graphic design, painting, photomedia, printmaking, textiles and sculpture.

Art Gallery of New South Wales director Michael Brand said ARTEXPRESS is a much-anticipated and much-loved event on the Gallery’s annual exhibitions calendar. “Each year I am astounded by the students’ creative energy and their diverse approach to artmaking,” Brand said.

“Visual art students are not afraid to take risks, explore deeply personal issues, or to make biting statements about our world today. I find their vitality greatly inspiring,” Brand added.

Leeanne Carr, Art Gallery of NSW coordinator of education programs and curator of ARTEXPRESS 2016, said the selection process for the exhibition began in November after the practical component of the HSC Visual Arts examination was complete.

“Selection took days of careful consideration of 400 pre-selected bodies of work from the 9000 HSC Visual Arts students in 2015. It’s a privilege to curate ARTEXPRESS and I have done so since 2010. I am always struck by the passion of student artists, their ability to understand the world in unique ways, and to use the power of visual language to communicate,” Carr said.

Carr also acknowledged the state’s HSC visual arts teachers. “Visual arts teachers play a critical role building student confidence in artmaking and art theory, and this is evident in the high-calibre works on display in ARTEXPRESS year after year,” Carr added.

The Art Gallery of NSW is the principal venue for ARTEXPRESS. The exhibition is a joint initiative of the NSW Department of Education and BOSTES in association with the Art Gallery of NSW.

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More information about exhibiting student artists and artworks