
Works by three 2014 Year 12 students were selected for the coveted Top Arts 2015 exhibition, on display at the Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square as part of the VCE Season of Excellence 2015. 108 student artists were short-listed from over 3,000 applicants, with only 42 selected for the exhibition – to have three students included in the 42 is a wonderful achievement for our young artists.
Glen Waverley student Andrew Hannah’s digital print piece titled Recursion was one of the works selected. Andrew says, “Recursion, as the name implies, is a piece about a recursive object known as a fractal and its relation to both science/mathematics and speed…to define it simply; it is never ending, and infinitely complex pattern. The specific pattern being a simple set of circles.” Andrew credits his love for the aesthetics of mathematical geometry and its relation to science, as well as his wonderful Art teachers for inspiration behind his work, and says that he is “incredibly excited and privileged to have been selected for this exhibition.”

Callum Croker from St Kilda Road’s piece, Unified symmetry II, crafted from laser cut cardboard and painted wood, also features in the exhibition. This is not Callum’s first big exhibit, having had another piece of his artwork displayed on a Melbourne tram when he was awarded the Melbourne Art Trams People’s Choice Award, as part of the 2014 Melbourne Festival visual arts program.
Unified symmetry II relates to his interest in the mosaic of torn posters adorning the laneways of the CBD. Callum says, “Individually, each poster has its own identity and style, however when unified as part of a whole, they are transformed into a new identity.”

Olivia Gardiner, also a St Kilda Road 2014 Year 12 student, used a variety of animal-based materials including feather, shells, fur, bones and skulls to create her unique dress piece Carnage. She says that Carnage was inspired by the clothing of royalty, and suggests that human power is gained through acquiring it from animals. It is due to this theory that Olivia constructed the piece from the remains of deceased animals.
A tireless project, Olivia worked for a long time to source, gather and prepare the materials via cleaning, plucking and skinning. Olivia advises other art students to “start everything long before you need to, everything takes longer than you think!”