MacKillop Art Exhibition 2022

EXHIBITION OPENING

The annual MacKillop Art Exhibition was launched at Sacred Heart Cathedral Bendigo on Friday 11 November . The exhibition showcases student artworks from across the Sandhurst Diocese featuring paintings, photographs, sculpture, media and prints.

Major awards are announced at the exhibition launch each year, including the MacKillop Art Prize, the Spiritual Art Award and the Primary Art Award, as well as awards for Highly Commended and Commended entries in various age sections. For the first time this year the Bishop’s Choice Award was introduced for both Primary and Secondary sections and a Primary Group Award was added.

Congratulations to the following Catherine McAuley College students who were amongst the award recipients announced at the opening of the MacKillop Art Exhibition on Friday 11 November. Two of our Year 10 students were invited to speak at the opening and share their reflections on the prints they created for the Year 9 and 10 Spiritual Art Prize, Charlene Chau and Lennie Johnstone.

AWARD WINNERS

Artworks and artist statements can be viewed below.

Spiritual Art Award

Theme: Tell the Good News ($250 Prize)

Winner (Year 7 – 10)

• Charlene Chau, Year 10, Freedom of the Captives

Highly Commended (Year 7 – 10)

• Lennie Johnston, Year 10, Light from the Darkness

VCE or VCAL Art Award

Commended and shortlisted for the People’s Choice Award

• Sophie Barianos, Year 12, Objects in the Mirror

Bishop’s Art Choice Award

Inaugural Winner (secondary)

• Shaye Couch, Year 10, The World in our Hands

In selecting Shaye’s work, Bishop Shane Mackinlay said about her lino cut print, “This work of art beautifully illustrates our connection to nature and our responsibility to care for it, responding to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

We commend all students who exhibited this year for their commitment to their art studies and their striking artwork. Read on to view the artworks and artists’ statements by CMC students Charlene Chau, Shaye Couch, Lennie Johnston, Sophie Barianos and Elise Long.

The exhibition is open for public viewing until Sunday 27 November at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo. The exhibition can also be viewed online at the Catholic Education Sandhurst website at where you can cast your vote in the People’s Choice awards, or in person at the Cathedral, for both Primary and Secondary winners.

CMC EXHIBITORS 2022

Charlene CHAU (2022)

Freedom of the Captives

Relief Print, Acrylic Ink on Paper

Responding to the passage ‘The Spirit of the lord is upon me, because the lord has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from the darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all those who mourn’. Isaiah 61:1-2

The key points I have explored from this passage are: good news to the poor, bind up the broken-hearted; freedom for the captives, release from darkness for the prisoners, comfort all who mourn.

Artist Statement: I have chosen to use the cage and the bird as symbolic images to represent the captive and their entrapment. The small bird represents the captive and shows that no matter how small you are, you can always escape from your cage and reclaim the light in your life that you deserve.

Shaye COUCH (2022)

The World in our hands.

Responding to the passage: ‘For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains, and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands’. Isaiah 55:12

Artist Statement: I focused on the connection to nature. This revealed my idea to connect the human with the world on which they lived. I wanted to show the connection we have to nature. I wanted to show this by loosely drawing the hands using the mono printing technique, then overlaying the tree using the Lino Relief Print.

Mono Print with Relief Ink combined with Lino Cut Print

Lennie JOHNSTON (2022)

Light from the Darkness

Relief Print with Ink on Paper.

Responding to the passage ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from the darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all those who mourn’. Isaiah 61 1-2.

Artist Statement: I have used the image of the ducks and the ducklings who are always supported by their mother. The mother duck is the symbol of the light in the dark. This is an offer of love to all those who mourn and a way to live the good news, that there is life beyond the darkness.

Sophie BARIANOS (2022)

Objects in the Mirror

Oil Paint on Composition Board

Artist Statement: My work explores the notions of Perception by using the subject matter of portraits. I am fascinated by the many ways a human can be captured and how artists reflect their sitters. I was eager to explore how to show the sitter in an artwork and also explore the notions of past and future concurrently. I drew on the visual representation style of artist, Robert Henri. I focused on his use of strong brushstrokes and unique depiction of figures. Henri’s ability to capture light also fascinated me and I saw this as a visual way for me to create a sense of time passing and also the stillness of one key moment. I drew heavily on Narrative (storytelling) genre as an intentional device to both illustrate my theme (Perception) by using objects such as the mirror as a symbol and metaphor to help the audience come to their own interpretation of my work.

Elise LONG (2022)

If everyone was Peaceful and United

Collagraphy using Acrylic Intaglio Ink on Fabriano Rosaspina , 180 gsm.

Responding to the passage: ‘For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands’. Isaiah 55:12

The key points I have interpreted this passage to challenge as all to be united. This work is a visual refection on my key message; ‘If everyone is peaceful and united the world and nature will be too’.