We invest in our teachers an almost sacred trust - we count on them to discover and light that ‘spark’ of learning and personal growth that we know resides in each child and then feed and nurture the resulting flame through the TAS experience. It is incumbent upon all of us in the TAS community to help in that noble endeavour. My highest hope for this building is to help ignite the creative spark in every boy and girl and secure the resulting flame more firmly than would otherwise have been possible.
So wrote Old Armidalian and benefactor Mr Michael Hoskins who made possible the Creative Arts Centre bearing his name. However bricks alone do not make a culture that values and champions the creative arts; it takes our clever, talented and dedicated staff.
IN PRACTICE & IN THEORY
In practice and theory, Visual Arts education is a core component of the Creative Arts curriculum. It unleashes the imagination and self-expression whilst introducing students to art criticism and giving them insights into and an appreciation for art history. Two specialist art rooms, one with potters’ wheels and a kiln, provide students with every opportunity to develop and nurture a passion for visual arts, be it painting, pottery, drawing, sculpture or digital art.
Outside of the classroom, students at TAS have the opportunity to extend their art making as part of the co-curricular program. Art clubs for drawing, printmaking, photography, and ceramics have been offered, dependent on student interest. Years 12 and 11 Visual Arts students are encouraged to join ‘Mondays After School in The Art Room’ for extra art time and a chance to connect with a cup of tea or kombucha if the fridge is stocked.
Exhibiting Students’ Visual Art
Our students benefit from being able to showcase their art in the professional art gallery space within the Hoskins Centre foyer. With all the time and skill needed to create a student’s precious visual art piece, we then have the privilege to hang and view their art by presenting it in the Hoskins Centre foyer.
The foyer is alive with student art throughout the year, carefully curated and presented to a continual audience. The aim of Visual Art is to encourage the observer to think and consider what is being expressed, for it to be appreciated. It needs to be hung in a worthy space and we are so fortunate to have that space at TAS.