ARTEXPRESS
What is ARTEXPRESS?
ARTEXPRESS is an annual series of exhibitions of exemplary artworks created by New South Wales Visual Arts students for the Higher School Certificate examination. These exhibitions take place at a range of metropolitan and regional venues over the course of several months each year. In order to be exhibited in ARTEXPRESS students need to be pre-selected by Visual Arts HSC markers and then also chosen to be exhibited by a gallery curator.
Visual arts bodies of works are usually marked in two ways: either they are sent into the HSC marking centre (at Homebush, NSW) where they are marked by trained HSC Visual arts markers or some of those same HSC markers visit the school and complete the marking process onsite, under similar conditions to those at the marking centre, following all of the same procedures.
Visual arts HSC markers set aside any work that achieves an excellent result through the process of HSC marking. Although the specific mark needed to be pre-selected is not revealed, it is known that works that receive full marks are not the only works set aside for the pre-selection process. Works that receive a 'top A' mark are set aside. Bodies of work nominated for ARTEXPRESS represent all of the expressive forms .
Activity 1 - Interview task
Watch the interview with ARTEXPRESS curator Louise Halpin from the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Copy of IMG_0307.MOVInterview Transcript
My name is Louise Halpin I am education and program producer at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and also have the honour, privilege and absolute joy of selecting the art works for the ARTEXPRESS exhibition.
Although we are all going through a big change and challenges at the moment, we trust that the format this year will mirror past years as much as possible.
ARTEXPRESS is a joint partnership between NESA (the New South Wales Education Standards Authority) and the NSW Department of Education. The Art Gallery of New South Wales is not involved in pre-selecting bodies of work. Bodies of work are pre-selected by visual arts HSC markers. Anything outstanding is set aside and it is from this pool of work that ARTEXPRESS curators select from.
The exhibition at the gallery has no preconceived theme as we feel it is more important to exhibit the creativity, complexity of artworks created for the HSC examination. These highly resolved bodies of work show complex investigations by students of the world in which they live . For us, it is really important to have that authentic student voice in the gallery. Students are in tune with social and personal matters and have ability to understand their world in a unique way. They present what's important to them
The mark isn't a determining factor as ARTEXPRESS showcases only the practical component of the HSC visual arts exam.The aim of this exhibition is to highlight visual arts practice and senior student work alongside exhibitions and professional artists in the public arena . The bodies of work selected demonstrate a strong engagement and sustained connection with conceptual and material practice . All 12 expressive forms are represented as they reflect the diversity in contemporary art practice today. It is also important for us to show a variety of practice and exploration within each form.
Foremost the bodies of work are curatorially considered but it is wonderful that we find that artworks come from across the state and from a balance of government and independent schools. As the principal venue for the exhibition we understand the importance of equity across the state and to present full bodies of work in the exhibition. We want to put an emphasis on process and practice. We want the audience and the next generation of visual arts students to be inspired, not discouraged and to understand that the quality is achievable with determination, experimentation and inspiration. The visual arts process diary pages at the entrance are a window to how each work in the exhibition came into being and offer insight into the way individual students process and develop ideas for their final bodies of work. Looking at the process of making can help us understand an artist's work. It also gives us a deeper insight into the artists themselves
ARTEXPRESS is one of the galleries most popular exhibitions and attracts thousands of people every year and a wide range of ages and year 11 and 12 students, also visitors to Sydney and ARTEXPRESS alumni often visit every year as well. ARTEXPRESS has been displayed at the art gallery since 1983. Its ongoing popularity is testament to the public's appetite to see art created by young student artists. The exhibition showcases not just their exceptional creativity but also the expertise and commitment of visual arts teachers in New South Wales
My role is to curatorially select art works for the exhibition, considering how to put together an exhibition that is cohesive and inspiring. An important part of my role is the exhibition design and placing art works in the space. And we have some beautiful spaces to work with at the gallery. I work with an installation manager, exhibition crew, public program producers, the digital team, conservation, research and archives to create the exhibition. It is treated the same way as all exhibitions at the gallery. It needs to go through an exhibition approvals panel and the staff that work on ARTEXPRESS are the same people that work on all exhibitions; including our latest summer exhibition Japan Supernatural. I developed my career as a visual arts teacher for 15 years and in museum education for another 15 years... always learning from inspiring colleagues to support students and enrich their creative potential. These experiences have informed everything that I do working with the wonderful education team at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
In this interview (above) from May 2020, Louise responds to questions posed to her by art teachers and their students. When you have watched the video, complete the thinking routine below.
Divide your page in half. In the first half respond to the prompt "I used to think..." Reflect on the thoughts, ideas and beliefs you had about ARTEXPRESS before watching the interview and reading the information on this site.
In the second half of your page respond to the prompt "Now I think..." How and why has your thinking changed about ARTEXPRESS. Do you have any new ideas or opinions about this topic? What caused you to change your mind?
Activity 2
View the virtual tour of ARTEXPRESS at the AGNSW below.
Artist practice
Select one artwork showcased in the virtual tour or from the AGNSW exhibition. Find out more by visiting the art gallery website. Carefully examine your selected artwork and read the student statement.
Write a brief account of the artist's practice using the artmaking practice scaffold (page 1) as a guide. Note that the questions on page 1 of this scaffold are divided into questions about the artists intentions and ideas (conceptual practice) and questions about the artist's use of materials and techniques (material practice) and address both of these aspects of practice in your written account.
Activity 3 - Curate a mini exhibition
You will note that the Art Gallery of NSW ARTEXPRESS website has works dating back to 2005 and that you can explore works by expressive form. Imagine you are a curator. Investigate only artworks in the expressive form you have chosen to work in for your own body of work. Carefully select five artworks for a mini exhibition called 'My ARTEXPRESS'. Select works that engage and appeal to you and that you think demonstrate a coherent point of view, conceptual strength and technical resolution. Copy images of the works into a slideshow or use one of the Gallery Walk tools available on the NSW Department of Education's Digital Learning Selector site.
Underneath each artwork complete a citation card with the following details:
Student name
Artwork title and year
Expressive form (this will be the same for all five works)
Curator statement - In one paragraph account for why you have included this artwork in your mini exhibition. Refer to the conceptual and material qualities of the work in your response. Try to be persuasive. You might use some of the terms/ language investigated in '1- Qualities of a Successful body of work' to support your writing. Share your mini exhibition with your class and teacher.
The 2021 ARTEXPRESS Virtual exhibition includes 54 bodies of work across the 12 expressive forms within the NSW Visual Arts HSC syllabus. On the website, all 54 Bodies of Work are presented with their own page, a plaque, complete work layout and select individual components presented separately. There are also Marker's commentaries for all works and video interviews for some works.
Includes a history of the exhibition, documentation of bodies of work from all venues and exhibition dates for each venue. This website includes works in all expressive forms dating back to 2008.