ARTEXPRESS - a lifetime achievement ⚫️

November 30, 2024

ARTEXPRESS - a lifetime achievement ⚫️

Yr 12 HSC VA BOW

2018 - Our son's primary school was coming to an end and like most parents, we were touring High Schools in anticipation of enrolling him in one of them. We were awed to watch the large industrial floors, hosting complex machineries for metal and wood work, dedicated areas for music and drama, special spaces designed for Robotics, arts, textile and food technology. We realised, these not only set High Schools apart from the innocent premises of Primary Schools, but also hinted how each student would harness these facilities to push their potential. Our son was too young for us to even apprehend or believe he'll be capable of doing anything close to the painstaking works proudly displayed in their respective zones. The corridors weaved us through and we followed in a daze like a cursory glance of an unseen article. In a quiet corner a student was lovingly perfecting his BOW (Body of Work) well past his exams and markings.

Curious, we asked, 'Isn't your exam over?'

With a shy smile he replied, 'Yes, but I'm touching up my work as I'm taking up Architecture in Uni.'

'Did you cut up all that wood for your diorama?'

A hint of astonishment in my ask was categorical.

He nodded and added, 'Yes, I used those machines to cut the wood for my building and roads, and as it's about Sustainable Development, I've used plant cover throughout.'

A brazen question followed, 'How much did you score?'

'93%, but that's including the written test,' he shared brimming with contentment.

We overtly admired his diligence and moved on, but a disbelief, that a mere 18-year old can pull off such a feat, lingered.

Time flew. While our son treaded each Stage at High School, we admired the way the education system is customised for each child. As early as Yr 9, they happily dropped subjects they were troubled by and picked those they were animated about. This meant the cohort had a healthy mix from a gamut of options - Music, Humanities, Science, Legal Studies, IT, Visual Arts, Drama, Textile and Design, Atomotive, Engineering, Aboriginal Studies, Construction, Dance, Ceramics, Agriculture, PDHPE, Hospitality, Retail Services, and a plethora of foreign languages. Combined with extensions and accelerated courses offered, this meant the combinations were innumerable. The part that pleasantly surprised us was absence of segregation into Science, Commerce, Arts disciplines. Students were encouraged to have a mix bag. While some of them confined themselves to the classic/ Asian Five of Physics, Chemistry, English, Maths, and Economics, many opted to explore humanities with Biology, or science with music. They only kept in mind "Required and Assumed Knowledge" criteria of the field they were planning to pursue in Uni. Maths and Chemistry unlocked almost all the doors, while a Bridge Course in Physics added further openings. Who'd have thought, Biology wasn't compulsory to do Medicine? But we trusted the process that provided a perfect opportunity to dabble the waters before actually finding the core field of interest and getting steeped in it.

Stage 6 (Yr 11-12) arrived sooner than we thought. Seizing this framework, our son opted out of Physics - a subject without which we believed Yr 12 would be incomplete. Loads of flexibility has its own cons, we surmised! The rest of the core subjects were comparatively easy to zero in on. But there was a strong contention between IT and Visual Arts (VA) for the fallback units. He had both till Yr 10, but had to finalise one for Yr 11-12 and HSC.

Not having the slightest idea of painting did not impede teachers from egging him on to take up VA during Information Evening just before Yr 11 commenced.

'Well young man, you have 12 ways of expression, why paint? Go on, take VA and I have your back,' boomed Mr Lowe, who had newly joined as Head of VA.

We were skeptical seeing the formidable human form sketches of prior batches on the display boards. Thanking him politely, we moved to the IT room, firm our son wasn't in for VA. Those detailed sketches somewhat snuffed any vestigial proclivity for VA.

'Hello Mr and Mrs Bhattacharyya,' Mr Shirlaw, now familiar from Yr 10 IT course, welcomed us with a warm smile. 'I'd highly recommend IT. There's loads to learn and this is the future. We'd code games with C#, and work throughout Yr 12 on capstone project. Your ward would do just fine. He's a good boy,' Mr Shirlaw advocated. Being IT professionals, we nodded in consent, convinced we've sealed the deal on the fallback units.

But 2 units each of English (compulsory), his forte Chemistry and Biology, our preference IT, and 3 units of Maths Ext 1 only added to 11 units; Maths Ext 2, that accounted for another unit and was on the cards, wasn't offered until the end of Yr 11. Thus VA wiggled in to suffice a minimum of 12 units bringing the total to 13 units of HSC.

Yr 11 VA concluded decently - his first project was a digital mash of different dance moves, and second was a foamcore model of 'Nature reclaiming building'. Mr Lowe didn't accept until a clean model was smeared with shellac and covered with pure dirt to actually blend it with nature.

'I am HSC marker in Photography. I know what to expect from students,' he wouldn't condescend to settle for anything less.

Our son followed his instructions to the tee, hoping he'd be over with it soon - dropping VA as soon as he added Maths Ext 2 as Yr 12 commenced.

And he did, rounding off Maths with 4 units - equivalent to two subjects. This meant managing 14 units for HSC. The dreaded and monstrous Maths Ext 2 was far from a walk in the park. The mounting pressure called for culling either IT or VA.

That week was tormenting - which cat to bell? Both the subjects went equally well in Yr 11 and both the teachers were his favourite by then. We suggested him to stick to VA - as it appeared lighter, manageable, and compatible due to it's abstract nature and options of using digital technology. Moreover, it looked perfect for fallback 2 units.

'You can pick IT up again in Uni,' we pacified.

Career Advisors talked him out of his concerns and finally he informed Mr Shirlaw of his decision coated with embarrassment - expected at his age.

A disgruntled Mr Shirlaw announced in the class, 'We have another student who has dropped IT,' when our son did not turn up that day.

On the other side, an elated Mr Lowe lauded him for staying back.

Little did we realise then that VA might turn to a major rather than fallback in his best of 10 units, and that this wasn't the end of Mr Shirlaw's shadows.

~~~~~~~~~~ Final year of HSC ~~~~~~~~~~

The first term in VA was devoted to case studies - our son's theme was 'Overcrowding', suggested by his teacher. How difficult could it be? He quickly studied Manhattan, Barcelona and put together a skyscraper built with foamcore; he submitted with alacrity and complacency as others in VA were still struggling to figure out their themes.

But Mr Lowe was visibly unpleased, 'I'm sorry, but this doesn't embed layers of meaning. Could you study further and refine this? It looks more like office than dwelling.'

Embittered, our son ploughed through another term of studying Nagakin Capsule Tower, compact condominium of Hong Kong and Japan. This yielded a better design. But thick foamcore wouldn't deign to offer perfect corners for hexagonal modules - base of his modular design. Experimenting with 2 mm cardboard looked perfect until the lower units yielded to the built-up weight of upper ones. They failed to retain the shape. Mr Lowe grimly shook his head. Two terms of effort gone down the drain was enough enervating coupled with the pounding pressure of his major subjects.

He helplessly scrambled to cling to the subject, rummaging craft stores, and school supplies for a sturdy material that can bring to life his SketchUp forms. And no prize for guessing who possibly came to rescue - Mr Shirlaw! With his passion for technology, how could he let down a student striving and contemplating the use of laser cut in his BOW. A joint effort of teacher and student produced a single hexagon, 5 cm each side, designed in Adobe Illustrator and laser cut on 2 mm thick plywood.

In retrospection, the only quote that matches the feeling of the breakthrough moment is Armstrong's 'That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.'

Clasping the hexagon, we ran from store to store to get enough sheets for the project, as school didn't have much in store. Most stores didn't have, Bunnigs had huge and much thicker sheets unfit for laser cut machine, and some stores didn't even know anything like that existed.

The initial epiphany moment was smothered to a silent demise. Drooped with hopelessness, late in the evening, we slid through one last door, that of Spotlight, with zero expectation. And bingo, there the sheets were dangling at a corner just where the large store ended. Unsure if these were the right ones, our son bought just a couple to give them a go.

The rest, succinctly summarised, was a saga of teeth-gritting patience that truly brought out what was unthinkable. Finally, the intricacies, meticulous details, and organic facades - designed in Adobe Illustrator, laser cut, and painfully hot glued stood in effulgence as if conjured by magic. It wasn't a small feat to inculcate this change in the last term. We worried as he flustered, persevered, and plodded through conscientiously to calculate dimensions of parts using trigonometry, design the complicate staircase systems, and laser cut the parts; we marvelled at the precision of laser cut and how efficiently he used little icons of SketchUp, Adobe Illustrator that we could hardly tell apart; we cheered as he got the much needed nods of Mr Lowe on his progress of the model and digital rendering of use cases to top off the BOW.

'Do you think this has a chance to make way to ARTEXPRESS? Afterall, it's more than just Design Model - it's a conflation of art and technology,' our son speculated.

'Just get over with it,' we howled as that was the last thing to give a thought to amidst the whirl of activities before HSC and cumbersomr Uni applications.

Finally, like all other subjects, VA too ran its course and in due time the model found itself shipped with assembling instructions of 14 parts to Munro Pavilion, designated by NSW Education. Only a number on the dangling tags - Student ID, bereft of traces of student or school nane - spelled the identity of its curator to ensure HSC markers' unbiased evaluation.

Weeks passed; our son busied himself with Formals, Graduation Ceremony, applications and interviews, going out with friends and family to make the most of the leisure time before he starts as undergrad.

On one such fine evening, he burst in ebulience, 'Mum, I received an email from ARTEXPRESS! Should I open it?'

In the middle of a presentation, I frowned my brows and whispered, 'Is that even a question?'

His tremulous fingers expanded the email that read his BOW was nominated for ARTEXPRESS.

'I need to fill up an online form and ship my VAPD (Visual Arts Progress Diary) at the soonest,' he mumbled, excitement running like a bolt in him.

My brows flattened perfunctorily and with a wide grin I carried on my meeting.

So he started on the form with unnerving trepidation, muttering all the while the reasons why it won't make it to ARTEXPRESS from this point.

We only placated, 'Don't worry about that yet; this nomination itself is inspirational for your teachers, juniors, and an achievement in itself to get into top 400 from 9500 BOWs of the year!'.

Another fortnight past and the constant consternation was substantially watered down as we visited places, and soaked in the charm of Forster, Uluru (Ayer's Rock) and Kata Tutja (The Olgas).

It was a dramatic denoument when he brought his laptop flashing the email apprising him of his BOW being selected for ARTEXPRESS; a following email provided details of venue where the model would be exhibited. His glee knew no bounds as his mailbox got inundated with a stream of congratulatory messages from Mr Lowe, Mr Shirlaw, Deputy Principal, Career Advisor, Year Advisor, and past VA teachers who instilled and saw potential in him in this field during Stage 5 studies. Friends flooded Discord with appreciative messages, and we joined the bandwagon of his celebrations.

Does this mean VA has a chance to turn to a major superceding one of his forte?

Only time can tell. But for now, he is basking in the glory that pure hard work has earned him. Get going little buddy!

Here are the school newsletter snippets and progress of his BOW - witness of the peaks and troughs, trials and tribulations of his journey. It was a pleasure to learn, among the three selected from his school (out of 50 across the state), his would be displayed in Sydney's NSW Art Gallery.

School Newsletter: