Emanuel School students’ work selected
“The ability to use art to capture a likeness of a person has always fascinated and amazed me."
EXCITING news for two Emanuel School students, who have been selected as finalists for this year’s Young Archie competition.
Lotus van der Starre (year 11) and Jessica Linker (year 9) were recognised for their portraits of their grandparents.
Out of more than 2400 entries, only 70 artworks were selected as finalists.
Linker says she was inspired to draw a portrait of her grandfather Maurice, and called her entry Grandpa Maurice.
“I have always loved drawing, and I have recently been trying to develop my skills in portraiture,” she said. “The ability to use art to capture a likeness of a person has always fascinated and amazed me. When deciding to enter the Young Archibald competition, I knew that I wanted to use this new skill of mine to draw my Grandpa Maurice, who has always been an inspiration to me.
“In the portrait, my Grandpa Maurice holds a photo of his teenage self when he was in a displaced persons camp just after World War II, not long before he immigrated to Australia.
“Elderly faces are a form of art in themselves – the detail in the lines and wrinkles were such fun to work on. Although it was certainly a painstaking process to add these details, I think it resulted in an interesting portrait with lots of depth. My grandfather has always had a rather jovial attitude, and a hint of cheekiness in his personality. I hope that I managed to capture this in my portrait.”
Van der Starre’s portrait, From the Mountain, features her Dutch grandma, Oma Marian.
“Growing up I always looked up to her because she was a kind and gentle person,” she said.
“The photo was taken and developed by my Opa in 1973 when she was 27.
“I loved her fashion and lifestyle when she was younger, and I asked for a photo which reflected her style. I wanted to capture how kind and real she is. I did this by making my portrait black and white and kept some of the paper coming through the portrait. I used oil paints and graphic pencil to create my artwork. I have always found portraits the most interesting to make, as a portrait can express so much and tell so much about the person.”
Emanuel School principal Andrew Watt said, “We are very proud of Lotus and Jessica and celebrate their exceptional achievements.”
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