Visual Arts News

Congratulations to Tilda Brownlow and Isabel Kirby, graduating students from 2024 on their Visual Art works being selected for the ‘Out Front’ exhibition at Manly Art Gallery and Museum (MAG&M) which opened on Friday 21 February.

‘Out Front 2025’ is an annual selection of artworks by HSC Visual Arts students from the 20 secondary schools across the Northern Beaches curated and displayed at the Manly Art Gallery. The exhibition “aims to explore the contemporary themes which are of importance to young people today and has been a part of MAG&M’s program since 1995. Presented in partnership with the Theo Batten Trust and MAG&M Society, the program has provided Youth Art Awards to aspiring artists for 30 years. The program demonstrates the gallery's ongoing commitment to connecting with secondary schools across the region and to supporting visual arts education."

The opening night was an opportunity for teachers and artists to preview the exhibition, celebrating the extraordinary talent and creativity of young local emerging artists.

The Theo Batten Bequest Youth Art Award, and the KALOF People’s Choice Award are presented as part of this exhibition.

The art works are always of a very high standard and we are thrilled for our two students as this is a great accomplishment and a recognition of all their hard work.

We also are grateful for the excellent guidance from the Visual Art teachers.

Unfortunately Isabel was unable to exhibit but it was a treat to see Tilda's work looking very impressive in the Gallery.

We look forward to seeing the exhibition which runs from 21 February until 6 April at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum.

Pop along if you can!

English News

Author, Will Kostakis, presents to Year 11 English

Recently, my Year 11 cohort had the fantastic opportunity to meet award-winning author, Will Kostakis. The workshop directly related to our current topic in English – Reading to Write – and we all learned plenty: how to write better characters; how to use description efficiently; and how to be an overall smarter writer.

I would like to thank the English Department for the opportunity of listening to this inspiring guest speaker. I feel confident and keen to follow Will Kostakis’ writing advice which is sure to improve our creative writing skills.

For me personally, I found myself feeling heard through Kostakis’ novels. We grew up very similarly you see, both raised in Greek households in Sydney with a close connection to our grandparents. By hearing insights into his books, I felt as if my own story had been reflected through his novels in various ways. After his presentation I looked at several of his novels and, quite frankly, I was shocked because I had never seen characters that felt so real to me. I am usually one to read classics or high fantasy and generally find that characters seem to follow a stock standard English or American stereotype. In contrast, Will Kostakis’ young adult novels have original and fresh characters which don’t usually involve typically stable backgrounds. There is certainly something within each of his novels that can truly relate to each reader and it’s great to finally see some personal representation within the books I read.

I truly believe that Will Kostakis is an important writer for growing teens, as he writes of a different way of life, whether it be through ethnicity, family relationships, or even identity.

by Zoe A, Year 11