An innovative future full of student-lead creativity.

In the West Moreton Anglican College Art department, we foster a supportive environment built around the individual choices of how students wish to express themselves through art. Our studios are spacious, air-conditioned, bright, and inclusive. Students who explore an art medium at home such as knitting, crochet, photography, hair and make-up, or cake decorating are encouraged to explore that further in the classroom as part of their Art studies. 

Middle School

All Year 7 students at the College experience an introductory program for one semester in Art before being able to choose it as a year-long elective subject. Our Years 7 to 10 Art classes explore Pop Art painting, wearable art and fashion, digital photography, printmaking, abstract portraiture, sculpture, exhibition critique, clay, and Pixar animation. 

Senior School

Our Year 11 and 12 Visual Art students explore flexible pathways to individualise their studies through personal passions and the media of their choosing. They are encouraged to partner with the College’s Trade Skills Centre to access industry standard machinery and technology such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and design software.

Key Points

  • Our students have their artworks permanently and publicly exhibited on the side of the Ipswich Mental Health Unit building and on a ping pong table within the building’s courtyard. This achievement is a result of a workshop with artist Dr Simon Degroot. Simon has worked with our students on multiple occasions to also produce two large scale murals.
  • Innovative and pro-active Year 7 – 10 curricula to equip students with the skills needed for the upcoming implementation of ACARA Version 9.
  • Integrated Indigenisation of all Art units through WestMAC’s own Dandiiri Curriculum led by the College’s full-time Indigenous Perspectives Learning Innovator.
  • Regular exhibitions of student work with professional standard didactic panels.
  • Class set of 25 iPads with Logitech pencils for digital drawing.
  • We assist students to explore the future of digital design, by teaching them to ethically build augmented reality filters and orchestrate AI-generated artworks.
  • Our Senior School Gallery Space was purposefully designed by architects to have moveable spotlights, large wall space, professional standard hanging rails, and protective measures to ensure artwork safety.
“Studying Art at WMAC is a creative outlet with the opportunity to find what we want to say, and who we are, without any judgement or feeling of being locked into a specific idea; we have the freedom and flexibility to make our own decisions.” Sophie D’Castro - Year 12 Visual Art student 2023

Visual Art Exhibitions

Literacies of Place 

This is an annual exhibition produced from a single Year 10 class studying a unit called Literacies of Place. Students learnt about contemporary First Nations artworks that are both thought-provoking and challenging. They also learnt that the artists who make them are vast, varied, and opinionated, with their own identities and histories. Students translated this learning into a shared WMAC context then created artworks specifically designed for a WMAC audience.

Students explored the artworks of seven Aboriginal artists/groups from Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory to understand how different stories are told. Students discussed their own shared experiences such as school camp, the tuckshop menu, and our resident wildlife, to tell uniquely WMAC stories from their own perspective. Click the Matterport on each set of artworks to read about the First Nations artist or group who inspired it.

Art as Code 

As you enter the space, the left side exhibits a range of Year 8 sculptures responding to an environmental issue. The crocheted shawl by Simone Puddle called The Last Cry received the Middle School College Council Art Award for 2023. Click on the Matterport for each sculpture to find out more.

The right side of the exhibition showcases Year 11 pieces from Unit 2 Art as Code. This is a collection of whole class collaborative artworks as well as personal pieces of student expression. Each artwork incorporates a coded message; read each Matterport to understand the artworks through the students’ own words. 

Year 10 2023: Literacies of Place
Year 11 2023: Art as code
'Just think about it' by Peyton Snerling

Peyton Snerling, Year 12, Just think about it (2023), 2000x2000px, digital drawing

Life is busy, constantly thinking about everything all at the same time; childhood, to do lists, just generally stressing. I listened to the song stressed out by Twenty-one Pilots and immediately this was everything that came to mind. I was curious to see if anyone would be able to pick up all the easter eggs I hid within, references to my life that struck familiar chords with the lyrics of the song. Usually, I draw people, but I wanted to challenge myself and draw many objects, create an intricate jungle of seemingly random items. I’m also very interested in the audience’s own interpretation of some of the things in there as they may see them as something else or meaning something else.

'A Study of Expressionism' by Mia Morrison

Mia Morrison, Year 12, A Study of Expressionism (2023), 30cm x 24cm, oil on canvas

A Study of Expressionism is a sample of knowledge constructed through experience of researching Expressionism as a formal style, my technique of linseed oil, and the process of teaching myself how to use oil paints through research. This painting allows me to enhance my audience’s knowledge of traditional Expressionist painting. Expressionism seeks to depict not objective reality but rather subjective emotions and responses. During a long period isolated at home I reflected on feeling alone and fatigued, which is why the woman is leaning on the table, and behind is a gloomy room. My inquiry question of “Can I learn how to execute Expressionism within a year?” was written before I had touched oil paints and I have now made progress through improvisation.

'Self-Deprecation' by Mia Morrison

Mia Morrison, Year 12, Self-Deprecation (2023), 30cm x 24cm oil on canvas, 5:29 minute film

Self-Deprecation demonstrates a refined display of my work, fabricated to exploit my original focus to convey an alternate, deeper meaning and a developed personal aesthetic. The distinct and planned change of destroying my painting in the process alters how the audience engages and interprets the work, as it brings disappointment to the ruining of an art piece. Expressionism seeks to depict not objective reality, but rather subjective emotions and responses. To be self-conscious is a bitter yet inevitable human feeling. Every beautiful detail upon one’s face that you admire, may shatter them from the inside or even be left overlooked. My body of work is the performed process of destroying my most recent portrait, demonstrating the internal torment one inflicts on themselves when filled with insecure thoughts. Contemporary context informed this focus as I planned to shock and agitate people in a controversial way, ironically through the normalised feeling of insecurity.

'Untitled', 'The First Quarter', and 'Noble' by Sophie D’Castro

Sophie D’Castro, Year 12, excerpts from three collections: Untitled, The First Quarter, and Noble (2022 - 2023), variable dimensions, digital photography

Sophie has a passion for studio photography which has been explored throughout her Certificate III in Photography studies at TAFE. Sophie utilised her foundation in photography to study Visual Art at WMAC and develop her creative voice. Through her photographs, Sophie explores definitions of beauty and celebrates body insecurities.