Connecting Through Creativity
We’re excited to announce the winners of the creative competition Connecting Through Creativity.
Back in May we asked primary and secondary students across the State to explore the topic of “connectivity” using any visual art form of their choice. We enlisted the help of four mentors along the way to encourage and inspire applicants on their creative journey.
James Foley, Cristy Burne, Remy Lai and Beci Orpin offered tips, tricks and inspiration through videos, images and writing, sharing their own creative paths, answering questions and providing encouragement to our young makers.
Entries came in the form of painting, sculpture, video, collage and drawing – showcasing a broad and diverse exploration of the theme. Split into two age entry categories - Primary (Years 1-6) and Secondary (Years 7-12) - our wonderful panel of judges had the difficult task of selecting 1 x Regional winner and 1 x Metro winner from each category.
What the judges had to say:
“We are blown away by all the entries. They show great creativity and the desire for connection, which is especially resonant in these strange times we’re in. All the entries are amazing, but unfortunately we can only pick one winner for each category."
We are delighted to introduce you to these winners and to share their wonderful work with you!
Every day during isolation I wrote a letter to my school friend Leila, who lives around the corner from me. I would walk or ride my bike to her house, past the dog park. Everything about it made me happy. Sometimes when we delivered the letters we would see dogs playing, or birds or flowers on the way and then, when I got to her letterbox, we would wave to each other and shout hello! I couldn't wait to get my letter from her, and to write her one back! I decorated my letterbox with chalk rainbows to say thanks! In the letters we would share how many pages of Harry Potter we had read and used our code names for each other, she was Hermione and I was Ginny. I chose happy colours for my artwork but made sure the paths didn't go all the way up to our house.
Sophia lives with her family, two dogs and four bantam chickens. She is always making, building, cutting, colouring and drawing. Sophia has a huge rock collection and loves reading about them, she is always on the lookout for interesting rocks and dreams of one day finding a diamond!
1. Where do you get your inspiration/ideas?
Lots of things kick off my art. My sister and the games we play mostly, but also books I’m interested in, my friends, pets, and schoolwork.
2. What do you find the hardest part when creating an artwork? Is it getting started or the finishing touches?
Finishing touches are the hardest because they are the most detailed!
3. Did creating this piece make you feel more connected? How?
Yes! I liked remembering the nice time writing to my friend during lockdown. Getting her letters made me feel so happy!
4. Do you find your creativity is affected/influenced by the things that are happening in the world around you?
Sometimes, I look at nature mostly, but not often adult-stuff. Covid made me more creative though, that’s when I started keeping a nature journal.
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My artwork is origami. I got the idea from the Guinness Book of World Records 2019. I decided to make this because I thought it would be fun to test my limits and see how big an origami sphere I could make. A Sonobe unit is a piece of origami that can be connected with other units to form geometric shapes. If you take one out it all falls apart. Each one needs the other to support it. So it’s like a family. Each person in a family someday will need support. Everyone is needed to keep the family together. There are 60 Sonobe units in the largest spheres. 12 in the next, 6 in the cubes and 3 in the triangles.
I’m a home school student. I’ve been doing home school for a year. I like Lego, Minecraft, car games and reading.
1. Where did you get your inspiration/ideas?
From the Guinness Book of World Records 2019. We had a guest stay at our house during self isolation and he saw them, and he looked up if we could make big spheres, and we could.
2. What did you find the hardest part about creating this artwork? Was it getting started or the finishing touches?
The hardest part was middle-to-finishing touches, because when you’re up to that stage it gets too heavy and the sonobe units wouldn’t stay together and it fell apart. So I couldn’t build the biggest sphere, but I made two medium spheres and two small spheres.
3. Did creating this piece make you feel more connected? How?
It reminded me of how in a family, there has to be a certain number of people or capabilities that people can do, otherwise it just won’t work because you need multiple people to support each other. Otherwise the family will fall apart.
4. Do you find your creativity is affected/influenced by the things that are happening in the world around you?
Yes. I decided to do this because it looked like a fun competition and I didn’t really have anything else to do during corona virus, so I spent a lot of time making origami. And that was what led to me entering into the competition.
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Shortly after the COVID-19 lockdown started, I became tired with repetitive video chats with my relatives and asked my Grandmother in Melbourne to teach me some of the recipes she made for my Mum. For the last 14 weeks, every Sunday afternoon we meet in cyber space. She teaches me a new recipe and then, over a cuppa (for her) and a warm milk (for me), we share our week. I have learnt so much about cooking, my mother as a child, my extended family, and Australian life over three generations.
My mixed media collage uses hand drawn water colours, classic baking elements and a little bit of mess to portray the loving warmth of the way we share cooking and food as a family. This special time has strengthened our connection: I have shared technology with my Grandma, and she has shared with me the world of the CWA and Women’s Weekly baking. In amongst "stiff white peaks", “folding in" and “warming the spoon” tips and tricks, I have also come to see that cooking is not just about the finished sweet tooth, but about connections, stories and passing on wisdom and knowledge from opposite sides of the country.
I am a 12-year boy from the Perth Hills that loves Japanese stories, reading undisturbed, Taekwondo, my dog Preston, dumplings and making things, anything, from a good scone or a loaf of bread, to a robotic dinosaur or a vegie patch in our yard. Together with my parents and my sister Isabella, I spend my down time exploring the Heritage trail or, since COVID-19, connecting with family and friends on the other side of the country.
1. Where do you get your inspiration/ideas?
I usually get creative ideas from stories,whether they are told through animation, dance, theatre, street art, music or books. The inspiration for my work Cooking with G’ma was the first thing that occurred to me when I read the theme Connecting Through Creativity. From there I mapped out all the elements of what we do, the messages, the ingredients, the appliances and tools. After I watched the Beci Orpin and James Foley videos, I got more ideas for the incidental parts of our cooking lessons: the packages, the cup of tea with Grandma afterwards, and capturing her floral apron gave my work a feeling of the way I’ve gotten closer to her through the cooking lessons.
2. What do you find the hardest part when creating an artwork? Is it getting started or the finishing touches?
The hardest part of creating this artwork was knowing when to stop. I found that my collage was a collection of ideas, feelings and images and the more I worked on them, the more ideas came. I am still kicking myself for not including a tea stain of the base of a tea cup! Next collage I will definitely keep a running list of ideas that I can go back and check-off. Finally, the finishing touches, being the oats and the wooden spoons were the most fun, but also a little difficult because I made a mess with the oats, and we didn’t have any other wooden spoons at home!
3. Did creating this piece make you feel more connected? How?
This piece made me more connected to my Grandma, and our lessons. In making the collage I reflected on the physical parts of our lessons, the recipe, the technology, the ingredients, and the cleaning up! But also what it means to be able to share something with my Grandma (and my sister and mum) each week. It has really brought us a lot closer, even though we are on the other side of the country, and we both look forward to it. There was also something about trying to capture the shared experience that helped me look at it in a new way. Ultimately, doing the collage helped demonstrate to Grandma how important this time has become for us.
4. Do you find your creativity is affected/influenced by the things that are happening in the world around you?
I think my creativity has definitely been affected by what is happening in the world right now. My mum has really worked hard at making sure I get to do as many creative things as possible – from watercolours to gardening to looking at museums and art galleries on-line. But the cooking is something that I really get to express myself with – although I think my sister is sick of green pancakes! A lot of my ideas come from the things my nose sniffs out and my eyes rest on, not to mention the delicious things to taste. If COVID-19 hadn’t happened I would not have started Zoom cooking classes with my Grandma, so I suppose the pandemic led to my subject.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, I stayed sane by face-timing or going on House Party with my friends while we were all cooped up inside. It helped me and my friends (and many others) considerably, as we couldn’t see people in real life apart from our families. In my artwork, I’ve tried to depict the feeling of this social fulfillment with the hands reaching each other, and the electricity between them helps emphasise the technological side of connecting. The base of the hands are pixelated and then become more realistic, this shows that even though a screen the feeling of being connected and cared for is 100% real. It still sucked not seeing my friends for a quite a while, but without the technology we currently have I literally would have gone mad.
Hey! My name is Amber Wilkinson and I’m 15 years old. I enjoy drawing and painting (obvs) and I also make jewellery. I work at a bookstore and a cinema; I have a cat (loml) and I play netball and volleyball :)
I use social media quite frequently if I need a quick motivator, as it’s really encouraging and inspiring to see other people’s artworks and ideas and looking at their own improvements. I also use the world and people around me for inspiration too, and I find myself inspired to create artwork when I'm surrounded by nature.
2. What do you find the hardest part when creating an artwork? Is it getting started or the finishing touches?
The hardest part for me is starting an artwork, and getting over that fear of failure. Sometimes I have a hard time putting my ideas down on to paper, and it’s daunting trying to start when you know in your head exactly how you want it to look, but just can’t quite execute it, or you doubt yourself.
3. Did creating this piece make you feel more connected? How?
My thoughts were around my friends while creating this piece, and it gave me an appreciation for the times I see them in person, so yes, I did feel slightly more connected with them. I also felt more connected with my family, because at that time they were the only ones I could really see in person, and they are always so supportive of me and my artwork, which i’m very grateful for.
4. Do you find your creativity is affected/influenced by the things that are happening in the world around you?
I believe it is, because when something major is happening, (especially politically, like the BLM movement) I usually feel inspired to try to portray my thoughts and feelings through artwork. When something that I can’t really help is going on (such as climate change or the coronavirus pandemic) I either feel inspired to create something to take my mind off it (like when we were all stuck at home) or I have an ‘artists block’ and have no motivation to create. Which sucks but it is what it is.
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We would like to say thank you to everyone who entered the competition for sharing their work with us.
Thank you also to our wonderful judging panel.
Primary Category Judges (Years 1-6 Category):
Shannon Beattie – Journalist (Farm Weekly)
Lauren Bird – Corporate Affairs Advisor (CBH Group)
Cristy Burne – Science Writer and Children’s Author
Remy Lai - Author and Illustrator
Secondary Category Judges (Years 7-12 Category):
Cally Dupe – Journalist (WA News)
Beci Orpin – Artist, designer and illustrator
James Foley – Author and illustrator
Thank you to our partner, CBH Group, for helping young West Australians connect through creativity!
