The VCE Art Creative Practice students from years 11 and 12 had the opportunity to visit the NGV last week, as part of a Visual Arts excursion, viewing the Top Arts 2023 exhibition and the Triennial international contemporary art exhibition. Both the Year 11 and Year 12 students were engaged in a talk about how the top Victorian Art students of 2023 achieved great results, viewed their works, then had the opportunity to look at their folios - giving a rare insight into the creative process behind the artworks of these high-achieving students.

Our students then immersed themselves in the innovative art of the Triennial Exhibition, using 'interpretive lenses' from the study design to analyse the ideas, techniques and aesthetic decisions behind the making of the monumental sculptures, intriguing installations, and large-scale wall works displayed over three floors of the international gallery.

The opportunity offered to our students to experience art 'in the real' like this is invaluable. Melbourne offers an incredible opportunity for students studying visual arts to experience authentic artworks in world class gallery contexts; and Loyola College has supported our seniors in taking advantage of this. We could see how enthralled the students were to walk around, through - and sometimes over (!) - works of this significance - a fantastic way for them to understand the additional layers of meaning that context and scale adds to an art-viewing experience.

We are excited to see how this inspiration will manifest in the classroom - and look forward to sharing the results of this with our community at the Art Exhibition later this year!