Food & Cooking

We are fortunate to have Robin Ellenberger and Shirley Blackman mentor students in our commercial kitchen. Robin is an experienced former baker and Shirley has had many years working in cafes. Our students with a passion and interest in baking enjoy spending time and learning with and from Robin and Shirley.

Visual Art

This year as part of active learning in art class we got to visit the Glover Prize 2021 exhibition. There were some fantastic and really amazing pieces there and I really enjoyed myself. There was a broad range of art pieces some big and some small. Some realistic and some abstract. There really was a broad range of pieces to look at and enjoy.

There were 42 finalists and 640 who entered. I like the winning painting number 10 Sebastian Galloway because it reflects the mining that happened in Queenstown. It  shows the red rich landscape in that area of Tasmania. I spent quite a bit of my childhood in Queenstown and had the privilege to see the muddy brown river and the clear river meet but not mix. The river got damaged due to the minerals that mixed with the water from the mines. Sadly, the river cannot be saved.

As I said earlier there truly was a broad range of artworks in the exhibition. Some were done with oil paint acrylic paint and many other materials. Each artwork has a different story and background and therefore there were many different and amazing pieces. One of the artworks titled the Sea Monkey number 28. was done in mixed media. He created lots of different patterns and textures using a broad range of materials such as paint paper and many other things.

There were lots of different artworks that had very different framing techniques. Some had paper surrounding the artwork some people had a simple clear black frame and some didn’t even have a frame at all. Framing and how you want your artwork viewed is almost as important as the artwork itself. There is a broad range of framing and many different styles of presenting artwork.

I have selected an artwork and did a light quick sketch of it. I really liked the painting done by number 21 titled Poatina by Robert O’Conner. It’s very interesting seeing a painting of a place you’ve been to. While I was sitting on one of the benches I was able to analyse and recreate a quick sketch of the painting in my sketchbook using a pen.

There were many different sized paintings. Some were big some were small, some were extremely large. Sizing is a really important aspect of your artwork and can help tell the story of the piece. For example, a large artwork can give you a sense of space. You can feel as if you are in the painting itself.

I feel like the way the exhibition was presented was done quite well. The paintings weren’t spaced out evenly and you could navigate yourself around the exhibition quite easily.

I have lots of favourite paintings this year and there some really good artists out there. I am interested in doing oil paintings I would ask a lot of questions about what techniques were used and what inspired them to create that piece.

One of the pieces I didn’t really like was number 29 V.I.D Singh.  It was too messy and a bit drab for the eyes. You can tell the artist tried to capture the galaxy using acrylic paint. I just don’t think that through all the 640 artworks that entered it should have counted as a finalist. It looked a bit out of place, and you sort of wondered why it’s there.

There are so many paintings that I loved it would be hard to choose a favourite. I really liked number 14 the mist Leanne halls. I love the purple and the feeling the painting gives you. Overall, the exhibition was amazing and I really enjoyed visiting

Annabelle Aitken 
Grade 11/12 Advisory 

Sport & Recreation

Students recently experienced Footy Golf for the first time. It was fantastic to visit the Riverside Golf Club and experience a new activity. Keeping the soccer ball on the fairway and away from the water obstacles was a challenge for many.

Design & Construction

Many of our students have a passion for design and creating projects from wood, metal and plastic. Supported by John Crick, students have been busy completing their term 1 projects. There has been a lot of new skills developed with students learning to weld and use various equipment for the first time.

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths)

On Monday 22nd March Launceston Big Picture School competed in the Science & Engineering Challenge at Albert Hall. A team of 17 Grade 9 & 10 students competed in various challenges throughout the day, using teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills, all while having a heap of fun. On a tough and close day of competition we ended up in seventh with 1101 points, only 163 points off Scotch Oakburn in second, showing just how close the competition was throughout the day.

A few highlights on the day were Will Hamill and Brayden Cunningham finishing second in the hovercraft building challenge, while both teams doing the Future Power challenge finished in the top 3. Jade Sturzacker, Jasper Hillman and Bailey Hinds-Peschar performed strongly in the highly prized bridge building challenge, with their bridge carrying the 3rd highest weight for the day, and surviving the challenge in one piece (although I don’t believe it survived the walk back to school). Overall, it was a fantastic day with students showcasing their excellent collaboration and teamwork skills, while learning in a fun, challenging and interesting way. I would like to thank all student that participated in the event for their support throughout the lead-up, and the day itself, you should all be proud of your efforts.