StArt Up: Top Arts 2015

Each year I make an annual Easter-ish trip with my husband and mother to see the best artwork from Victorians who have just completed year 12. This is a great chance to see some inspirational pieces for free, plus we've combined the visit with an annual meal at Chocolate Buddah and where there's food involved, I'm there! It's been really interesting to go to this exhibit each year and see the trends coming and going through the artworks. This year there was far more digital art than in previous years and far less in the way of photography and classical paintings and drawings.

StArt Up: TopArts 2015 is again being held at the National Gallery of Victoria in the Ian Potter Centre in Federation Square. There are 42 exhibiting artists this year and if you follow me on Instagram, you already know which pieces were my favourites. Let's step through some of the highlights...

Untitled by Sophia Kons

This untitled piece is chalk pen on bark. I loved how intricate and natural the drawing was and also was very impressed with the effect of the white on wood.

Carnage by Olivia Gardiner

This spectacular dress is entitled Carnage and is actually made up of feathers, shells, fur, bones and skulls, all scavenged from beaches and road kill. There were quite a few people there freaking out about the morbidity of the piece, but it really is quite a spectacular work of art and very intricate. This one earned my mother's vote for favourite.

Recursion by Andrew Hannah

Recursion, exploring a fractal, was my husband's favourite piece. He is an engineer and sees the beauty in mathematics. The colours and the final effect are quite lovely.

Tyler Oakley by Ashleigh Newman

Miss 4 was very impressed by Tyler Oakley and the other drawings by Ashleigh Newman. This artist accompanied her pencil drawings with a video of her doing the artworks and it was fascinating to watch her method unfold. Ashleigh's method of drawing is quite different to my own, as I always start with the eyes and she stars with the hair.

Unified symmetry by Callum Croker

And the piece that got my vote for the best was Unified symmetry, a series of intricate laser cut cardboard pieces. Just stunning.

Master 1 expressed no real opinion about his favourite piece of student work, although he was very fond of the bats in the foyer and also of the car exhibit in NGV. StArt Up is on until June 28, so if you're hanging around Melbourne, do go and check it out.

(I failed to blog about our 2014 outing last year - I blame the new baby - but you can catch up on my experience of the 2013 exhibit here and read what my mother thought of our 2015, 2014 and 2013 outings.)