During August, Visual Art students from Years 9 through to 12 visited the Manning Regional Art Gallery to see the exhibition of finalists from the Archibald Prize for 2021.

The Archibald Prize is for portrait painting and is one of Australia’s most coveted art awards.  The annual prize was established by Jules François Archibald (1856-1919) from a bequest in his will and was first awarded in 1921.  The portrait is preferentially of someone of note ‘in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia’ and, in this sense, has come to hold a unique place in popular culture.

The highlight of the exhibition was the 2021 winner Portrait of Guy Warren at 100 by Peter Wegner.  The portrait is of 100-year-old artist Guy Warren, who himself was an Archibald winner, coinciding with the 100-year anniversary of the Archibald prize itself.  However, a favourite with many St Clare’s Visual Arts students was Anne Cape’s The odd little bird (a portrait of Sam, Cam and Penguin Bloom).  Many of the students knew the story behind the art of Sam’s recovery and her adopted magpie named Penguin.

Angela Heiss
Visual Arts Teacher