2011 Recipients

Excellence in arts teaching and leadership at primary school level - Belinda Robertson

Belinda is a dynamic teacher and passionate promoter of the arts as a medium for the development of confidence and self-esteem in children. Belinda has been the Arts Coordinator at Allenby Gardens PS for three years. She has brought about significant change in the knowledge, skills and application of visual arts, dance and drama and raised the profile of the arts across the whole school. Belinda leads by example and has worked collaboratively to mentor her colleagues and empower them to feel confidence in teaching the arts.

Excellence in arts teaching and leadership at secondary school level - Penny McGuire

Penny was the Visual Arts teacher at Orroroo Area School, a small regional school 300km north of Adelaide at the time she was nominated for an Award. Since arriving in Orroroo, Penny strived to develop and provide an engaging, relevant and well planned arts curriculum which includes a multitude of creative activities and programs for both students and staff at the School. As well as having a keen interest in using ICT to enhance the arts, Penny was responsible for arranging for professional artists to visit the school and share their skills and experience with students.

Professional Development Overview
After some research and enquires from past and present students, Penny made the decision to study renaissance techniques during her professional development. She was fortunate to be able to negotiate a short 10-day course with the Director of a small Atelier in France that specialises in renaissance techniques.

Atelier Neo Medici Director, Gregory Pellizari, specialises in the techniques Mixte, a Renaissance approach to painting that combines tempera emulsion and oil paint to achieve a profoundly intricate level of detail and greater luminosity of color than oil paint alone can produce. Penny learned the recipes to use as well as history about how the masters and their apprentices developed their works. This information was invaluable to take back to her students.

While in Europe, Penny visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and several of the large galleries in Paris, including the Louvre. Since arriving home Penny has been able to give a demonstration to Stage 2 visual arts students at Seaford High School and the Year 9 students will be developing a still life using the techniques she learned during her PD in Europe.

‘Again thank you for this experience, my understanding of the Renaissance and the techniques the masters used was extremely limited before this trip. I cannot express how much knowledge I was able to gain and in turn pass this on to my students.’

Success as an artist working with teachers and students - Jeremy Watson

Jeremy Watson is a photo artist who has just completed a four-month arts in health project, entitled Images from the Edge. This project saw Jeremy sharing his extensive skill and professionalism with 40 primary and secondary students at Yalata Anangu, Koonibba Aboriginal, Ceduna and Streaky Bay schools. His experience has shown that photography can be an effective tool for building self-esteem and personal empowerment in young people.

Professional Development Overview
In 2011 Jeremy Watson visited New York City, United States with a professional development focus timed to take in a major retrospective by one of his favourite photographers - Elliot Erwitt.  Jeremy visited photography galleries and exhibitions, art galleries and museums, and shot a body of work comprising architecture and street photography with a high resolution compact camera.

A highlight of the experience was his visit to the Ground Zero 1945 Exhibition at the International Centre for Photography - ‘This was a very moving exhibition. Having recently worked on two participatory photography projects in Outback South Australia with a strong historic focus, I drew a lot of inspiration on new ways to present collections of original works with a strong chronological theme, for future projects.’

Jeremy learned much from his visit to New York and the experience will certainly influence his professional practice and provide practical methodologies as well as inspiration for his future work in communities and with young people.

Photo Gallery: to the right you can see a small selection of photographs of New York streets and architecture that have been exhibited at the Odeon Theatre, Carclew and Café Paradiso.

2012 Recipients

Excellence in arts teaching and leadership at primary school level – Irene Solowij

Highly-regarded as a classroom teacher at Settlers Farm Campus, Irene has taken responsibility for Expressive Arts and Visual Arts, from R-7 demonstrating leadership, expertise and advocacy. Irene has been proactive in promoting and celebrating the arts through her work with Come Out, Playfull, the Primary Schools Music Festival and Wakakirri. During 2012, Irene wishes to further her skills in the performing arts, and knowledge of the emerging arts curriculum through a wide variety of professional development activities, both locally and nationally.

Excellence in arts teaching and leadership at secondary school level – Earle Kilvert
Valued as a mentor, role model and collaborator, Earle has been a passionate arts educator and leader at Marryatville High School for a number of years. He brings to his work a vast knowledge and understanding of the history of theatre and his “nothing is impossible” approach creates magic every time the curtains open on one of his student productions. For his professional development, Earle will travel to the Edinburgh International Arts and Fringe Festival where he will experience a wide range of performances and venues, building knowledge to share with his students and colleagues.

Success as an artist working with teachers and students – James Parker
James is a highly-skilled and versatile visual artist who has been working in schools, communities and the local film industry in South Australia over many years. James shares his love of drawing, collage, assemblage and found object art with the students he works with and is regarded as an outstanding arts educator. A highlight for James, during 2010 was the Big Draw Creative Education Partnership at Murray Bridge North Schools, which went on to win an international Drawing Inspiration Award (U.K.). For his professional development, James will participate in a range of relevant international courses and experiences, serving as learning and inspiration for future collaborative arts projects.