Explore a selection of portfolio samples submitted by past applicants to the Sydney College of the Arts.
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Portfolio development tips
The artwork and artist statements below reflect the creativity, conceptual depth, and technical skill that comprise successful applications to our programs. From drawing and painting to digital media and installation, each portfolio demonstrates how aspiring artists engage with ideas, materials, and processes in distinctive and compelling ways.
Whether you are preparing your own submission or simply seeking inspiration, these examples offer valuable insight into the diverse approaches and artistic voices that thrive at Sydney College of the Arts (SCA).
Through my work, "A Matter of Time", inspired by my grandfather's life and experiences, I present a collection of nine monochrome works and a photo book that explore the painful themes of mortality, loneliness, the slow passage of time, the metamorphosis inherent in human life. By using multidisciplinary mediums such as film/negatives, DSLR (digital) photography, and cyanotype processes, I seek to evoke the ephemeral nature of life and the quiet solitude that often accompanies old age.
The use of the cyanotype process induces a sense of melancholy and reflection, while the stark contrasts in the negatives and monochrome photography convey a raw and unfiltered truth.
I aim to establish a personal connection with the audience and connect art, people, and experiences, encouraging them to reflect on their own experiences with aging, loneliness, and the transformative processes of life. This work invites viewers to confront the often-overlooked realities of the present and the enduring memories of loved ones. My influences include Maria Kontis, Steve McCurry, and the Middle East Archives, whose work similarly explores the intersections of time, memory, and human experience.
I hope to learn new skills and enhance others. I wish to learn how to engage further in the world of art to eventually communicate insightful messages.
The first three submissions in my portfolio are part of my VA Major Work - currently my most developed and extensive artwork, stemming from my passion for urban landscapes. They’re miniature building facades, sculpted with ‘Sculpey’ polymer clay, then painted with acrylic paint. This has developed my skills in creating texture and depth in sculpture and painting - sculpting and painting tiny intricate details, dry brushing + wash techniques creating an aged/worn look, etc. I will assemble the finished facades in a brick-like pattern, further highlighting details of urban environments.
Over many years, I have developed useful artistic abilities such as; character design (traditional and digital drawing), sculpture (clay, miniature), and painting (acrylic, watercolour, oil). Also exploring new practices; pottery (on wheel), jewellery making, textiles (designing and sewing apparel from scratch, embellishment techniques), and more.
I’ve always had extreme determination to explore and excel in multiple practices. After attending two tours of the USYD/SCA campus, I am committed to attending this University to develop more in art making and history, supporting my future in an artistic field. I am excited to try glass blowing, metalwork, pottery, and all practices offered at SCA. I truly believe this is the next step in my education. With an ideal course plan to excel in art, I am thrilled to have the Bachelor of Visual Arts as my number one preference.
As an individual determined to embrace her intersectional identity, it is my goal to imbue those personal elements within the works I create; I hope to invite others into my world and let them find themselves within it. I am thus driven by concepts like selfhood, diversity, nostalgia, and disrupted landscapes. Over the course of my amateur practice, I have increasingly grown aware of the significance of materials and modality in the communication of these ideas; such experimentations can be seen in the mixed media artwork Laps which depicts an aerial strip of imagined land, an artwork built with a stream of consciousness pattern creation process, using various tools. In the creation of Systemic, I discovered the enormous story-telling and interactional potential of mirrored surfaces used as a canvas.
In future mirror paintings and drawings, I am especially keen to incorporate the compositional device Rückenfigur which I believe will offer an especially unique insight for the reflected audience. Good side was inspired by anamorphic representations, a distortion which greatly appeals to the expression of certain facets of my identity. Through Gail O’Brien AO, I present an exploration of realism while in the digital works, I offer illustrations that support text-based works. It is my hope that with the SCA’s resources at my disposal, I would be able to better understand my art-making process and learn ways of incorporating textural, audio-visual multimodality in my work.
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The Veiling of a Heart
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STORM
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Devil Bean
My first serious film was “Devil Bean”, a satirical modern fable about the dangers of coffee addiction which earned screenings at national and international festivals, including a showcase in the American Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival. I choose to portray the coffee machine as a supernatural invader: colliding the modern, picket-fence family fairytale that the family represents and gaudy cult classic horror conventions that the coffee machine represents, and thus essentially playing out the conflict of the film on both an emotional and stylistic dimension.
This film sparked my continuing interest in the potential that style in film has to mimic our perception. I believe in a pure subjectivity of perception, and that essentially, each individual’s lens creates their own reality (and I have immense fun playing this philosophy out on screen!).
In my film “Storm” I created a cinematic microcosm where the frame (colour, lighting, angles and sound) bends to the presence of different characters. Similarly, my Art-Express nominated film “The Veiling of a Heart” juxtaposed the horror and romance genres to externalise the main character’s fluctuation between self-loathing and love.
Recently, I co-directed a production of Hamlet, learning the importance of physicality and movement. This prompted my reflection on the need for a more diverse education to enrich my filmmaking practice. This is why I’m particularly excited to be exposed and tutored in new art forms at SCA.
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Stop motion animation
'All man can now see is the horror and absurdity of existence' - Year 12 major work.
My inspiration for many works builds on my interests and draws upon images I have taken or found online as references. My HSC major work, for example, grew from my interest in history, utilising WWII era imagery of equipment and war machines to depict the absurd reality of modern warfare. My growing confidence in pencils, graphite and charcoal, led me to create a stop motion animation, using addition and erasure techniques inspired by my study of William Kentridge’s works.
Comparatively, the majority of my personal projects mostly use images I take, or are from my imagination, and are inspired not only by my family, but also my interest in film and pop culture, expressed through drawings using fineliners or digital mediums. This is evidenced in my more recent work with my dog as the subject matter, with a style I would like to develop further, and bring colour into.
I have a keen interest in expanding my repertoire of mediums I use through the Visual Arts course at SCA, including but not limited to sculpture and painting, that I have enjoyed in my previous schooling but would like to improve in. I think that the course will also help guide me into a profession that supports my enjoyment of art and film through learning more about art history and exploration of new mediums.
