Day 5 took us back to the Rouse Hill Town Centre where we had the first launch of the Archibull Prize in 2010
We have 7 schools today so it will be very interesting!
As a taster here are Wendy’s insights into the first 3
School Nineteen was Arndell Anglican College
“Jersey” tells the story of the “threads that bind us together”.
She talks about the final products made from much of the cotton industry in Australia –clothes.
The story starts with plain white cotton clothing on the washing line. This is a typical Australian image that we can all identify with and immediately recognise. Shown are the basic clothes for all of us – sox, underwear, singlets and t-shirts.
From this image, she then progresses to a bright series of complex geometric patterns which represent some of the retro fashion styles found in 2013.
To emphasize that cotton is the core of the fashion industry, “Jersey’s” internal organs are shown as being made from intertwined cotton plants.
The picnic basket on her side shows the different stages of cotton production, as cotton samples in bottles.
School Twenty was Caroline Chisholm College
Having won the Archibull Prize in 2011 and best cow in 2012 with two cows dedicated to telling a very thorough, easy to identify story in an interactive way we were looking forward to seeing what the girls had come up with this year.
It was soon very clear the girls have chosen the same focus this year . There is not much which “Salvador” doesn’t tell us about the cotton industry in Australia, and each part has been shown in an unusual way! He has been designed to appeal to a wide variety of viewers from small children to farmers.
Salvador is part of a cotton picker!
On the tailgate of the picker, a timeline of cotton growth is shown, both through words and visually through key parts of the cycle forming a pop-up book. These key elements –seed germination, vegetatvie state and then flowering, all lead to Salvador himself who is the mature cotton boll. Harvesting is then shown through the cotton picker (which Salvador is driving).
The history of cotton and the production cycle are shown on the melting clock faces on either side of Salvador, reminiscent of “melting Clocks” by Dali.
The blocks at the front of the picker, connect to smaller children and tell stories about pests, the products that can be produced from 1 bale of cotton, growing of cotton through the seasons and the importance of Australian cotton.
The drip irrigation on the udder shows the importance of water to the industry and also how technical the industry has become.
Next up was School Twenty One Cranebrook High School
This cow shakes, rattles and rolls!
“HarMoony” is bright and bold and takes a very different approach to the Beef industry in Australia. The approach was to look at the industry through the ways they are trying to harmonise with the environment and with nature.
They chose to do this through a play on the word ‘harmony’. An interactive approach was taken and a multitude of musical instruments are used.
Here is a little movie I made just to show how clever HarMOOny is
She has chosen the simple and striking colour of bright orange as her base. This is the identifying colour of Harmony Day. The simple black contrast of the words, statistics and musical instruments works well.
She will be a favourite with the kids, but may come home a little worse for all the wear she will certainly get!
