Swimming up Stream

Phimchanok Phongphanaram

Year: 11

School: Byford Secondary College

Medium: Printmaking Mixed Media (installation)

Artist statement: This group work ‘Swimming Up Stream’ was created as a part of the work for the VET Certificate II Unit in Visual Art. The theme of the artwork is ‘creating awareness about the ocean environment’ and the impact of ocean use on animals and ecosystems. The Unit Make Simple Creative Work focused on making printed fish by using relief print techniques to produce a work about the reflecting the beauty of the animals in the ocean. The relief printmaking technique was chosen to produce the print design for the fish as this helped create some interesting textual effects than other printmaking methods. The techniques of carving into the scratch foam helped the group to create selected details such as the lines inspired by the water pattern designs created in class. The group selected a source fish image from research into Australian fish, which they then have adapted through design drawing to suit the ideas and colour planning of the prints. The group was inspired by a guest artist Patricia Hines and the work of the selected focus artist who lives in Western Australia Roger Anthony Swainston. He is an Australian painter. Naturalist and zoologist, he is one of the most recognised artists of the underwater world. As a conservationist, Roger has supported ecological projects and research, he works closely with conservation organisations to help protect fishery resources and increase knowledge of marine life. The group has successfully presented their intention to communicate an awareness of marine life by producing a vivid artwork with the details of water patterns and the form of a fish from research into Rodger Swainston’s work. We hope that the viewer of the Print installation of fishes ‘Swimming Up Stream’ enjoys the contemporary print work that we have produced.