This past year student engagement at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery (LWAG), now part of the Education portfolio, has grown and expanded in exciting new ways as the Gallery continues to develop new opportunities for students.

The LWAG Student Advisory Committee, a leadership position for UWA students, is now in its second year. Tasked with advising LWAG staff on its student engagement, Committee members gain intimate knowledge about the running of a gallery and work collaboratively with gallery staff to develop new initiatives and public programs aimed at making the Gallery a welcoming, dynamic and integral space for students.

A highlight of the recent programs developed by the Committee was The Art of Composition, an event organised with the UWA Music Students’ Society that invited students studying music composition to create new pieces in response to artwork with the final compositions performed live at the close of semester.

Music student Moses Kington-Walberg said that participating as a composer in the event proved to be invaluable in the formation of the music, and in the expansion of his capacity as a composer.

“Participating in this project has resulted in a second ongoing collaboration between myself and the artist, as well as inspired me to assist in continuing and developing projects like this as a member of the Student Advisory Committee here at the Gallery.”

Students also gained invaluable experience curating and exhibiting artwork at LWAG.

[Left to right]: Sky Edwards, Isabella Rossaro, Julie Robyn Ziegenhardt, Amy Neville, Debbie Gilchrist, Annique Cockerill and Lee Kinsella in Paper Cut: Students in Residence at the 2021 Season 1 Opening Night at LWAG. Photograph by Ilkka K Photography.

From February to March 2021, artists Annique Cockerill, Sky Edwards, Debbie Gilchrist, Isabella Rossaro and Julie Robyn Ziegenhardt exhibited their work and participated in a series of lively artist talks as part of a residency project organised as part of the Paper Cut exhibition.

Curated by art history student Amy Neville, Paper Cut: Students in Residence was part of a research-based internship Amy undertook at the Gallery under the mentorship of the Curator of the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, Lee Kinsella.

“The Students in Residence program gave us a space to express ourselves and to tell our stories as art students to the public,” Amy explained.

“Working with the gallery allowed me the opportunity to connect the art community with UWA students and to finish my degree with the experience of curating a professional exhibition.”

The Gallery has also been the site for curriculum engagement and cross-disciplinary enquiry. Students in Dr Ionat Zurr’s Curatorial Practices (ARTF2000) spent the semester learning about exhibition-making within the Gallery, while students in Dr Chantal Bourgault Du Coudray’s Beyond ‘Gender Wars’ (GEND1901) used their visit to the LWAG exhibitions as a source of inspiration for their coursework.

For student Emma Cain, the visit gave “our whole group great ideas” and “helped a lot and was so calming during such a stressful period of the semester.”

Read the full issue of the Winter 2021 edition of Uniview. [PDF 3MB]