Year 10 Visual Art students began the term with an inspiring half day incursion in Week 1, led by visiting artist Rachelle Dusting. Held at Kolbe Catholic College, the workshop gave students a valuable opportunity to extend their drawing skills through a focused exploration of contemporary charcoal techniques, particularly the reductive method.
Throughout the session, students experimented with controlled erasing, subtractive mark making and tonal refinement, learning how to build depth and contrast by lifting charcoal rather than adding it. Dusting also shared insights from her own studio practice, where she specialises in realistic portraiture. She encouraged students to refine their observational skills and their ways of seeing, and highlighted the importance of tone, colour theory and selecting the right tools to achieve more photorealistic outcomes.
Students observed Dusting’s professional process and applied their newly learned techniques to their own media experiments, producing studies that will directly support the Inquiry and Artist Influence components of their Visual Diary. This hands on experience deepened their understanding of how artists research, trial and apply visual language within their work.
Year 10 student Maria shared, “It was an amazing experience that enabled us to view art in a different way”.
Another student, Mariia, added, “I learned a lot of new techniques for drawing more realistic pictures. The artist explained everything clearly, and the skills she showed us will be really useful for my future artwork”.
The incursion offered an energising start to the term, enriching students’ art practice and laying a strong foundation for their upcoming projects.
