LISTENING to the beat of his music and sculpting recycled clay with his hands, Lachlan Taylor let the creativity flow to create a masterpiece.
The 16 year-old Australian Christian College (ACC) Singleton student is one of a group of year 9, 10 and 11 students to have their creations exhibited at Singleton Arts and Cultural Centre.
On show at Upper Arts 23, the inaugural senior school exhibition is now open and will run through to February 11, 2024.
"It feels really good that my work is on display. The community is bringing younger artists into the world and it is a good way for us to get into the eye of the public," he said.
Key themes in this year's selection of works include personal identity, environmental engagement and traditional European modernism.
Ideas around identity, with a particular interest in how individuals are perceived and the potential boundaries of societal expectation are expressed in the works of a number of young artists, including Ashlee Kramer, Lexie Bright, Chelsea Bailey, Harrison Rowe and Andy Dang.
Extinction, erosion and ongoing changes to the natural environment through the impacts of human interaction was the focus for Mr Taylor, Kasey Tudor, Thanawat Thananiweij, Mariah O'Neil and Chloe Frederick.
"I chose a very arid, very dry land mixed with sort of a completely opposite realm of water winding through such a dry place, to show the vast differences of the land," Mr Taylor said.
Mr Taylor, Emelia Griffiths and Lulu Davis experimented with form, texture, colour, materiality and the grouping of objects, to reconsider and rework traditions from European and Australian modernist artists.
"I used recycled clay and then through listening to music and to what I was hearing I made three random forms," Mr Taylor said.
Ms Griffiths who also attends ACC said it took her most of the school term to create 10 clay pieces inspired by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky.
"I took his 2D artworks and turned them into 3D with my own spin. I used colour and organic shapes," she said.
She said she enjoyed art because it was soothing and was excited to see her work on display and said it was open to interpretation.
"I enjoy clay work and sculpture. It's just a nice way to feel your emotions in something visible. It feels very special that my artwork is in a gallery," she said.
Singleton High School's Lexie Bright said it was the first time anyone had seen her art outside of her family and the classroom.
"It's the first time I've ever done something like this and had my artworks shown to other people other than my family. I hope people enjoy them," she said.
Over the summer the cultural centre will also showcase a range of contemporary works by 52 leading artists from across Australia as part of Artspace's national touring exhibition 52 Actions.
Singleton Council organisation and community capacity director Vicki Brereton said visitors to the gallery would be treated to an exhibition they had yet not experienced in Singleton.
"There are limited opportunities for our young artists to showcase their works in a professional gallery locally, which is why were incredibly excited to work with our local high schools on this exhibition," she said.
