Sophie Linton and Maddy Smith have been selected for this year’s exhibition that showcases outstanding works of art created by NSW students for the Higher School Certificate (HSC) Visual Arts examination from 2018. 

This annual exhibition, held at the NSW Art Gallery, provides an insight to the concerns and passions of young Australians, while introducing the artists and creative thinkers of tomorrow.

Sophie Linton, a Mulwaree High School graduate, is one of those creatives. 

She attended the opening of the exhibition on February 6 in Sydney.  

Linton said for the HSC, her work Musician Man was listed under “time-based forms”.

“It is a film that runs for about 3.5 minutes and plays on two different screens simultaneously,” she said. 

“My art is all about control and domestic violence in relationships and the cycle of violence. It was a heavy topic to tackle.”

It was filmed on two iPhones and edited with Final Cut Pro. 

“I have not had any experience with film before so I asked people about it and researched all I could about doing it,” she said. 

Linton said her art teacher, Toni Campbell, was very proud that both she and Maddy Smith made it into ArtExpress.

Being selected has made her consider a possible career in the arts, she said.

“I was really surprised and excited that I got in, so it has made me consider art and film making as an option for a career,” she said. 

“I have just finished Year 12 and I am having a gap year and moving to Sydney. I might be able to access more courses in relation to film making up there.

“Film making is a big interest for young people and the quality of films being produced even on iPhones is becoming quite sophisticated.

“With developments in technology, it is a lot easier for people to develop these skills in editing.” 

Linton has also been accepted into the University of Wollongong (UOW) to study communications and media, but says she has deferred that for a year.

Her other interests include speech and drama.

She is also a former vice captain at Mulwaree High. 

Young Goulburn woman Maddy Smith has also been selected for the ArtExpress 2019 exhibition.

Her selected artwork was a piece called The Circle of Life, featuring coloured pencil on hardwood. 

Smith said the theme also determined the media she used. 

“That is why I drew them on the circular wood panels,” she said. 

“The five circles each contain an image of a person at a different stage of life.”

They will be mounted on a wall during the exhibition at the Armory Gallery at Sydney Olympic Park.

The artwork will also travel to Wagga Wagga as part of ArtExpress 2019. 

Ironically, the image in the middle circle is of her friend and fellow art student Sophie Linton. 

Smith said she originally photographed the models and then drew a grid onto the wood to draw them. 

She said she had always been drawing and loved art. 

“I have been drawing ever since I could remember,” she said. “I have also been attending arts camps at the National Arts School in Sydney and I just fell in love with it all.” 

She has some big plans for her artistic future. “I am enrolled at the National Art School in Sydney, but I also have an interview for the University of the Arts in London, which happens through the ArtExpress, so Sophie Linton has an interview with them, too,” she said.  

“Wherever I am selected, it will be three years’ study for a Bachelor of Fine Arts.”