Berwick resident and Dandenong Chisholm Institute of TAFE art student Diana Papenfus receives congratulations from City of Greater Dandenong CEO John Bennie.TWO art students from Dandenong’s Chisholm Institute of TAFE are feeling a little light headed after winning major prizes at the Vital exhibition at Dandenong’s Drum Theatre late October.
Berwick resident Diana Papenfus won the City of Greater Dandenong Acquisitive Outdoor Sculpture prize of $1000 for her steel sculpture entitled Touch Down. Fellow Berwick resident Roslyn Crawford won the Jayco 2D design prize of $500 for her abstract work Steel White Crocus. The competition, amalgamated with the Ron Rado Memorial prize, was open to Chisholm Institute students enrolled in any visual art and design program. Both students are undertaking a diploma of visual arts at Chisholm’s Dandenong campus. Touch Down is a sculptural piece made out of recycled metal Ms Papenfus scrounged from bins, with the idea of creating something new from old.
The work was an attempt to create a large 3D object made of steel, and make it light, she said. “Something like a parachute or a balloon or something light – still made out of steel – to get that idea of floating. I wanted it to be a little bit ironic,” Ms Papenfus said.
Learning to weld helped her realise her dream artwork.
“Once I learned how to use the MIG welder, that just became a glue stick and it was using the steel to form something,” she said. “First of all the tool was everything, and then it became nothing. I did it with a lot of help from the lecturers here.
“The opportunity that Chisholm provides to do and explore these sorts of things is really fantastic.”
Ms Papenfus plans to use her prize money for further study and to also support needy children in Africa.
Roslyn Crawford’s abstract, using rusted metal, also aims to achieve the effect of floating.
“And it actually does do it,” she said. “When you stand back – it looks like they’re lifting up.”
The artwork was also created using scrap material.
“I live on a farm and I go down the back and find anything that’s rusty which I shape into whatever shape and then I adhere it to the canvas,” Ms Crawford said.
“I paint into it and use a lot of texture like sand and things like that. It’s stuck on with construction adhesive and it’s really, really strong. A crocus is a tulip-like flower. Quite a structured flower. I really like that shape without all the fuss about it.”
The works on display were also available for sale.
