Cranebrook High School

“Ginny” is a cow you want to touch. She is vibrant and draws the viewer in.

Once close you realize she is amazingly tactile with a very interesting finish.

“Ginny” asks a lot of questions of the viewer and is a mass of contradictions. She is modern, industrial and abstract in style.

Yet has many old-fashioned and antique elements.

She shows old cotton industry practices in the images, but also new cotton industry products which are familiar to us all.

You expect these modern products to be soft and tactile and yet they are stiff and solid.

The historical images on her sides are subtle and quite monotone in palette and yet “Ginny” vibrates with colour and stands out across a room.

She tells an interesting story about the cotton industry but has almost no words on her sides.

Ag teacher Dani Saxon proudly commented that “making the undies spin was my thing!” Very interesting priorities Dani!

Ag teacher Dani Saxon and the team spent many hours searching in lots of odd spots for the many and varied items old and new that come together to make up “Ginny”

Jamison High School

“Jules” was named after John Feltham Archibald, the founder of one of Australia’s oldest and best known art prizes. Loving all things European, he later changed his name to Jules Francais. Jamison High’s “Jules” gives a subtle nod to the Archibald Prize, which through a play on words became our name!

“Jules” is made up of a collection of jigsaw puzzle pieces imitating the traditional patterning seen on a dairy cow.

Some of these puzzle pieces have words associated with them relating to the dairy industry and to the needs of the industry as it heads into the future.

Her head and eyes are beautifully painted in a realistic style, while her ears have quirky puzzle patterning.

Caroline Chisholm

“Athena”, named after the school’s female Holstein cow, says everything you could want to say about the dairy industry in Australia. With her puzzle base and upright stand, she takes the form of a trophy – a trophy proclaiming Dairy as the Winner!

The puzzle base, which depicts a stereotypical dairy farm image, opens up to reveal a series of milk myths, which are then busted by dairy industry facts.

Her sides talk about the impact of the carbon tax on the dairy industry, the staggering quantities of cows needed to provide the required amounts of milk, the processes and the biosecurity risks to the industry itself.

Scattered all over are also a series of QR Codes, which then link the viewer to a wealth of further information. Definitely the complete dairy picture!

There was some morning tea to tempt us

and a quick visit to the textiles room to check out some more talented teens

Winmalee High School

“Singer” shows the yin and the yang of the cotton industry. She challenges preconceived ideas and is very clever.

One side is black. It represents the manufacturing side of the industry. It is a simple, elegant and beautiful depiction of an old-fashioned Singer sewing machine. It is intricately detailed in gold and translates surprisingly well to the side of a cow –who would have guessed this was possible!

To further the concept of the sewing machine, she has been threaded from head to tail with thread, just as a sewing machine would be. Except that in this case, the thread is not thread at all. It has been made from the sustainable re-use of discarded aluminium cans. (Perhaps this would be a little prickly and sharp to wear??)

The other side of “Singer”, is white.

This is the consumer and highly processed side and appears to scan you as you walk by. It is as though you have been bought, scanned and paid for at a shop- the barcode in her side lights up and she beeps when you come close! Great effect!

Bar Code Off and On

This side also has intricate detailing in the clouds of tiny red ladybirds hovering in areas. They are good for cotton plants as they eat the destructive aphids which are so damaging to the plants. In effect, “Singer” has her own integrated pest management system!

This finishes Day 3 of our Archibull judging! It is definitely time for the weekend and some much needed rest!! We will be ready and raring to go again by Monday morning, I’m sure!