In addition to her groundbreaking work with charity foundation Bambigi, which she founded at the age of 12, Piper Stewart has now cemented herself as an immensely talented local artist.
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Miss Stewart's artwork is now on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales along with 49 other artworks by students across the state, as part of the ArtExpress 2024 exhibition.
From over 8000 submissions, developed for the HSC Visual Arts examination in 2023, just 50 made it into the renowned gallery for this year's exhibition - and Miss Stewart's work is now among them.
"It was very exciting. I went to the opening night on Wednesday [February 7] and it was so surreal. So many amazing, famous artists have been in there and to have my work there was amazing," Miss Stewart said.
Former exhibitors at the ArtExpress exhibition include famed artists Ben Quilty, David Griggs, Julie Fragar and Louise Zhang, among plenty more.
Miss Stewart's textile piece 'Woven Together: My Culture, Our History' is a collection of 18 intricately woven piece susing multiple techniques and materials that she was inspired to create after picking up weaving in 2020.
Last year, she learnt and was inspired by more Indigenous weavers and took that to heart in creating her HSC project - aiming to capture cultural history and citing her mother and aunt as key inspirations.
"Definite inspirations are my mum and my Aunty. They taught me weaving at the start and then definitely the Aunties in Darwin," she said.
"I think I did myself proud and made my family proud as well in continuing our art and continuing those cultural practices."
She added a thank you to her art teacher, Doerinda Gardner as well as her classmates who had offered support and feedback throughout the process.
The goal of the exhibition is to provide a level of insight into students' creativity and the issues important to them, through a wide range of formats from painting and graphic design all the way to sculpture and ceramics.
For current visual arts students looking at the HSC, Miss Stewart encouraged them to try and create something personal and important to them rather than play to what they think judges might want to see.
"Most of the artworks there really meant something to the creators. Do something that's meaningful to you."
The ArtExpress 2024 exhibition is running in the Art Gallery of New South Wales' South Building from February 8 to April 21.
More information is available at artgallery.nsw.gov.au
Cai Holroyd
Journalist for the Area News in Griffith. RMIT graduate. Full-time writer and part-time nuisance. Been described as 'present.'
Journalist for the Area News in Griffith. RMIT graduate. Full-time writer and part-time nuisance. Been described as 'present.'
