×

Portals

images
Year 11

Amelia Bell

Year 11 student Amelia Bell is making a name for herself in the local art scene with her beautiful paintings that tell stories of family, community and the Gunditjmara – Maar land we live on.

Amelia was commissioned by Principal Peter Morgan to design window decals for the new Emmanuel College Library at the McAuley Campus and these will also be used on the windows that will eventually replace classroom corridor walls.

Amelia explained that her design for the window decals was a departure from her usual medium of paint. “This was my first digital artwork,” said Amelia and this is definitely a path I would like to explore further.”

“The larger circles in the design, says Amelia, “represent groups of people coming together in a safe space where everyone is free to learn and the smaller circles represent the individuals that make up our College community.”

Amelia’s interest in art began to develop in Year 7 and Dad, Shane along with her grandmother have been her main storytelling mentors.

Amelia has received several commissions and sold paintings to local restaurants along with having works in the Provincial in Ballarat. Exhibiting a special collection of her work (entitled The Formation of Gunditjmara Country) as part of the Port Fairy Winter Weekends has been a highlight, with all works selling. A short video made by Winter Weekends about Amelia and her art for this event attracted much attention.

Promoting her artwork through social media, including Facebook and Instagram, Amelia is keen to build a website in future.

Interestingly, Amelia does not study visual arts at school as she wants to keep her art as a form of escapism. “Creating art makes me feel calm and I think it’s good for mental health. Right now, it’s something I want to keep for myself as an interest.”

We congratulate Amelia on her design and look forward to seeing more work by this emerging young artist as she grows and explores her art and culture.