[intro music]

DANIELLE PALMER: I'm Danielle Palmer. I work at Tempe High School and I'm a visual art teacher.

CAROL MCGILVERY: Hi, I'm Carol McGilvery. I'm head teacher, creative and performing arts, from Kincumber High School, and today, Dani and I are going to discuss this work here, entitled and called 'Endangered Species of Delusion'. So, Dani, this is a highly accomplished body of work. It has 5 pieces that are purposely arranged here and beautifully curated.

They look to me, Dani, like they're hand-built pieces, perhaps with a coiling method, and there's a high-relief surface going on within this work, too. Lovely. Really skilled detail on the surface as well that is beautifully engaging.

DANIELLE PALMER: What I really enjoy about this is it draws you in. This artwork really draws you in. The colours sort of attract you at first, and obviously, the whimsical, surreal nature of the creatures-- it brings you in, and then the closer you get to it, you start to really see the technical proficiency of this student.

The amount of detail that's on the surface and the level of blending that they've achieved is-- you could imagine this student in the classroom every lunch, every recess coming in, putting in all those hours to try and achieve this beautiful, seamless blending of what we would imagine is underglaze, which we know is not the easiest thing to do blending with.

CAROL MCGILVERY: Yes. Yes, it's true. It seems that the practice has been tested. There is an element of sophistication here with the surfaces and the surface colour; it's magical. It's almost-- It has a surreal quality to it, and yet there's almost this-- For me, anyway, there's this juxtaposition of surreal, magical., and yet when you really dive into and have a look at the close-up features of this work, there's almost-- I'm looking for another word here, but there's almost a little bit of aggression within these creatures.

They're sort of-- for me, they're sort of like protective guardian figures. They're guarding something, which to me sort of feels like it's a bit of a nod to almost gargoyle, Gothic, cathedral, temple. There's a nod here to Jenny Orchard. There's a nod here to Jenny Orchard and her hybrid creatures.

So, there's these particular art history conventions that are being acknowledged, and through that, we're seeing a really assured practice where there's knowledge and information being presented back to us as the audience.

DANIELLE PALMER: Some of what I was talking about before with the details of the surface treatment in particular, all sides-- and this is, I think, a tricky thing we face with students when they work on a 3D work is this-- every one of these sculptures has been considered completely in the round. So, you could imagine them sitting there with their little wheel turning it, and every angle has been considered and carefully worked on. There's not one space here that looks like it's had less attention than the other. So, there's this real consistency on application. There's also this-- you want to touch them.

CAROL MCGILVERY: Yes.

DANIELLE PALMER: But there's a spikiness or a danger element that if you do, you're going to get a little-- it's going to be-- you're hesitant. They keep you at an arm's length because of that.

CAROL MCGILVERY: Yes, and yet, that comes back to that concept of that juxtaposition because there is a joyousness to the colour scheme. Yet, there's almost a-- you feel hesitant to touch them because you're worried about how they might react to you due to that real guardianship that they're showing in their expression of form.

There's a dichotomy happening within this in terms of conceptual approach. There's that beautiful, childlike colour, and yet, there is this other element in this surreal quality within this work. And the other thing here I'm seeing some Patricia Piccinini as well, Dani, I'm seeing a little bit of maybe the young family, 2002, where there's maybe a nod to science, and technology and the morphing of these forms. These creatures-- they look possibly a little bit Australian. There's a lizard, and there's a-- there's-- what else have we got here? A frog. Little possum.

DANIELLE PALMER: A little frog, yeah.

CAROL MCGILVERY: And yet, they're beautifully camouflaged to draw us away from just placing them in one area of category.

DANIELLE PALMER: Definitely. Yeah, they're hybrid with maybe a suggested habitat, too. So, we've got some nods to Australian wattle on this larger creature over here. So, there is a nod to the sea life and the fauna and flora of Australia. And there's also a play on words with things. We have dragons, and we have things like that. So, there's that idea that we have mythical names for some of our very realistic creatures, and I feel like they've tapped into that a little bit. The slip trail across the top--

CAROL MCGILVERY: Is stunning, isn't it?

DANIELLE PALMER: It really is.

CAROL MCGILVERY: It's really very skilful, controlled, assured. There's confidence there and knowledge in that technique.

DANIELLE PALMER: What it actually tells me is this student is really patient because they might have envisaged all that detail, but they had to really be quite patient to build up to get to that final slip on top and to make that choice of, 'OK, now I've done enough. Now I'm at that real resolution part where I'm bringing all of it together with this texture.' They are all linked with that texture.

CAROL MCGILVERY: There's a sensitivity there and an assurance, and there is that knowledge and that fine detail. It's moved it. It's elevated the standard of the work by adding that slip trailing. It's very fine work. Here, the student has curated the work, probably with their teacher, of course, and I can see, or could see here, that the work has been planned well.

There's been a planning in terms of the elements in the work. So, the 3 verticals in the back; they're dominant in their positioning, and then you've got the 2 works in the foreground here that are quite horizontal perhaps as well. And here, we see a different style of hand-building, and forming and consideration of balance and technique there as a sculptural component, too.

So, just in terms of structural frame and compositional device. So, Dani, overall, I think it's a delightful, surreal body of work that is highly imaginative, and it continues to open up to the audience, and it speaks to you from a number of levels.

[gentle music playing]