Secondary school students from Alphington Grammar will depart for a European art and culture tour next Wednesday.
I always show the students photos and they said to me ‘why don’t you take us with you next time?’
Head of Art at Melbourne’s Alphington Grammar, Mrs Alex Kimonides will take 16 senior school students (from years 10, 11 and 12) on a three week trip, visiting Paris, the Loire Valley and London.
The itinerary includes visits to the Louvre Museum, Musee Rodin, and Musee d’Orsay in Paris; The Tate Modern, Tate Britain and National Gallery in London, and other famous landmarks.
This is the first time the school trip has run, Mrs Kimonides told Neos Kosmos, adding that it was her own personal trips to Europe that inspired the students.
“I teach art to adults as well, and I take them overseas; we’ve done about five overseas trips. I always show the students photos and they said to me ‘why don’t you take us with you next time?'” Mrs Kimonides said.
Experiencing great works of art first-hand is imperative for art students, Mrs Kimonides said.
“We study all these works and we’re relying on second hand images that we download to show the students, and Australia doesn’t really have the architecture in terms of art galleries and museums, so it’s so beneficial for the students to be able to see the art first hand and experience the culture,” she said.
The students, accompanied by Mrs Kimonides, Monica Bardon, Josie Walta, and other chaperones, will fly to Paris, visit the Loire Valley and travel by rail to London.
Mrs Kimonides said fitting everything into three weeks of travel is always a challenge.
“There are some thing you have to do, you can’t not see the Mona Lisa. The students will be appreciating traditional, classic artworks in Paris, but then we’ll also be visiting the Tate museum, where students can appreciate modern art and things that are a bit different. It’s a good balance,” she said.
And instead of keeping a typical travel diary, students will sketch their experiences in visual diaries, Mrs Kimonides said.
“Students will record everything visually, everything we see, everything we visit, we sketch it.”
