Artists-In-Residence unite

Term IV 2022 brought a unique and ambitious project. Edgecliff boys worked alongside Lauren Brincat, an artist known for her ‘live sculpture’ and musical installations.

Collaboration with other artists and cross disciplinary practice is a notable feature of her artistic approach, and at Edgecliff her visit culminated in the creation of a ‘silk score’. Each boy contributed to the score by designing and sewing his own silk flag, thinking about colour, shape and movement in relation to pitch, rhythm and pattern. The silk score was created to accompany Musician- In-Residence James Madsen’s ingenious composition “Acacia”; a song which celebrates Australia’s natural beauty, highlighting the colours of the wattle.

Pictured: Performance with silk score

In the Science Department, our Year 6 boys’ final term kick-started with learning sessions led by Scientist-In-Residence, Professor Michael Richards, team-teaching alongside Dr Pritchard. Patrick Harvey (6FH, 2022) explained what these sessions involved.

“First, we were introduced to our professor for the day, Michael Richards from the University of Sydney and found out we would be learning about solar panels. He taught us about how electrons move through wires, the mechanics that are involved and what elements are introduced. Professor Richards also talked about wind and solar, how they are very sustainable options and how batteries were ‘out of our time’ now. Then we went into experiment mode. We got our solar panels and found out how much activity we could get just with the light in the classroom. Then we hooked them up to a bright LED panel hanging from the ceiling and looked at the reaction, monitoring how many volts we could get through whilst having the panels held close and from different distances.

Pictured: Professor Michael Richards and Dr Pritchard with 6FH

Our next task was to make a fan move using just the solar power, and to see if it was possible from different distances. We used different numbers of solar panels in the experiments. First one, and then two, and some boys got to four or five panels, seeing how much energy was required to make the fan move. The professor told us where and how solar panels would be used best, and even in situations with limited numbers of solar panels how to get the best out of them in relation to the sun, with compass directions and angles. It was a great lesson; it taught me a lot about how solar panels really work. I was very interested, down to the molecular level and how the mechanics work.”

Pictured: Testing voltage