Letters: Region suffers as training kitchens stand idle
[box]We encourage readers to write a letter to Bluestone Magazine if you have something to say, or a special event to promote. Write to us at editor@bluestonemagazine.com.au.[/box]
Apprentice chefs in the south-west are having to travel to Geelong for their TAFE classes and access to commercial training kitchens. File shot: Queensland TAFE.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] D [/dropcap]ear Editor,
I am writing to you on behalf of many voices within South West Victoria regarding an issue that can no longer be ignored.
Quality training for those in our local community who wish to fulfil their dream of becoming a successful chef in our region is out of reach.
Our hospitality industry is growing in leaps and bounds, but trained professionals are nowhere to be found.
Why?
We no longer offer cookery students a place to blossom and learn paramount skills here in Warrnambool or surrounds.
How do I know this? I drop my partner off at the Warrnambool train station each Monday morning at 5:30am to go to the city of Geelong to attend the Gordon TAFE to fulfil her dreams.
This has serious consequences.
Serious consequences for individuals, industry and the communities here within South West Victoria.
I hear of many people from Warrnambool, Portland, Hamilton, Horsham who work within the industry and then have to source the time, energy and money to travel to the city of Geelong to the Gordon TAFE to undertake their full day cookery classes.
Safety and knowledge for the student, productivity for the local food establishment, and long term community benefit are all suffering from cookery training no longer being offered through South West TAFE.
A once bustling TAFE restaurant now sits empty. Another industrial-sized kitchen at Brauer College sits awaiting eager hands once more. Two ‘A’ class facilities left to gather dust and cobwebs.
We are a progressive and fast growing city and region. We must demand quality tertiary education for those who wish to better themselves. We have an obligation to individuals, industry and the community to provide high level training and skills within our fast growing and highly popular food and hospitality industry here in this region.
No longer as a community can we remain complacent with this current situation.
Action is needed now before we all become losers in this current no winner scenario.
Roxanne Thomson, Warrnambool.
[box]You can write to us at editor@bluestonemagazine.com.au Please include a full name, address and contact number. Letters are published at our discretion and may be edited for length or clarity.[/box]
Brauer College Year 11 student Alex Jones with the work of his fellow art students behind him. Alex’s work is part of the school’s Art & Design exhibition at the Lighthouse Theatre.
Words and photos by Carol Altmann
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] A [/dropcap]lex Jones is one of those young creatives who has been drawing for as long as he can remember and whose natural talent just oozes out of him, much like the images he creates.
The Year 11 Brauer College student from Bushfield is making his mark as a young artist to watch, with his exploration of life, death, mythology and the darker, surreal elements of fantasy and reality.
“Ever since I was little I have loved books about mythology and fantasy and using my own imagination to create those worlds,” Alex, 17, says.
“I have always drawn pretty dark stuff, much to the disgust of my grandmother,” he adds, laughing.
A digitally manipulated image – featuring Alex’s father and golden labradors.
Perhaps not one for Grandma, but the detail in Alex’s drawing is remarkable and won the people and staff choice awards in the 2013 WRAD Art in Schools Competition
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] A [/dropcap]lex works across a range of mediums, including pencil, paint, sculpture, photography and printing, to create images that are often morbid or foreboding, yet mesmerising.
“I like to convey messages about life and death and different ways of looking at life, while also making the work really detailed,” he says.
Alex’s favoured themes are a stark contrast to his cheerful disposition and love of the sea, and he laughs as he admits that most of his work is not displayed at home (his mother, Yvonne Lefebure, is a textiles teacher at Brauer).
But his attention to detail and a willingness to explore different approaches and techniques is inspiring.
At an age when most young artists are still mimicking the work of others until they find their own style, Alex will take an idea and then push it, pull it and stretch it around until it becomes his own.
Alex’s roadkill lantern, which is part of an installation at the Brauer Art & Design Exhibition.
Life, death and decay are common themes in Alex’s work, including this photograph of a fungi that is reproduced in a scratch drawing.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] G [/dropcap]ail Higgins, head of the Brauer Art Department and one of Alex’s teachers, tells a story of how he found some roadkill, let it dry out, and used the skull together with moulded, clay horns and bits of fur to create a new work.
“He puts a great deal of thought into how he approaches each piece,” Gail says.
And Alex himself explains how he experimented with making his own paint pigments from wine, blueberries and raspberries which he then used for a printmaking piece on the crucifixion of Christ.
But perhaps his most striking work is one of three that are included in the Brauer College Art & Design Exhibition now showing at the Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool (until Nov 16).
It is a highly detailed eagle that has been etched onto individual panes of painted perspex that are mounted into a vintage window frame.
Alex’s winning work from the Portland Rotary Art Show: the eagle etched into panels of painted perspex (detail).
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] T [/dropcap]he majestic bird has its wings outstretched, as if in flight, but its head flops to one side and a medieval sword runs down the centre of its body.
“The window symbolises the interface between life and death,” Alex explains.
“You only get to see glimpses from one side – not the whole picture. And the sword, well it symbolises mans killing of an innocent creature.”
Gail is right: Alex puts a lot of thought into each of his pieces.
The eagle image recently won best contemporary painting at at the Portland Rotary Art Show and Alex’s work has also been recognised with a people’s choice and staff choice award in the 2013 Western Region Drug and Alcohol Art in Schools competition.
Despite his talent and love of art, however, Alex intends to put his attention to detail and inquisitive mind to work in another career, as a scientist.
Given the synergies between science, life and death, it seems the perfect fit.
Alex experimented with making his own pigments using blueberries, wine and raspberries for this work on the crucifixion of Christ.
[box]The Brauer College Art & Design Exhibition is open until Sunday November 16, Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool. It was curated by Gareth Colliton, from the Warrnambool Art Gallery, with the assistance of two Brauer College students Gemma Stormer and Emily Bakic. Free entry.[/box]
[button link=”http://the-terrier.com.au/subscribe-2/” type=”icon” icon=”heart” newwindow=”yes”]Bluestone needs 500 subscribers to thrive. If you enjoyed this story, please click here to become one![/button]
Older letters here…
You might also enjoy…