Big event for portrait

By Ed Merrison
ORIGINALLY conceived as a means of brightening up her business management classroom at Mount Evelyn Christian School, Julia Kondylis’s portrait of former classmate Laura Knight is now hanging in more prestigious artistic surrounds.
Ms Kondylis is one of 62 students whose art works feature at Top Arts: VCE 2005, one of the National Gallery of Victoria’s most popular annual exhibitions which opened on Thursday, 27 April.
Out of 2500 applications from government, independent and Catholic schools across Victoria, the gallery has selected just over 80 works for the free exhibition, including two pieces by Ms Kondylis.
Ms Kondylis’s oil paintings will hang alongside works from just about every conceivable medium, including photography, drawing, sculpture, textiles, short film and animation, multimedia, digital imagery, printmaking, mosaic, works on paper and conceptual art.
Now enrolled in an event management course at Box Hill TAFE, Ms Kondylis’s painting took pride of place at the special opening night showing on Wednesday, 26 April.
Ms Kondylis said she had looked forward to the opening, although painting was taking a back seat to her preferred career option of wedding planner.
“I want to (be a wedding planner) because it’s fun and I love weddings. I like it for the creative aspect, plus I like seeing people happy and all dressed up – and it’s just too hard to get into the art world,” she said.
Local residents interested in the work of Ms Kondylis and other talented young artists can catch Top Arts: VCE 2005 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Federation Square until Sunday, 16 July.