It’s what makes the IEU-QNT Excellence in Art and Design Awards so special and so greatly appreciated by independent teachers in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
One Gold Coast teacher honoured in this year, for her evocative black and white photo, is as proud as punch after being encouraged to enter by a senior art teacher colleague.
Established in 1994 to promote and encourage artistic students and to celebrate their flair for creativity, the Awards’ Open section is a welcome opportunity for teachers to have their artistic prowess to be acknowledged and rewarded.
The category’s aim is to promote and celebrate their artistic endeavours; to connect with their creative side, step away from their hard work in classrooms and create their own pieces of art.
“My dad’s a photographer, but doesn’t do it anymore, so we’ve always been around cameras. I love taking photos of nature and my children,” St Andrews Lutheran College Tullabudgera teacher Kizzie Hinze tells EducationHQ.
“I don’t classify myself as being creative, but I love that the Awards give us an opportunity to be interested in and be involved in the arts, and a means to showcase that to the community.
“I’ve had lots of people coming up to me saying, ‘I saw yours. It’s so good. Is that (your daughter) Addy?’ And so, even parents knowing that about you and then having those conversations just makes it more special.”
The thought-provoking photo is indeed of Hinze’s daughter, Addy, and her taller friend warming up during tryouts for a QSL Youth basketball team (a semi-professional league in Queensland). At the time, the pair were deeply engaged in banter and Hinze thought ‘I really want to capture this moment’.
Untitled by Kizzie Hinze is described by reviewer Julie Seidel as ‘a compelling yet intimate image of two friends’ with a ‘depth of field and framing of the central figures that communicates a sensitive bond between the two’.
“I said, ‘can I please take a photo? I won’t include your faces.’ You know, the whole teenager thing,” she laughs.
“I wanted them to be the main focal point, but then having the framing of their home, their basketball stadium, with everything around them.
“I’m a sucker for black and white; I just love what it does for an image.”
The result is what Open category reviewer Julie Seidel described as “a compelling yet intimate image of two friends”.
“The depth of field and framing of the central figures communicates a sensitive bond between the two,” Seidel said.
“The choice of monochromatic tonal values and a central focus point conveys connection.
“It’s great to see an artist pursuing the craft of black and white photography and exploring its timeless qualities.”
Basketball, Hinze says, connects people from all walks of life, and is a massive part of her family’s life and story.
The Grade 3 teacher is not kidding. When not teaching or raising her two children, the super active mum and her husband volunteer coaching U14 and U18 sides at her local stadium from Sunday to Thursday.
The last eight to ten years Hinze has also taught nippers, so that’s anywhere from 50 to 80 kids every summer Sunday on the beach.
“I don’t tend to rest, although all my teaching friends, everyone really, says ‘slow down!’,” Hinze laughs.
“I suppose, growing up, my Dad was a farmer and my mum worked just as hard. It’s something that’s ingrained in me, just to keep going.
“I do find some down time – I have a ‘Cricut’ machine, so I do little crafty things.”
Having taught for 21 years, Hinze is in her 19th year at St Andrews.
The K-12 school has a cohort of roughly 1500 students.
“I love it here, my work colleagues we’re very, very close, very supportive,” Hinze says.
“Our admin and our senior leadership team are really accepting of different things that we try and do because we’re an inquiry school.
She explains that students at the school love the hands-on instruction style and relating it to the real world around them.
“I love it because I feel supported, I feel happy and wanting to come to school, wanting to come and see the kids in my class.
“I feel like a rock star sometimes when I walk through the junior school and the kids are like, ‘hi, Mrs Hinze, and they come over and give you a cuddle or have a chat with you. They’re interested and invested.
“We’ve got a really beautiful parent cohort as well. They’re very supportive and understanding of what we do here and, the feedback that we get from our parents is that ‘you are noticed’, everyone here is valued.”
Somewhat surprisingly, while there are two printed, framed versions of the photo in existence, neither of them belong to the photographer.
“My daughter’s stolen it to put in her room,” Hinze laughs.
“We gave her friend from the photo one as well. She said to me, ‘Kizzie, I really love it! Can I have one?’ So I said, ‘of course!’. So yes, it’s in both their rooms.”
