“As much as I love oil painting, it requires time and patience. Building depth means working in layers, waiting for each one to dry, returning again and again. It’s steady, quiet work.”
Eight years after graduating from Kennedy Baptist College, former Head Boy Joe Frost is still learning as he constructs the foundations of his artistic career. He has not travelled along a direct path to working in art full-time, but he has been patiently approaching his goal one layer at a time.
The first layer of his career, as he admitted when presenting at our Arts Showcase, was in trying to impress a girl. Year 7 Arts class had begun with students tasked with sketching a self-portrait and, while he had yet to fall in love with art, he figured he had a better chance at impressing a girl with a drawing than his less-admirable attempts at and woodwork. In any case, the opportunity at Kennedy to try a wide range of classes allowed Joe to discover what he enjoyed the most, even if art just felt like a nice hobby.
During the following years, Joe pursued art throughout his elective choices before deciding to make the leap into ATAR Art once he reached Year 11 and 12. Here, following the connections that the College’s teachers have with the local arts scene, Joe was able to begin networking, meeting curators and professionals as he started to understand the industry.
“For the first time,” he says, “creating wasn’t an activity I enjoyed but could be a real-life career path.”
Yet his graduation in 2017 did not lead directly into a career in the arts. Instead, Joe studied and became an arts teacher while quietly building up his portfolio and personal talents. So it was that, ten years after his original attempt in Year 7, he brought a self-portrait, titled ‘diminishing returns’, to the eyes of curators of a local exhibition. His work was rejected, with a formal letter to declare that his work had note been selected for the exhibition. He tried to enter another exhibition. His work was not accepted. Third time lucky? No.
It was only on his fourth submission to an exhibition, this time the City of South Perth’s Emerging Art Prize, that Joe’s portrait was accepted and put on display. Oh, and even better, Joe was awarded the overall Open Award for that year.
“I learnt first-hand the valuable lesson that art is very subjective. It gave me permission to create what was important and not have the pressure of pleasing anyone else.”
Three years later and Joe has gone all in on art. Since the end of last year, he has taken on commissions, developed courses for at-risk students, sold prints and is working on a solo show. His life at Kennedy Baptist College holds him in good stead as he continues to display our values of Growth and Boldness, while exemplifying our goal to prepare each student for lifelong learning.
To view more of his work or follow his journey, find Joe Frost Fine Art on social media or on his website.
We would love to hear from more members of our Alumni! Head to our Alumni Network to fill in your details and let us know your journey after Kennedy.
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