HSC student Stirling McNeill pays tribute to Bathurst racetrack
It had been a family tradition since Stirling McNeill’s pre-school-age childhood to make the pilgrimage to Bathurst’s Mount Panorama circuit. So when it came to depicting a subject close to his heart for his HSC studies, McNeill paid homage to the hilltop racetrack.
“I’ve always loved motor racing, but I especially loved motor racing at Bathurst,” says the former Randwick High School student, whose father Greg is an internationally renowned Australian automotive artist known for creating detailed paintings of the Bathurst 1000 races and Formula One.
“I think it’s probably the greatest racetrack in the world,” says Stirling. “The races are always exciting, the passion of the fans is incredible, so it’s not hard to be captivated by this spectacle.”
McNeill is among 51 HSC graduates whose significant work will be featured in the 43rd edition of ArtExpress, which opens at the Art Gallery of NSW on Thursday.
The gallery has been exhibiting the work of HSC attendees since 1989, and many former exhibitors have gone on to distinguished careers. Julie Fragar, winner of the Archibald Prize 2025, was featured in ArtExpress 1995 and says the honor reinforced her desire to become a full-time artist.
In particular, only one in four student artists reporter The interviewee chose to study visual arts.
Program curator Louise Halpin has hand-selected student artists from the Department for Education honorary list of 500 students completing the HSC Visual Arts subject in 2025.
Talent was only part of Halpin’s selection criteria. It also aimed to “capture the story” of the 2025 student experience. The top concerns of a group entering the workforce in a time of AI disruption are memory, legacy, and home.
“There are actually a lot of grandmothers,” Halpin says. “Regional students are making really interesting things from their own land, family property or landscape, exploring their family’s ties to the country.”
McNeill took iconic works by Tom Roberts, Jeffrey Smart and Sidney Nolan and gave them motor racing touches. Roberts’ masterpiece, Clipping of RamsIt has a pit stop crew that changes tires. There’s also a bit of Jasper Knight, Shaun Gladwell and Sidney Nolan in the black-silhouetted GP moto rider, who wears a helmet not unlike Nolan’s Ned Kelly.
Robert Edwards
McNeill plans to study history and politics at the University of Sydney: “Maybe I’ll pursue art creatively, but not as a full-time career. I don’t think you’d like it if you did it as a job, would you? I wouldn’t say it would spoil the fun, but I wouldn’t want to spend 20-30 years on it; I think it would be quite difficult.”
Other featured student artists include Scarlett Fotheringham, formerly of Killara High School, who challenges the idolization of perfect youth in a series of portraits celebrating the sassy women of an old vineyard.
For his great work at the HSC, More is More and Less is BoringFotheringham channeled artists Maggi Hambling, Vincent van Gogh and Isabella Cotier. “Aging well is not about who looks the youngest,” he says. “I think he’s the one who accepts who he is and embraces it.”
Fotheringham is studying architecture and “hopes it will be a good creative outlet, but I think I’ll stick to painting”.
“This will be art for my pleasure.”
Maddison Beanland drew three columns representing herself, her artist mother Anne Beanland, and her father. Completed during his mother’s illness and following her death in February 2025, each of the columns represents their different perspectives. Beanland’s perspective is represented by a barren tree in a lush green landscape; his mother the bare hills; and his father squirts water.
“I feel very honored to be on the walls,” he says. “I’ve been coming to this place called ArtExpress with my mom since I was four years old. It’s been a huge inspiration.”
His plan is to become a pilot, preferably in the Flying Doctor Service.
Only Dulwich High School of Visual Art and Design’s Riana Shimamune aims to become a full-time visual artist by being accepted into the University of Sydney’s Fine Arts department. He flaunted gentle scenes from Japan and Hyde Park to talk about his divided legacy.
Halpin hopes the recognition the exhibition will bring can give young artists more confidence to think big. “I’m sure some of the 51 will continue. There will always be important artists emerging.”
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