2016 Galen Catholic College graduate Briellen Ramsay has been announced as a recipient of the 2017 VCAA Board Appreciation Awards.

The Board Appreciation Awards celebrate the talent, hard work and dedication of VCE students whose works are featured in VCE Season of Excellence exhibitions. Winners receive a certificate and $1000 to put towards their continued education and exploration in their chosen fields.

Briellen was recognised for her stop-motion animation the Life that Glows (2016), which appeared in the 2017 Top Arts exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia.

Inspired by A. A. Milne’s classic Winnie the Pooh, Briellen’s stop-motion animation explores the magical world of children’s adventure literature. Her narrative depicts the journey of a boy wandering through a fantasy world created by his own imagination. To create the work Briellen constructed a stunning figure and landscape set using only paper, glue and wire. She then brought the scenes to life by incrementally moving the characters and photographing the animation frame-by-frame to produce the seamless illusion of movement.

Briellen was honoured to receive the VCAA Board Achievement Award and be part of Top Arts. ‘It is a great privilege to have my work exhibited among some of the most talented young artists in Victoria’, she said. The acknowledgement and recognition have motivated Briellen to continue pursuing a career in the arts and animation.