Defining Contemporary Presentation notes 11 December, 2014

Emily FLOYD Australia 1972 Cuckoo 2003 wood, silver, steel, acrylic and enamel paint R H S Abbott Bequest Fund 2005 2005.3

TIME ACTIVITY PRESENTER/s VENUE

11.00- Exhibitions 2015 Helen, Leanne, Clayton Drury Court 12noon 12-12.30 La Trobe University School Hayley Cail, SPP Drury Court Partnerships Program Coordinator

12.30-1.15 Lunch and exhibition viewing Sculpture court

1.15-2.45 Afternoon workshops Various (1.5 hours) A. Drawing Margot Feast Paul Guest Prize

C. Contemporary art Helen Attrill Drury Court

D. Conservation Safari Sandra Bruce and Tansy Bolton Court and Curatorial Intent Curtin

2.45-3.00 Evaluation form completion Drury Court and prize draw 3.00-3.30 (optional) walk to Post Office Simone; Helen to Walk through park to Gallery for Anzac exhibition accompany POG

3.30-4pm Networking and free viewing time

Education at Bendigo Art Gallery

Student and Teacher Programs/ Education Resources: http://www.bendigoartgallery.com.au/Education

Education Bookings: [email protected]

To contact an Education Officer directly: Helen Attrill: [email protected]; t: 5434 6082 Margot Feast [email protected]; t: 5434 6082

Dates for the diary:

Thursday 19 February 4-5.30pm – Teacher Welcome and Remain in Light exhibition preview Tuesday 24 and Thursday 26 February - Studio Arts Inspiration Days for students Tuesday 21 April 9.30-4pm Imagining Ned and Linocut Portraiture Professional Development Thursday 7th May 10am-4pm – AusVELs F-10 Arts Curriculum Full day Professional Development with Kathryn Hendy-Ekers, VCAA Arts Manager and Helen Attrill

2 Contemporary art in the Bendigo Art Gallery permanent collection

Over the past twelve years Bendigo Art Gallery has acquired a significant proportion of its collection through the generosity and support of its donors and established bequest program. This legacy has been critical to the building of the art collection, both historical and contemporary and is comprised of direct gifts, artworks given under the cultural gifts program, financial contribution in the form of prize money and bequests specifically for the acquisition of art.

A variety of individuals and initiatives have been integral to the success of Bendigo Art Gallery’s creative gifting program. The Gallery has been fortunate to acquire a number of key Australian contemporary works through the Cultural Gifts Program and donations such as funds from the Guy family, directed to the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize. Significant bequests such as the RHS Abbott Bequest and the $2.7 million Grace Craig Bequest have allowed the Gallery to become one of the more active collectors in the country.

The gallery focuses on the contemporary Australian art in its Acquisition Policy and the major new architectural development of the gallery, which opened in March, 2014 enables the gallery to showcase new themes and practices in contemporary art. Projected artworks which require isolation from other rooms can now be shown in project spaces, and large scale sculptures and installations can be given their own space, enabling a full in the round or participatory experience from the viewer.

Contemporary art in the Bendigo Art Gallery 2015 exhibition program

After a year of showing back to back international exhibitions focusing on major art themes of the past, from British master painters of the 18th and 19th centuries; classical Greek and Roman sculpture through to a three hundred year history of underwear, the gallery is focusing is exhibition program on Australian contemporary art.

A combination of Bendigo Art Gallery curated exhibitions, co-curated exhibitions partnering with other institutions and solo artist and single work exhibitions will showcase contemporary media such as installation, sculpture and multi-media works alongside contemporary re-workings of traditional media such as painting, sculpture and photography.

Contemporary Art themes

Film, Fashion, Advertising and Hyperreality: The contemporary obsession with media in the form of film, fashion and advertising has been reflected in a substantial number of works in Bendigo Art Gallery’s permanent collection Through the Gallery’s extended contemporary collection, we are also fortunate to be able to survey the development of a number of artists exploring these themes through multiple artworks acquired over time.

The contemporary desire for physical perfection and the quest for perfect human relationships is explored in art across a range of media. The ability to alter our appearances through make up, plastic surgery and digital means seems to be referenced without irony especially through the mediums of film and photography. Throughout the history of Western art, colour was used symbolically. During the Renaissance, blue was seen as symbolic of virginity while red could be symbolic of blood or life. Bright clear colours were a reflection of the beauty of God’s creations, while mixed or murky colours were seen as corrupt. Aided by exposure to fashion and characters from colour television and film, many artists subvert the expected symbolism of their colour. In particular, the colour pink, once avoided in high art, is used strategically Rosemary Laing’s A dozen useless actions for grieving blondes, which also plays on our Western association of the use of the colour pink with innocence and femininity. The closely cropped figure in this photograph has apparently grieved for something with such violence that her face appears as pink as the clothing she wears, contrasting greatly with traditional views of mourning or grieving women as soft and demure.

3 Postmodernism Although removed from the heavy 1990s device of direct appropriation of other artists, more recent contemporary art continues the postmodern enquiry into the past, sometimes in a playful manner. Prue Venables’ Large black bowl and ladle, pierced on first glance, appears like a simply glazed bowl with ladle, but the artist has rendered the thrown ladle to become completely without function by carefully piercing the piece into a series of repetitive dots. Although we could imagine a humorous occurrence if the ladle was used to contain liquid, instead, the meticulous patterned decoration positions the vessel on the same level as other art forms rather than purely as functional or craft. Other artists enjoy toying with the failures of technologies of the past to give their artworks a nostalgic feel. In Untitled, David Noonan, rather than utilising today’s technology to produce high resolution enlargements of his borrowed imagery, retains the dot matrix effect of the enlarged imagery he collects from 1970s archives, making his source both obvious and nostalgic.

Identity In the Postmodern 21st century, Australian identity has never before been so religiously, culturally and regionally diverse. Artists now explore identity from a broad range of perspectives. Australian masculine identity is explored in the paintings of both Ben Quilty and Adam Cullen. Although each artist employs the age-old theme of portraiture, the idea of the heroic, hardworking Australian male, as depicted in late 19th century paintings is replaced by images of outsiders, drunks, and infamous characters, often drawn from personal experiences. A residency in Spain inspired Quilty to look at his own surroundings on the outer suburbs of Melbourne for subject matter and this influenced him to depict his own Torana car and mates in the paintings of 2003. In recent years he has turned his brush (or palette knife) to depicting subjects that say something about Australian identity but where there are two sides to the story. This includes the works in Bendigo Art Gallery’s Ben Quilty exhibition, including Captain Cook and landscapes of Kuta Beach and Fairy Bower. As part of Quilty’s portfolio of Australian males, including popular culture figures such as the singer Jimmy Barnes, Captain Cook is famous for being the first white male to land on Australian soil. There is, however, an inherent violence in what Cook produced as many Aboriginal people were massacred as a result of Australia’s colonisation. Kuta Rorschach 2 (2014) and Fairy Bower Rorschach 2012 (Art Gallery of NSW Collection) both depict landscapes of iconic tourist destinations for Australians. Like his portraits, though, these landscapes present another side; Bali has been the scene of two bombings, perhaps directed at Australians and Fairy Bower was once the site of Aboriginal massacres. Quilty’s postgraduate studies into indigenous Australia have inspired him to investigate landscape and identity in Australia with a Postcolonial filter. Whilst Quilty draws on his experience of risk-taking with mates as a young man, Cullen draws on disturbing imagery he witnessed in his youth. Having a father who walked around nude from the waist down and witnessing the torturing of a kangaroo that had his tail cut off, leaving him to try to move around unbalanced and in agony may have influenced Cullen to depict losers, outsiders, criminals and disturbing hybrid creatures. Unlike traditional landscape painting, Cullen’s portraits are pushed up against a foreshortened picture plane with luridly bright and flat backgrounds.

Contemporary use of traditional materials Bendigo Art Gallery has utilised the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize regularly showcase contemporary painting practice and also to build its collection. Stieg Persson, Dale Frank and Stephen Bush demonstrate the huge diversity in technique and style seen in contemporary painting today. While Bush dazzles the viewer with swirling psychedelic swathes of paint, Persson proves that technology is no match for a steady hand and meticulous masking technique. Philanthropy also showcases examples of the Gallery’s growing photography collection with examples by renowned photographers Julie Rrap, Tracey Moffatt and Rosemary Laing while the exhibition also introduces the viewer to Andrew Browne’s photographs, which, through their intimate subject matter, heightened contrast and shallow depth of field become brooding glimpses into the nocturnal landscape rather than merely studies for his larger paintings, two of which are also part of the Gallery’s collection. Mixed media and diverse use of materials are also well represented in the exhibition. The past decade has seen a renewed interest in the depiction of animals in art and Louise Weaver has led in the investigation of this theme. Auk (In advance of the glacier) appears both cute and disturbing in its fabric cloaking. By swathing a taxidermied bird using the ages old craft of crocheting, Weaver creates an imaginative hybrid creature while suggesting its need for protection. Emily Floyd remediates the material of blue and white Jasperware porcelain in her wooden

4 carved Cuckoo, which initially appeals to the viewer’s enjoyment of this popular medium. In Postmodern play, the cuckoo itself is actually a dangerous looking creature with a very missile like beak. In a further state of Postmodern borrowing, the bird in Cuckoo (of which there is only one made) was developed further into a giant figure in her outsourced major commission Public Art Strategy.

Notes on selected artists: Rosemary LAING Australia 1959 A dozen useless actions for grieving blondes #5 type c photograph 2009 The Gift of Grace and Alec Craig of Bendigo, Victoria 2009 2009.25

A dozen useless actions for grieving blondes #5 is one of the first artworks to be acquired using the gift of Grace and Alec Craig. Most Bendigo Art Gallery contemporary artworks are purchased using funds from this major bequest and gift and Bendigo Art Gallery’s acquisition policy current focuses on building its collection of contemporary Australian art. Laing is considered one of Australia’s most important photographers producing many series of works and the Gallery has shown a commitment to covering her practice across eight years of development.

Training: Laing initially trained as an art teacher in the 70s before retraining as a painter. She completed a Master of Arts in 1996 from the University of New South Wales.

How do you think having an intense background in Visual Arts has informed her practice? Research her other works and consider how she references the history of painting in her work.

Style: Postmodernism / Postcolonialism/ Contemporary Laing appropriates the idea of the Australian landscape by photographing mainly from a human’s eye perspective and using a traditional landscape format. She has acknowledged her interest in early Australian Colonial painters such as John Glover and Hans Heysen and early 20th century photographer Harold Cazneaux. One of her works after Heysen has been lightened during printing to mimic the high key effect of Heysen’s watercolour works of the early 20th century. Her work is Postcolonial in approach as it raises questions about occupation and ownership of land (especially the Brumby Mound series) and questions our identity as Australians (welcome to Australia) rather than celebrating European settlement as early Colonial painters did.

How are Laing’s photos similar or dissimilar to the Australian Colonial paintings often on display in many public galleries?

Key Aesthetic qualities Laing uses deliberate choice of colours, a consistent panoramic format and fine textural detail in all of her photographs. In particular, a dozen useless actions for grieving blondes #5 uses the colour pink to subvert the idea of pretty blondes wearing the colour pink to suggest innocence and frivolity, instead using the colour to unify their reddened skin, creating a disturbing effect. By contrast, welcome to Australia uses the

5 brown, dried out colours of the outback, emphasising the bleakness of the location of detention centres in Australia. Try to view more of her other series of works in reproduction to compare the use of colour throughout her work. Her dealer’s website http://www.tolarnogalleries.com/rosemary-laing/ is a good source of images.

Consider how the panoramic format is suited to her main theme of landscape. What are you able to see in a panoramic format that would be lost in a traditional rectangular shape? What is the effect of the use of the panoramic format to show her new theme of portraiture in a dozen useless actions for grieving blondes #5? How has Laing used the background to compliment the panoramic format and foreground subject?

Techniques: C type print It is surprising to many that all her photographs are unmanipulated, even those featuring stunt-women. However, Laing’s photographs are straight, unmanipulated colour photographs. Like many contemporary photographers today, Laing has taken the photographs using colour film and then worked with a printer to print the colour to her liking.

Collaborative practice and outsourcing Like many contemporary photographers such as Australia’s Tracey Moffatt and the American Gregory Crewdson, Laing stages much of her photography and uses camera assistants, stunt people, actors and a producer directed by her to assemble the required props and work with lighting to prepare the subject matter. The Weather series recalls Laing’s earlier works such as bulletproof glass and flight research, which both featured the use of female stunt women.

Natural or studio lighting Laing often uses Australian lighting to its maximum potential, especially the Brumby Mound series which was shot at different times during the day to show extreme differences between shadows and subject matter. The final photographs in this series (not on display) were shot at evening/night to show the contrast between light and dark whilst the objects were burning.

View Laing’s other works in reproduction. How does the lighting differ from Brumby Mound #5 and Brumby Mound #6? How does the lighting differ between welcome to Australia and a dozen useless actions for grieving blondes #5?

Analysis of a dozen useless actions for grieving blondes #5 Laing’s latest series sees a departure from landscape but a continuation of the use of responses to contemporary events and a questioning of wrongs of Australia’s Colonial past. This series shows a series of blonde women expressing extreme emotions. On the one hand, the blonde headed women are placed against a pretty pink background, supporting the stereotypical representation of them as ‘dumb blondes’, but their grieving is so extreme that their skin has become scratched and blemished, the background intensifying the violence of their response. Laing has said of this series that she was moved by the Sorry Day speech given by Prime Minister Rudd in 2008. The use of the inclusion of the artist’s hand in #5 recalls Renaissance painters who may include themselves in mirror reflections. In this image, the blonde clutches the hand as if seeking support in the process.

6 Louise WEAVER Australia 1966 Auk (in advance of the glacier) hand crocheted lambswool and cotton perle thread over taxidermied Auk (Alca torda), cotton embroidery thread, MDF 2010 RHS Abbott Bequest Fund 2010 2010.15 Louise Weaver works with taxidermied animals and meticulous craft materials and techniques such as crochet to produce sculptural forms and installations that suggest transformation and camouflage.

“In am very interested in colour, ornamentation, texture, detail and design. Provided they are integral to the conceptual basis of the work. I occasionally retain the natural colouring of an animal in whole or in part. However I usually transform the animals with saturated exaggerated colour as in the 2003 work, Taking a chance on love.

In the natural world colour and markings act as signs and protective devices, they are forms of ‘signal’. I commandeer these attributes in order to extend their significance in my work.

In my sculpture/ installations these qualities are heightened beyond realism to a point of the extrasensory. Much of my philosophy on this comes from the works of indigenous cultures and historical references, contemporary materials mix with these, Haute couture or super hero costumery, ‘high and low’ art sources. The materials I employ remind one of real surfaces, or patterns of growth and camouflage. I use diamantes as dew, or raindrops emulating the real surface of transitory phenomenon. Often detail in crochet or embellishment such as embroidery lead a viewer to consider a more intimate relationship with the work (as panoramic and microscopic views of the installation).

Elements such as real birds legs emerging from a crocheted covering, causes a shock in the viewer, questioning what is real and fabricated; the two oscillate between themselves and form unexpected associations.

Absurd connections may arise – is a bird balancing a pom-pom on her head or is it part of the plumage? The bob-cat in repose on the carpet island in Moonlight becomes you; has a “lightning” flash as a form of marking that is from Haute Couture yet bobcats have markings also – it is a cross over with animal/human context.

Much of the strange juxtapositions in my work are hinted at in the natural world. For example there are butterflies that have the appearance of owls eyes on their wings. The visual richness of nature is explored and exaggerated in my work.”

Interview excerpt from NETS Enchanted forest: new gothic storytellers A Geelong Gallery & amp; NETS Victoria touring exhibition. Curator: Jazmina Cininas

Louise Weaver Auk (In advance of the glacier) 2010 hand crocheted lambswool and cotton perle thread over taxidermied Auk (Alca torda), cotton embroidery thread, MDF RHS Abbott Bequest Fund 2010 Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney Photographer: Mark Ashkanasy

7 ABC of contemporary art at Bendigo Art Gallery

2D artworks that exist on a flat surface, that have height and width, such as paintings and drawings 3D artworks that have depth as well as height and width, such as sculpture and installation 4D artworks that have depth, height, width and added temporal and spatial dimensions. For example, artworks that incorporate time, such as time-based installations, or artworks that incorporate performance on a moving image A

Aesthetic specific artistic awareness, or a deep appreciation of the meaning of an artistic experience through intellectual, emotional and sensual response to a work of art http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/the-arts/visual-arts/Glossary note: there are 48,900,000 posts on the internet on aesthetics when using the Google search engine.

Authenticity

Many contemporary artists appropriate historical styles of paintings to make reference to the fact that we often know an artwork from its reproduction rather than the original. Postmodernism rejected Modernism and, in particular, to notions of universality, authenticity, originality, and, in many ways, the traditional mediums of Modernism. Stephen Bush frequently appropriates the style of Northern European landscapes but uses lurid colours and fluid painting techniques to deconstruct the traditions of painting.

B

Body Art

Although practised mainly in the 1960s and 70s, Body Art, a subset of Conceptual or Performance Art, is where the body is the main medium for the art form rather than traditional materials such as paint, canvas. This style was a reaction against the stark abstraction of Minimalism in the 1960s. Australian practitioners of Body Art represented in exhibitions in 2015 are Mike Parr, Stelarc, Julie Rrap and Liam Benson. Documentation is important to this practice.

Buxton

Michael Buxton is a property developer and philanthropist. The Michael Buxton Collection acquires significant works of art by leading and influential Australian artists who have demonstrated excellence and made a significant contribution to contemporary art practice. In 2015, Bendigo Art Gallery will show Hiding in Plain Sight: A Generation of the Michael Buxton Collection from 18 July - 27 September.

8 C

Craft an intellectual and physical activity where artists explore the materials and processes to produce unique objects for the purposes of: experimentation with form or function; exhibition; production; and personal or community need. Indigenous cultures draw no distinction between art and craft and, similarly, contemporary culture values the interplay between the art/craft, design/craft, the art/designer or the design/maker. The crafted and handmade sit alongside the manufactured design object as part of historical, national and cultural identities http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/glossary/popup?a=TheArts&t=craft

Previously seen as a low art form, craft techniques are now commonly seen in contemporary art. Bendigo Art Gallery artworks that can be seen as using or referencing craft are: Emily Floyd’s Cuckoo, Louise Weaver’s Auk, and the large number of ceramic artworks currently on display.

Cinematic

Many artists produce artworks, especially photographic in a series that mimics the narrative structures of cinema. It is quite common for these artists to work across both photography and cinema (such as Tracey Moffatt) or to employ large technical teams and specialist equipment to produce photo shoots (Rosemary Laing).

Collaboration/ collectives

Unlike the ‘genius’ artists of the Modernist era who typically worked in isolation, many contemporary artists work with others and their artist names are actually the names of artist collectives. Australian collaborative artists are: Charles Green and Lyndell Brown; Ms and Mr; Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy and Ken and Julia Yonetani.

D

Documentation

Contemporary art that evolves over time or has a performative element requires records to be made so that the artwork can exist beyond the moment it was performed or created. Therefore, documentation is an essential component of much of contemporary art. This also raises questions as to how the artwork is to be read and whether it is important to have viewed the original development or performance to fully appreciate the artwork.

F

Fashion Aesthetic

Sometimes known as fashion sensibility, Fashion Aesthetic is not fashion photography but the use of fashion’s glamorising style in art photographs intended for gallery walls rather than magazines. This was seen in crisp black and white photographs from artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Irving Penn in the 1980s but the concept has been reinvigorated by a number of Australian artists such as Patricia Piccinini, Debra Paauwe and Petrina Hicks.

9 G

Grotesque body

Working alongside the seduction of Hyperrrealism and the Fashion Aesthetic, contemporary artists focusing on the grotesque body as a theme toy with the binaries of seduction and repulsion to elicit an emotional response in the viewer. This is made possible by creating art that is ideally viewed firsthand. The mediums of silicon sculpture and performance art are common to this theme. Patricia Piccinini’s The Young Family is an excellent example of this practice. Other artists who explore this practice in different ways are Mike Parr, Julie Rrap and Adam Cullen.

H

Hyperrealism

An extension of Photorealism, Hyperrealism or Hyperreality usually involves the depiction of highly realistic or believable subject matter. Often the imagery is much larger than in reality. Photographs are often digitally edited to appear perfect and sculptures may have realistic details that impact the concept of believability onto the viewer. In the Bendigo Art Gallery collection, this is seen in the sculpture of Patricia Piccinini and the photography of Petrina Hicks.

I

Icon

A contemporary art icon is usually an artwork that becomes highly distinctive (to be visually recognisable) and representing some narrative that is easily understood and remembered by the viewer. Bendigo Art Gallery’s The Young Family has become a contemporary art icon due to its visual distinctiveness and ability to speak on many levels such as grotesqueness, admiration for technique and raising of issues around genetic engineering and what it means to be human.

J

JPEG

This is an acronym for "Joint Photographic Experts Group “and is a commonly used standard method of compressing photographic images on the Web. JPEG graphics are capable of reproducing a full range of color while still remaining small enough for Web use. Artists may need to submit images for application for exhibitions and prizes in JPEG form.

L

LO-FI

Art made from modest, everyday materials such as cardboard or string, employing simple modes of fabrication. The term derives from 'low fidelity’ (as distinct from 'high fidelity’ or 'hi-fi’), often low- budget, technically-flawed audio recordings containing distortions.

Many of the sculptural artworks in Hiding in Plain Sight: A Generation of the Michael Buxton Collection feature lo-fi materials.

10 M

Mimicry

Similar to Remediation, mimicry occurs when artists reference one material with another. For example, Louise Weaver may use glass to mimic snowflakes. This may be for practical and archival purposes but often the mimicry of other materials is often ironic or paradoxical, for example bronze being used to create something which is painted to look like a cheap material.

N

Neo

As a prefix, Neo is often used where an established art style may be reinvited in recent years. For example: Neo-Classical, Neo-Pop, Neo-Conceptual. This distinguishes it from the original style. The reinvention or referencing of previous styles breaks with the traditional chronological reading of art whereby each art style supersedes the previous one.

P

Post

As a prefix, Post in art usually means after. Movements such as Postmodernism and Postcolonialism also tend to question the ideas of the style it is referring to. Therefore, Postmodern in many ways is opposite to Modernism.

Q

Quotidian of or occurring every day; daily. Many contemporary artists use ordinary or everyday objects breaking down the barriers between high art and the real world. Ham Darroch has remade and re-presented things from the quotidian world of work and domesticity in Gang, a series of sculptures which will be on display as part of Imagining Ned: The story of Ned Kelly and the art he inspires.

R

Relational Aesthetics/ Relational Antagonism

The French curator Nicholas Bourriaud published a book called Relational Aesthetics in 1998 in which he defined the term as: A set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space He saw artists as facilitators rather than makers and regarded art as information exchanged between the artist and the viewers. The artist, in this sense, gives audiences access to power and the means to change the world. http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/relational-aesthetics

11 Remediation

Remediation is the incorporation or representation of one medium in another medium. This is a term often used in new media, for example, a film mimicking the look of photography or perspective painting. Earlier media have also refashioned one another: photography remediated painting, film remediated stage production and photography, and television remediated film, vaudeville, and radio. Examples: Tracey Moffatt’s films remediate theatre; Emily Floyd’s Cuckoo remediates wood-craft.

S

Serial Photography

Serial photography involves multiple photographs exploring or depicting a particular subject. Many artists working across many different media create work in series as a way to explore and interrogate an idea, concept, subject or technique. Sometimes producing a suite of works can tell a story that takes place across individual works. Sometimes meaning shifts across individual works when they are considered as part of a group. Sometimes a group of works can have a greater impact on an audience. This repetition or emphasis can make a work and its message more powerful. Some of the photographers featured in Remain in Light have worked in series, telling a story through and across multiple images in a set. Rather than necessarily telling a narrative story, serial photography will often build one up across a number of images exploring a single idea or concept. Remain in Light presents a number of artists who work in series, including Ricky Maynard, Mary Ellen Mark, Tracey Moffatt, Polixeni Papapetrou and Robert Rooney.

Site Specific Art

Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork.

The actual term was promoted and refined by Californian artist Robert Irwin, but it was actually first used in the mid-1970s by young sculptors such as Patricia Johanson, Dennis Oppenheim, and Athena Tacha.

Outdoor site-specific artworks often include landscaping combined with permanently sited sculptural elements. Site-specific art can be linked with environmental art. Outdoor site-specific artworks can also include dance performances created especially for the site.

Source: Boundless. “Site-Specific Art.” Boundless Art History. Boundless, 03 Jul. 2014. Retrieved 08 Dec. 2014 from https://www.boundless.com/art-history/textbooks/boundless-art-history- textbook/global-art-since-1950-37/dematerialization-235/site-specific-art-838-6926/

Bendigo Art Gallery displays at least five site specific sculptures around the outside of the gallery.

T

Taxidermy

This is a very popular new technique in art. This combines the idea of using a found object and building the artwork from this rather than creating an artwork from scratch using new materials. Artists in the Bendigo Art Gallery’s collection that use taxidermy are Louise Weaver and Julia De

12 Ville. This breaks with the tradition of an artist needing to create an artwork from scratch, out of new materials rather than from an existing object. There are legal issues surrounding the use of native animals in taxidermy in Australia that could be the basis of VCE Art Discussing and Debating. http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/07/15/legally- speaking-taxidermy-roadkill-artist-could-be-stuffed/

Educational games to explore terminology

Line Debating: • Good for VCE Art Discussing and Debating, Studio Arts Unit 3 Outcome 3 and Studio Arts Unit 3 Outcome 4 or wherever there is discussing and debating to occur

1. Divide class into two teams; have them stand on either side of the room and in single lines facing each other

2. Assign the affirmative and negative sides to specific teams

3. Explain that they are going to have to come up with arguments to support their assigned side of the debate irrespective of their personal views on the topic

4. The student who wishes to speak must come up with an original argument to support their point of view.

5. The umpire must decide if the argument is worthy; if so, then they get to select a player from the opposite side of the room; if not, they must join the opposite side.

6. The game ends when one side of the argument has all the class members or if both sides have exhausted potential arguments

Note: Here you could add in particular rules e.g. that the students must make reference to at least two art terms in each response, or make reference to particular Analytical Frameworks.

Ideas for debate questions:

Studio Arts  The most important role of a public gallery is to conserve artworks for future generations.  A public gallery’s role should be to make the gallery as accessible as possible to the public, even if artworks get damaged.  Public galleries should only acquire artworks made from traditional materials that have a proven track record of longevity  Public galleries should avoid copyright issues by only showing artworks that are out of copyright.

Art  As public art galleries need to be accessible to the public they should avoid showing any artwork that may be deemed offensive or of a sexual nature.  Public art galleries in Australia should only focus on showing Australian art

13  Public art galleries should spend their acquisition budget on acquiring a larger amount of artwork by emerging artists as it is cheaper, rather than a smaller number of artworks by established artists How can you use this game in your teaching?

14 Group shuffle • A quick way to form a group

• Gets students out of usual groupings

• Great way to get students to work in new groups

• Idea – to get students to analyse a work together

What ideas can be explored as a group?

• How can you use this game in your teaching?

15 References: Atkins, Robert Art Speak: A Guide to Contemoprary Ideas, Movements and Buzzwords, 1945 to the Present 1997 Abbeville Press

Art and Australia Current: Contemporary Art from Australia and New Zealand 2008 Dott Publishing

Dole, Alison Colour 1993 Dorling Kindersley Harper Collins Publishers

Williams, Donald; Simpson, Colin Art Now: Contemporary Art Post 1970 Book Two 1996 McGraw-Hill http://netsvictoria.org.au/louise-weaver/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a60mrj1-sJA http://www.art21.org/ http://kasinihouseartshop.com/magazine/2013/what-is-contemporary-art http://www.mca.com.au/remain-light-learning-resource/ http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/the-arts/visual-arts/Glossary http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/glossary/popup?a=TheArts&t=craft http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/relational-aesthetics https://www.boundless.com/art-history/textbooks/boundless-art-history-textbook/global-art-since- 1950-37/dematerialization-235/site-specific-art-838-6926/ http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/07/15/legally-speaking-taxidermy-roadkill-artist-could-be-stuffed/

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