Education Kit
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Education kit Gordon Bennett (b. 1955) Home décor (relative/absolute) – flowers for Mathinna 1998 acrylic on linen contents tMaG map 3 Preface 4 theme 1: nature and Place 6 theme 2: the Everyday 10 theme 3: identity and Emotion 14 theme 4: Figure and Space 18 complete list of works 22 acknowledgments 24 Artist unknown, Anindilyakwa people, Groote eylandt daduna-kanupa (frogs) c. 1948 earth pigments on bark tMAG MAp Davey Street FIRE EXIT Custom House FIRE administration EXIT reception C20 Dunn Place carpark Dunn Place Argyle Street Argyle to cafe UP first floor ENTRY courtyard cloakroom ningenneh tunapry discovery space zoology reception UP gallery UP UP to bags first floor Commissariat Store museum shop Macquarie Street 3 pReface one spans Australian Impressionism and the Arts and crafts movement through students to view firsthand works by some of overview of the exhibition to early Modernism. Gallery two retraces our nation’s best recognised artists. Further, Figurative expressionism, the pioneering C20: 100 years of Australian art from the it provides a context from which today’s art days of Australian studio pottery and mid- TMAG collection is an exhibition celebrating can be better understood and more deeply century movements including colour Field, Australian art and design from the twentieth appreciated. Abstraction and the influence of pop Art. century. It features some of the finest Gallery three has a landscape focus and Society and History works from the tasmanian Museum and reflects the rise to prominence of Aboriginal Many of the works in this exhibition directly Art Gallery’s Art and Decorative Arts art, and the postmodernism of the late 1980s address the social and political history of this collections, including key works by such and 1990s. country. other works provide a window into notable Australian artists including Russel the personal concerns, ideas, influences and Drysdale, emily Kame Kngwarreye, sidney While the selection of works illuminates values of that time. the art of C20 presents nolan, Arthur streeton, Albert tucker, philip some of the significant art movements of distinctly Australian experiences and evidences Wolfhagen and many more. Indigenous art is that century, teachers should be aware how our nation’s sense of identity has evolved. important element of this exhibition. that the tMAG’s art collection (like any students can evaluate for themselves the museum collection) is not comprehensive C20 opened to the public on the 17 contribution that art and design makes in our in its coverage. particular strengths of this september 2010 and will continue until June understanding of society and history. exhibition include Figurative expressionism, 2011. Due to the duration of this exhibition Abstraction, contemporary Aboriginal Innovation and Design and issues of conservation, works on paper painting, Australian Impressionism and the decorative art component of this (including photography) and textiles have not tasmanian Modernism. exhibition gives insight into the influences, been included. the exhibition predominantly aesthetics, materials and processes that showcases painting, accompanied by a selection inspired Australian designers of the twentieth of sculpture, ceramics, furniture and jewellery. Relevance for students century. From handmade domestic objects C20 spans three galleries. Its lay-out The Arts to industrially-produced commercial items, follows a loosely chronological journey this exhibition sheds light on a pivotal period students can examine changing approaches through the twentieth century, supported in the development of Australian art and to craft and design and map these against by informative wall texts and labels. Gallery culture. It provides a valuable opportunity for the fine art of the era. 4 pReface these themes are: introduction to this resource Nature and Place this education kit aims to support teachers The Everyday in bringing their students to the tasmanian Identity and Emotion Museum and Art Gallery to see the exhibition A map at the beginning of each section Figure and Space C20. the questions and activities have been indicates where key works will be found. written with Grade 7 to college students in these themes are by no means exhaustive. However, many other relevant and interesting mind. However, the concepts and approaches they indicate the many paths into this rich works will be encountered along the way. in this kit also provide primary teachers with exhibition. C20 certainly warrants return the three to four art works featured in each useful tools for their visit. visits, if possible, and the multiple themes theme merely provide punctuation for your outlined in this kit provide ideas for different journey. the exhibition itself follows a chronological interpretive approaches teachers and layout. Informative wall texts in the galleries A ‘Feature Work’, represented by a full-page students may take each time they visit. focus on the historic and biographical colour image, concludes each theme. this narratives behind the artists and their works. focus point is designed to support a deeper this interpretive approach is particularly How to use this resource level of engagement and exploration of the suited to mature audiences and students of theme through discussion, research and art each theme is like a trail through the art and Australian history. making. While this learning process may exhibition, providing stopping points for begin in the gallery, the ‘create’ section For school groups, however, the challenge group discussion and personal response. It provides suggested ideas for extension is to meaningfully engage with this large is envisaged that prior to their visit, teachers through art making back in the classroom. exhibition in a single visit. to this end, and students will choose one theme that this education kit identifies four thematic is of greatest interest to them and their should you or your students wish to research threads each of which runs through the studies. It should therefore not be necessary works not covered by this education kit, a full three galleries, across both fine and to print out the entire education kit, only a list of the works in C20 is included at the end decorative art works. selection of it. of this kit. 5 nAtuRe AnD plAce exploRe exploring a sense of place has always been important in Australian art and design. At the heart of this theme is artists’ desire to comprehend human relationships 1 daduna-kanupa (frogs) c. 1948 is a bark painting from Groote eylandt, to the earth and the meaning of belonging. Art works that engage these ideas the largest island in the Gulf of carpentaria, may utilise natural materials, depict a specific location or landscape, collect 50 kilometres off the northern territory data, record sensory impressions or depict the personal, spiritual or historical coast. It shows a frog, his wife and children narratives that invest a site with significance. near their ancestral waterholes. can you identify which frogs are the father, the mother and the children? c20 the artist has not shown every detail 4 gallery map of this place, only certain important elements. Why do you think the 5 waterhole is important to these frogs? Why might the waterhole be gallery 3 gallery 3 important to the artist? Is it for the same, or different reasons? think about how the frogs might help the artist to locate waterholes. What does it mean to share a place 2 gallery 2 gallery with other living things? 1 Artist unknown, Anindilyakwa people, gallery 1 gallery Groote eylandt daduna-kanupa (frogs) (detail) c. 1948 eNTer earth pigments on bark here Theme 1: Nature and Place 6 3 Judy Watson visited her grandmother’s exploRe ancestral country, Waanyi country in north west Queensland, two years before she painted fertility stone 1992. Discuss how this painting represents place and personal connection to land. If we say something is ‘fertile’ we mean that it is capable of creating new life. How does this idea relate to the earth? How does this Irene Briant (b. 1934) idea relate to the human body? Is stone Reliquary (one element of Requiem) (detail) 1998 wire gauze, emu eggs and feathers, mixed media something you usually associate with fertility? look at the raw edges of the canvas. Donald Friend (1915–89) Hill End landscape c. 1950 Why do you think Watson has not stretched oil on canvas laid on composition board the canvas or put a frame around it? Do you 4 the subject of Reliquary (one feel it communicates a strong connection element of Requiem) 1998 by Irene Briant 2 When Donald Friend travelled to the between this work of art and the land? is Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis, once-prosperous gold fields of Hill end in the extinct tasmanian emu. A ‘reliquary’ is a new south Wales he found the township in container used to hold sacred relics. study ruins. He became very fond of that place, the form and arrangement of this installation. returning again and again to paint it and How does it reflect the idea or atmosphere explore the surrounding landscape. Imagine of a ritual? what it would feel like to step inside the painting Hill End landscape 1950. What can the inspiration for this work came after Briant you hear, feel and see as you walk around? saw specimens of the extinct emus in the look closely at the painting and consider tMAG collection. consider why the museum which aspects of this place the artist has collects, stores and exhibits items from the responded most strongly to. What sort of natural world. Does the meaning or value of atmosphere does he convey? speculate these items change when an animal becomes Judy Watson (b. 1959) about why Friend may have formed such fertility stone 1992 extinct? What does Reliquary say about a strong connection to Hill end. powder pigment, pastel and charcoal on hessian nature and place in tasmania? Theme 1: Nature and Place 7 peter Adams (n.d.) Cathedral bench 1996 Focus WoRK Huon pine, dolerite fieldstone, steel fasteners Theme 1: Nature and Place 8 Focus WoRK Cathedral is composed of evenly spaced, • Find a bench in your school or a public space.