philanthropy the art of giving teacher notes

Transcription

Philanthropy: The art of giving
8 September – 18 November 2012
TEACHER NOTES
Petrina Hicks
Emily the Strange
2011
light jet print
Courtesy the artist and Stills Gallery
The Gift of Grace and Alec Craig of Bendigo, Victoria
Philanthropy: The art of giving
8 September – 18 November 2012
Over the past ten 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.
This exhibition highlights 34 exceptional contemporary works by 25 artists purchased and gathered via
these gifting programs, not only showing the variety of ways that individuals and organisations are
engaging meaningfully with galleries, but also the exceptional works that have been selected through this
successful contemporary acquisition program.
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 Gift of Grace and Alec Craig of Bendigo, Victoria have allowed the Gallery to become one
of the more active collectors in the country.
Philanthropy: The art of giving, focuses on works created and received into the collection in the past decade
through the generosity of individual benefactors, and provides an opportunity to acknowledge the critical
contribution made to building collections through the spirit of philanthropy.
Themes in the exhibition for teachers and students to explore:
New notions of aesthetics: 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 Philanthropy: the art of giving. 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. Sculpture, abstraction and
photorealist painting indicate the diversity of media and styles practised by Jan Nelson, all of which are
represented in the Gallery’s collection. Philanthropy showcases two elements of her oeuvre, being figurative
sculpture and abstract, brightly coloured striped painting. The third work in our collection, Walking in tall
grass: Tom continues her series of photorealist portraits of disaffected youths and at the time of the
exhibition, was on display in the contemporary permanent collection room. Summer Collection, unlike Tom,
does not rely on the obvious nature of the figure in brightly patterned fashionable clothing, but instead
appeals to our love of these appealing colour combinations often seen in magazines and advertising by
showing them in abstract form. Stripped of any narrative, Summer Collection reinvents the aesthetics of
abstraction pioneered in western post-war painting, but with the contemporary emotional appeal of flat,
clear colour and neatness.
The exhibition explores the contemporary desire for physical perfection and the quest for perfect human
relationships 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 of the
artists in Philanthropy subvert the expected symbolism of their colour. In particular, the colour pink, once
avoided in high art, is used strategically in a number of artworks in this exhibition of contemporary art.
Petrina Hicks, through sophisticated digital editing, has in Emily the Strange presented a photographic
image of an attractive young girl who, by being clothed in pink harmonises too well with a hairless cat.
We are uncomfortably unsure as to whether this cat is real or enhanced, and the title of Hicks’s series that
this work is drawn from – Beautiful Creatures might suggest to us that those that do not conform to the
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traditional model of physical perfection can still be considered beautiful and worthy of love. This
photograph provides an interesting counterpoint to 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.
Like Hicks and Laing, Tracey Moffatt uses the power of colour and make-up to enhance the appearance
of her female figures in the quirky Adventure Series #4. The stereotypical female figures in this
photograph wear uniforms to suggest that they fulfil the roles of a nurse or scuba diver but their make-up
and sexy, tight clothing make them appear as far removed from reality as the painted backdrops. These
portraits of impossibly beautiful people remind us the contemporary need to escape reality by seeking
images of idealised beauty in film, television, graphic novels and advertising.
The relatively new medium of film has allowed artists the ability to produce art that documents narratives
over time and also enables them to demonstrate the possibility of new technologies to show movement.
David Rosetzky’s Nothing like this is a film, that without sound would seem to show a scene of a lifestyle
that for many young people would seem perfect. Good looking couples enjoy a holiday at the beach
complete with sunshine, a comfortable house and perfectly manicured gardens, socialising and relaxing.
Upon listening to the voice over on the sound track however, the viewer is made aware that nothing is as
it seems. Rosetzky, like other artists in this exhibition seems to be pointing out that perfection in all its
forms does not always bring happiness.
The pureness of aesthetics as a legacy from Modernism is present in a number of paintings which favour
the aesthetics of bright colour and texture over representation of subject matter. Dale Frank has proven
himself a leader of the flowing varnish painting technique. His oft copied style has shown that he is well
established as an abstract painter without the need to follow the preference for photorealism followed by
many contemporary painters. However, Frank would probably argue that his painting is actually a
landscape – of the mind. A narrative nature is also suggested by the long titles he gives his works,
suggesting he is describing an event and a place, not merely pouring varnish and colour randomly.
Indigenous painting of the desert regions is similarly often misread simply as abstraction. Although we
cannot help but to enjoy the pleasing arrangement of shimmering dots and patterns in Gladdy Kemarre’s
Anwekety, the painting is importantly a representation of a landscape and Dreaming of significance to
the artist and was not only produced for its aesthetic qualities.
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. Although he does not
consider himself a religious artist Brent Harris explores religion as a metaphor for contemporary love,
pain, transience and death through his screenprints, Deities Series. These compressed and flattened
compositions are ambiguous and organic in their flowing lines, influenced by Harris’ interest in the
Surrealist act of automatic drawing. Youth as a metaphor for transition has been the theme of a number
of 21st century photographic artists, both nationally and internationally, such as Australia’s Bill Henson
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and Polixeni Papapetrou. Bendigo’s own Donna Bailey focuses the camera on strongly personal subject
matter of her children and their friends in the rural environments either where or near where she lives.
New Moon #10 shows a new direction for Bailey. Rather than the figures dominating the landscape, in this
photograph, she has stepped back from the figures both to show more of the barren, drought affected
central Victorian landscape and to symbolise the distance experienced by parents as their children grow
up and move away from them both physically and emotionally.
Anne Zahalka has been renowned for subverting images and themes from western art and iconic
Australian imagery for several decades. She reworks the theme of sports portraits of the 30s to 60s in
Karo, Performer. In this series, she chose to use non-athletic people as models instead of the sun bronzed
Australian men of the original ‘pub portraits’. These ordinary men and women are not necessarily
muscular and are frequently non Anglo-Saxon, unlike the traditional Australian ‘pub’ portraits, which
subverts the common representation of the sporty Australian role model as idealised and non-ethnic.
Landscape/ environment
The diverse views of environment by artists such as John Wolseley, Minnie Pwerle and Stephen Haley
demonstrate that Australia is a complex country and cannot be stereotyped in its depiction of the land. As
an emigrant to Australia, John Wolseley does not take the sustainability of the land for granted. Using
both skillful traditional drawing and performative charcoal rubbing techniques to record the native flora
and fauna of the landscapes he lives around and visits he reminds us of the fragility of our environment
and the power we have as humans have to manifest change.
By contrast, Stephen Haley eschews traditional observational drawing techniques, by utilising computer
3D modelling programs to create cityscape scenes as seen in Reverberator. The repetitiveness of the
buildings and the uniformity of the predominant use of the colour pink are seamlessly created by the
technology Haley uses and might suggest that we are increasingly living in a world that is simulated,
similar to others and reflected. While Petrina Hicks and Stephen Haley explore the hyperreality of
representations of people and the environment, Nadine Christensen’s reduction of form and space leave
us feeling cool and empty. In Geography her futuristic environment is smoothed to perfection; only
pleasing patterns exist but through such slickness she presents environments that are lifeless and
unpopulated.
Rather than focusing on middle or long distance, Minnie Pwerle’s Awelye Atnwengerrp (Bush Melon) provides
a more intimate view of her landscape. By focusing closely on the lines and shapes representative of
Anemangkerr (the bush melon), Pwerle, emphasises an element of the landscape which is of significance
not only as a provider of food to sustain life in the desert region of Utopia, where she lived but as an
important Dreamtime story.
Contemporary use of 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. Sally Smart also uses a material previously relegated to the arena of craft – felt but challenges
its functionality by creating huge wall collages in Tractor (Black/Shadow Farm) as opposed to wearable art.
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Janet Laurence skilfully uses the functional material of glass in a strikingly contemporary way to show
layers of translucent organic material in Botanical Residues while Peter Atkins finds beauty in the banal by
reconfiguring found images in a style reminiscent of Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Readymades’ in Points of view (an
anthology of short stories). A Buddhist sense of simplicity is present in Rosslynd Piggott’s Air of flower clouds
2002 in which the viewer is left to ponder the air collected inside the glass vial.
Helen Attrill
Education Officer
David NOONAN
Australia 1969
Untitled
screen printed jute on plywood
with steel base
2008
Untitled
screen printed jute on plywood
with steel base
2008
Gifts of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust 2010 as part of the Helen Macpherson Smith Commission
for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, awarded to David Noonan in 2009
2010.4, 2010.5
David Noonan works across a range of media including screen prints, collage and sculpture. He reworks
archival images of people, places and events. His use of stark black and white aesthetics and choice of
borrowed figurative imagery in Untitled suggest a nostalgic recalling of 1970s practices including mime and
physical performance and a love of early black and white cinema.
His technical process involves him making collages, drawing together found images from film stills,
photographs, books and magazines. The collages are then rephotographed and become large scale prints,
often three dimensional.
Untitled is a series of sculptures that were part of an exhibition titled Scenes originally displayed at ACCA
which included several life-size, wooden cut-out figures in frozen choreographed movements. The works
bring the characters depicted in Noonan’s signature collage works off the wall and onto an imagined
stage. The figures, in mime poses, hover between two and three dimensions, stillness and action.
Noonan was the fifth recipient of the Helen Macpherson Smith Commission, one of the most significant
and generous commissions in Australia. The partnership between Australian Centre for Contemporary
Art and the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust offers Victorian artists the opportunity to create an ambitious
new work of art, accompanied by an exhibition.
‘Scenes recalls the experimental workshops and youth-focused exuberance of a more optimistic era,
coinciding with the artist’s own childhood in the 1970s. With these works, Noonan re-introduces the idea
of ritual, of creating a temporal space beyond reason that is filled with both danger and hope.’ (Charlotte
Day 2009).
Noonan has exhibited these figures along with his collages on a number of occasions but has also seen
these figures exhibited in group exhibitions/collections very successfully 'interacting' with the works of
other historical and contemporary artists.
Terminology
• Surrealism
• Cinematic
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•
•
Photomontage
Appropriation
Prue VENABLES
Australia 1954
Large black bowl and ladle, pierced
limoges porcelain
2007
Gift of Rod Fyffe 2008
2008.1
‘The making of functional pots - quiet objects waiting to be held and used, gently holding and reflecting
so much ceremony and personal connection; the translucency of porcelain, with light dancing on the
sprung tension of a rim and a softly melting body inviting touch; a search for simplicity and quietness, an
essential stillness – this motivates my work.’
Prue Venables, 2009
Prue Venables is a ceramic artist who initially studied science and music. After developing a passion for
ceramics she attended the iconic Harrow Studio Pottery course in London. She is renowned for using
skilful traditional construction techniques such as throwing but subverting their function to create pieces
that are strong in sculptural form, utilising the qualities of single coloured glazes and clever twists on
decorative techniques such as piercing and warping.
Stephen HALEY
Australia 1961
Reverberator
lightjet print, perspex
2004
Gift of Rod Fyffe 2004
2004.14
Stephen Haley uses digital technologies to create paintings, films and photographic prints investigating
themes of the expanding urban landscape. He often considers his works to be photographic as he may
construct the images using 3D digital modelling programs and then ‘photographs’ them by recording
them digitally. Reverberator continues his interest in reflections and repetitions as the buildings appear
similar in shape and in the continuous lurid pink colour scheme. In this artwork, he uses computer
programs to create perspective and an aerial view rather than drawing from life. The deliberately artificial
streetscape created by Haley is devoid of human existence perhaps hinting that humankind’s quest for
physical perfection in the form of dwellings and workplaces might not bring happiness or human contact.
Even the slick choice of Perspex that the print is mounted on is simultaneously smooth and shiny and
alienatingly manufactured.
Terminology:
• Lightjet print
• Simulation
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Peter ATKINS
Australia 1963
Points of view (an anthology
of short stories)
acrylic on tarpaulin
2007
Gift of the artist under the
Cultural Gifts Program 2009
2009.8
Peter Atkins uses travel to collect souvenirs and objects that can be used for future artworks. In addition
to keeping journals, which assist him to remember places he collects buttons, religious icons, fabrics, and
trinkets that find their way onto his artworks. The use of found materials reworked to become artworks is
often referred to as readymade. The concept of the readymade has its origins in Dada art of the early 20th
century, especially in the artwork of Marcel Duchamp. His art is also infused in Modernist Abstraction.
Through his art he documents time and place and how he makes connections through travel.
“I am interested in how people perceive the things around them, how often the simplest and most
beautiful things go unnoticed. What attracts me to certain types of forms and designs beyond their
abstract potential is their ‘commonness’ and the seemingly invisibility to most people. I am attempting to
re-present these things back to the viewer as new way of looking at abstraction which sits somewhere
between high and low art.” Peter Atkins, 2009
•
Readymades
Peter ATKINS
Australia 1963
Points of view (an anthology
of short stories)
acrylic on tarpaulin
2007
Gift of the artist under the Cultural Gifts Program 2009
2009.8
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Minnie PWERLE
Australia c1922–2006
Awelye Atnwengerrp (Bush Melon)
acrylic on canvas
2003
Gift of Jim and Libby Cousins under the
Cultural Gifts Program 2008 2008.21.a–e
Minnie Pwerle was an artist of the Utopia region. This area, in Northern Territory is also known as the
desert region in Aboriginal geographical classifications. Like her sister in law, the internationally renowned
Emily Kame Kngwarreye she did not start producing canvas paintings until she was in her senior years,
around the age of 70 or 80. Although Pwerle was married to an Aboriginal man named Motorcar Jim, she
had previously had a relationship with a non Aborignal man, from which a daughter was born. This
daughter, Barbara Weir was taken from Pwerle when she was nine but the two were reunited later in life.
Weir introduced her mother to painting in the year 2000 and Pwerle translated the patterns she knew into
brightly coloured acrylic paintings. The distinctive circular and linear designs Pwerle created have origins
in body painting for women’s ceremony, known as Awely. Traditionally these pattens are painted onto the
chest, arms and thighs with red ochre and ash. The ceremonies have great significance in wishing for wellbeing for the community. The designs are also representative of the Anemangkerr (Bush Melon) in their
loop shape and of the Akarley (Wild Orange) in colour.
•
The Dreaming
Sally SMART
Australia 1960
Tractor (Black/Shadow Farm)
acrylic on felt, canvas and fabric
2002
2009.10
Sally Smart has worked in painting, collage and sculptural media but is most renowned for her multi-piece
wall collages made from felt. Her themes often relate to her own life growing up in rural South Australia
and to the history of women living in the bush and working on farms. The use of felt could be interpreted
in a feminist manner as it is often associated with traditional women’s craft. The silhouetted shapes also
relate to her investigation into the shadow theatre puppetry of the late 19th century. Her collage influences
are drawn from the early 20th Century avante -garde modernist women artists, including the Paris-based
Sonia Delaunay and Hannah Hoch, a German Dada artist. The installation process of her felt pieces can
be likened to performance. She has cited the influence of choreographers, such as Pina Bausch, whom
Sally observed at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts, as a young artist in the early 80s.
•
•
Assemblage
Feminism in Art
Janet LAURENCE
Australia 1947
Botanical residues
Duraclear, acrylic, aluminium,
oil, pigment
2005
2005.51
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Janet Laurence’s layered sculptural works investigate themes of science, art and memory. She often uses
reflective surfaces in her artworks which are not only visually appealing but create ambiguity. She also
chooses glass for its transformative or alchemical quality as it changes from liquid to solid through the
power of fire. One of her influences for using a layering technique has been Leonardo da Vinci’s
“sfumato” technique. This painting technique involved using many layers of paint to create ambiguous
shadows, as in Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile. Botanical Residues is drawn from a larger series and uses
photographs taken from significant architectural locations in Europe which include the rebuilt Barcelona
Pavilion designed by Mies van der Rohe, the Jewish Museum and Potsdam Palace Gardens, in Berlin, and
the Kroller Moller Museum, with its Richard Serra sculpture, in the Netherlands.
The reference to architecture and organic subject matter in Laurence’s artworks suggest ephemerality and
the impact of humankind on the natural world.
•
Ephemeral
Andrew BROWNE
Australia 1960
Seven apparitions #1–7
photopolymer photogravures
2008
Andrew Browne uses both photography and painting to explore ideas about how both natural and
artificial light alter the landscape at night. While his paintings often include references to abstracted and
blurred headlights, this photographic series focuses purely on the organic elements of the landscape. By
altering the focus and contrast of the camera and printing processes and choosing pure black and white,
Browne isolates intimate details of scrubby bush. The Apparition series is one that Browne has worked on
for many years that explores the theme of nocturnal world permeated by the observer.
Stephen BUSH
Australia 1958
Jerks as a passable frown
oil on linen
2006
Winner 2007 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize. Acquired with equal assistance from the RHS Abbott
Bequest Fund 2007
2007.23
Stephen Bush uses painting and appropriation to explore ideas of western art history, discovery and
technology in a humorous and surreal manner. His paintings often juxtapose unexpected subjects such as
bee keepers, rubbish bins or, in the case of Jerks as a passable frown, pot belly stoves against Romantic
style landscapes like those created by 19th century European painters.
Using his knowledge of contemporary painting techniques, Bush often uses swirling paint and replaces
realistic colour schemes with monochromatic or limited colour schemes, referencing reproductive
techniques that may have in the past rendered artworks to be single coloured. Aesthetically, Bush’s recent
paintings use complementary colour schemes such as greens against reds or pinks in a lurid, humorous
and unrealistic manner. In doing so, he appears to question the emphasis on the sublime or picturesque in
the established history of landscape painting and the importance of the original.
“Stephen Bush questions the fundamental assumption underlying both extremes: the presumed
equivalence of creativity and originality. His paintings are doubly derivative; they emulate the
conventions of the nineteenth century landscape, and then repeat the artist’s own oeuvre. He suggests
what while originality has been a privileged term in the visual arts; it has never been a consistent or stable
one in either its life or recent ‘death’. The copy and the original meet in a paradoxical union: there is no
perfect copy, it must have some originality: there is not perfect original, it must be derivative of the
history of painting” Chris McAuliffe. Stephen Bush: Serial Originality.
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Stephen BUSH
Australia 1958
oil on linen
2006
Winner 2007 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize. Acquired with equal assistance from the RHS Abbott Bequest Fund 2007
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2007.23
Dale FRANK
Australia 1959
Three Lies: Good things come in small packages; Nothing is interesting if you are not
interested; One man’s meat is another man’s poison.
They will show you everything they have – their sexy bodies.
When the student is ready, the master will appear. Laughter is the closest distance between two
people while Happiness is not a state of mind,
but a manner of travelling. Tarampa Hotel, Tarampa Road, 2004
acrylic, varnish on linen
2004–2005
Bequest Fund 2005
2005.2
Brisbane based artist Dale Frank emerged onto the international art scene in the 1980s with solo
exhibitions in Europe and the United States. Frank has explored representational and abstract modes in
his art during the past two decades, investigating and extending the 'idea' of painting and art through his
use of an overwhelming range of materials and processes. In this work Three Lies, pools of poured
coloured varnish create a rich and tactile surface.
Frank views his recent works as a variation on the traditional notions of landscape painting, particularly
Australia’s famed Heidelberg School and the practice of plein-air painting. His lurid, almost hallucinogenic
colour fields do not represent the literal landscape, but portray a ‘landscape of the mind’.
"If people broadened their perceptions of what landscape is, and the history of Australian landscape
painting, they would be able to embrace what is non-representational art as landscape instantaneously and
simultaneously. Landscape is non-representational; it is an abstract concept to all people. It always was a
meaning separate from image. The word itself, 'landscape', is too historically and emotively loaded to have
contemporary significance as a word, for one thing, let alone an attitude to style." (Dale Frank, 2005)
Dale FRANK
Australia 1959
Three Lies: Good things come in small
packages; Nothing is interesting if you are not
interested; One man’s meat is another man’s
poison.
They will show you everything they have –
their sexy bodies.
When the student is ready, the master will
appear. Laughter is the closest distance
between two people while Happiness is not a
state of mind,
but a manner of travelling. Tarampa Hotel,
Tarampa Road, 2004
acrylic, varnish on linen
2004–2005
Winner 2005 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting
Prize. Acquired with equal assistance from the
RHS Abbott Bequest Fund 2005
2005.2
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Stieg PERSSON
Australia 1959
Middle management
oil on cotton duck
2003
Bequest Fund 2003
2003.21
Steig Persson works primarily in painting, and is renowned for his extensive use of the juxtaposition, large
areas of black and scrolled forms to create metaphors for darkness and light. Middle Management continues
his use of scrolls that appeared as calligraphy or graffiti like forms in many of his artworks of the past,
often accompanied by figurative subject matter and layerings of torn canvas.
Asked about his use of decorative scrollwork, Persson answered: "I can only do maybe two a year because
they're that time consuming and dense to paint," he said. "It's about excess and overload. I kind of think
of it as minimalism gone bad." Middle Management won the inaugural Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize
at Bendigo Art Gallery in 2003. "It's a large black-and-white painting called Middle Management taking that
scroll approach that I have utilised over the years and subjected to a massive amount of information. It's
layering to a point of excess."
Persson has investigated contemporary themes from the proliferation of metal music in Scandinavian
cities through to global politics. In Middle Management he uses a meticulous technique of painting the
background around his drawn line work to create an aesthetically pleasing composition based around a
theme that many people experiencing corporate downsizing would be familiar with.
•
Middle Management: a level of management that is below the senior management but above the
lower levels of staff.
Stieg PERSSON
Australia 1959
Middle management
oil on cotton duck
2003
Winner 2003 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize. Acquired with equal assistance from the RHS Abbott Bequest Fund 2003
2003.21
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Nadine CHRISTENSEN
Australia 1969
Geography
acrylic on board
2008
The Gift of Grace and Alec Craig of Bendigo, Victoria 2009
2009.23
Nadine Christensen is a Melbourne artist who is mainly concerned with painting to question the
relationship between the natural and unnatural world. Her background in design and illustration and
interest in refracted and reflected light, architecture, new and old imaging technologies, special effects and
animation all infuse her work. She uses a controlled, smooth painting technique to communicate ideas
about space, technology and the desire to map and understand the environment.
Her interest in the effects of technology and space may have also been influenced by her own
environment. She grew up in the Gippsland region and after finishing school and travelling for a few
years, returned to the Gippsland Centre for Art & Design to complete her Bachelor of Visual Arts. 'The
environment suited me at the time and allowed for a more gradual development of my work within a close community of
students and staff. I also enjoyed being located in the industrial and at the same time picturesque Latrobe Valley; issues of
technology and environment continue to inform my practice as an artist'
She often combines objects from both the natural and constructed worlds but uses a harmonious painting
technique inspired by John Brack to make the scene appear seamless. She is interested in how Brack
gradually builds up the surface with flat layers. She uses a sequence of drawing, photography,
photocopying, projection, collage and distortion, often performed at a desk. She highlights aesthetically
pleasing organic textures such as wood grain, pebbles and rocks and often flattens them so that they are
similar to the mechanical objects around them. By refining her compositions to flattened, perfected
textures and colours she suggests a hyperreal world made possible by new technology.
Nadine CHRISTENSEN
Australia 1969
Geography
acrylic on board
2008
The Gift of Grace and Alec Craig of Bendigo,
Victoria 2009
2009.23
Courtesy of the artist and KALIMANRAWLINS,
Melbourne
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John WOLSELEY
born Great Britain 1938 arrived Australia 1976
The language of lizards
found charcoal, graphite,
watercolour on paper
2007–2008
2008.16
John Wolseley is a locally-based artist (based in the Whipstick Forest) with a national profile and
reputation. Wolseley presented the major solo exhibition Tracing the Wallace Line at Bendigo Art Gallery in
2001 from which the work Tracing the Wallace Line: Descent of the dipterocarp (1999) was purchased for the
collection. The Language of Lizards continues his theme of time and the living world in local environments.
Excerpts from the Artist’s statement:
“The famous paragraph about a ' tangled bank' with which Charles Darwin ends The Origin of Species was
based on a particular patch of ground in Kent which still remains there today, still enjoyed by the
descendants of the same birds, insects and worms which he described. This exhibition is about two other
patches of scrub - one I found in the sandhills of the West Victorian Mallee, the other on the slopes of
Mont Sainte-Victoire in Provence.
These drawings and paintings were done after high temperature bush fires had passed though - both in
the Murray Sunset country; and almost as a result of wishful thinking, near Aix en Provence, five days
after I arrived there. Very felicitous! - because I have always found that the period when a burnt- almost to- nothing landscape is reborn and regenerates in a miraculous way, can provide a wonderful window
through which to see the inner workings of a place. And this time in the course of documenting these
processes, I often sensed the most eerie connections and correspondences between the two widely
separated tracts of ground.
While spending days experiencing and drawing the actual life in those tangled banks and ecosystems I had
a number of elusive glimpses and strange intuitions into the nature of time and the living world. For
instance deep in a tangle of needlebush near my home in the Whipstick forest I heard some phrases in the
song of a White throated Gerygone which had an eerie correspondence with some of those I had heard
coming from the throat of a Fauvette grisette hidden in a hawthorn tree on the side of Mont Sante
Victoire. And when I saw the birds themselves they were so similar in essence and behaviour they could
almost have been the same species. And that is the mystery; they were almost identical and yet had
evolved over deep time far apart - and separated for sixty million years.
These drawings were made in a rather an odd way, usually it is the artist who travels and makes the
drawings - here it is the actual sheets of paper which have made part of their journey without the artist.
Many of them I released in the landscape and then left them to be blown by the winds across the
sandhills and the scrub. They have had their own experience of the land; and the dark skeletal trees have
conspired with wind, rain and sunlight to draw and mark them with strange calligraphies; and fold and
curl them into a variety of sculptural forms. Later I captured most of them where they had come to rest
or roost in tangled banks or sand dune hollows. Others I never found. They must still be travelling
through distant woods of pine or oak, or far into the Murray sunset wilderness.
I collected some of them weeks, sometimes months later - and I then became yet another agent of change
as I added more calligraphies and drawings of the birds and plants of the Mallee and the Maquis.
Knowing how often [Cezanne] had railed at the damage being done to his beloved landscape I might
have told him that I was thinking of describing these drawings as 'Inventories'. Both in the Maquis and
the Mallee countless species are being lost at an ever increasing rate; and it may be that some time in the
future these documents may be seen as a kind of inventory of what used to be, and what will soon be
seen no more.”
John Wolseley, 2008
14
John WOLSELEY
born Great Britain 1938 arrived Australia 1976
The language of lizards
found charcoal, graphite,
watercolour on paper
2007–2008
2008.16
Gladdy KEMARRE
Australia c1950
Anwekety
acrylic on linen
2008
2011.2
Gladdy Kemarre is a painter who lives in Camel Camp, Utopia, Northern Territory. Her paintings are
characterised by layers of shimmering dots which reflect her Dreaming of the Bush Plum (Arnwekety),
Wild Flowers (Alpeyt), Country and Bush Men. She has been involved in the Utopia movement since the
late 1970s when the Utopia Women's Batik Group was formed and was given the bush plum Dreaming
story by her Grandmother.
Anwekety can be seen as being viewed form above, showing the changing seasonal colours of the bush
plum, the flowers of which dominate the ground. The bush plum Dreaming is of great significance in
women’s ceremonies and to the whole country. The patterns are also a reference to body painting.
Jan NELSON
Australia 1955
Summer Collection
enamel on linen
2004
2004.19
Jan NELSON
Australia 1955
Walking in tall grass, Blackwood
fibreglass, oil paint, rock
2004
2004.20
Nelson is known for her multi-disciplinary practice that encompasses painting, photography and
sculpture. Her art is characterised by its focus on the moments, gaps and pauses that punctuate our
experience of time and passing events. Her work represents a narrative (although ambiguous) – and
examination of the body. Nelson’s figures inhabit the space between the anonymity of magazines and real
people. Her figures are informed by trendsetting fashion and design magazines such as Wallpaper, The
Face, and Mojo – they are of their time
15
Magazine culture is the epitome of refined aesthetics, all groovy, marketed for our time. It take you out of your reality and
gives you a world that feeds our desires, exotic locations that are beautifully photographed but are divorced from most people’s
everyday reality. Objects, architecture and interiors we can only dream about.
In Summer Collection she has focused purely on the power of advertising with pleasing colour schemes and
sleek/ clean lines. This is part of a series of paintings which, like magazines, use the seasons to ‘sell’
colour schemes and ideas.
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Tracey MOFFATT
Australia 1960
Adventure series 4
colour print on Fujiflex paper
2003–2004
2004.7
Moffatt grew up as an Aboriginal child in a white foster family in Brisbane. As a child of the 1960s she
was highly influenced by the new media of magazines, television and film, which would all show in her
artwork in subsequent years. In 1982 she graduated from Queensland College of Art, Film & Video
course. Although her photographic and film work frequently includes indigenous and non white figures,
she prefers not to be stereotyped as an Aboriginal artist.
How do you think her background as an adopted half Aboriginal girl with a sister has influenced the subject matter in
series such as Scarred for Life 1994?
Style: Postmodernism / Contemporary
Unlike many photographic artists, Moffatt does not stick to the same technique for each of her series,
often mimicking techniques used in the past. For example, Invocations uses a hand executed screen
printing technique and this gives a flattened, almost illustrative effect, further removing the hard realism
of straight photography. Her Scarred for Life series uses an offset printing technique similar to magazine
printing, which gives a washed out, unsharp effect similar to the snapshot slides and polaroid
photographs mass produced by families in the 1960s and 70s. Also in Postmodern style, Adventure Series
references Moffatt’s childhood obsession with television and radio series by presenting a comic book
style format by including three images on the one sheet rather than the Modernist single image.
Heightened, non-realistic colour and strong foreground use of the figure juxtaposed against hand drawn
background imagery further gives the effect of the brightly appealing magazine imagery.
Discuss what media forms Adventure Series reminds you of. How are these photographs like and unlike photography you
have viewed in the past?
17
Key aesthetic qualities
While Moffatt’s aesthetics vary along with the theme of each series of works, colour is almost always a
dominant element of design. In Adventure Series the choice of colour impacts on the viewer’s reading of
the work in terms of the art form they reference. Adventure Series uses a bright palette of primary and
secondary colours achieved by employing a graphic artist to paint backdrops. As the backdrop dominates
the composition, the selection of neutral, uniform style costumes, heavy makeup on the models and
studio lighting was all that was required to balance the strong background colour. Adventure Series 4 uses
primaries of blue and yellow set against the strong orange and purple of the sky, creating a
complementary colour scheme.
As the human figure is significant in Adventure Series, people are selectively positioned, often diagonally
juxtaposed with other figures or other images relevant to the story. In Adventure Series we see multiple
figures with different subject to camera distances, but always facing the camera, as if part of a television
soap opera.
Discuss the use of composition and angle of view in Adventure Series. How has each design element been used to contribute
to the visual and emotional effect of the photographs?
Techniques:
Outsourcing
In both series on display as in most of Moffatt’s photographic and film work, many assistants are
involved in the production of the artwork. Working much like a movie director, Moffatt often uses actors
or models to pose for her works, although in her 2005 series Under the sign of Scorpio, she posed as the
various historical and contemporary female figures. For Invocations, she used a studio in New York and
employed people to build theatrical sets, employed actors, and worked with a commercial printer to
screen print the images, which took nine months as the work needed to be done by hand.
Colour printing processes
As Moffatt outsources all her printing, she can change the printing process to suit the theme. Invocations
used the photographic screen printing process, which is more akin to printmaking (in the style of Andy
Warhol) than straight photography. In Adventure series Moffatt shows an eventual shift from analogue to
digital photography. She has used Photoshop not so much to change figures and colours but to shift
around the panels into a comic book format ready for digital printing. By moving to a digital process, she
has also chosen Fujiflex photographic paper which is white polyester based photo paper which enables
rich and sharp colour and a glossy surface.
By looking at the works firsthand, compare the differences in the surface texture of Invocations and Adventure Series. Do
you think each printing technique chosen has suited the themes of fantasy narratives and a comic book stories?
18
Analysis of Adventure Series
Like many of Moffatt’s photographs, Adventure Series 4 is part of a larger series but when viewed in its
entirety, the series does not necessarily provide a sequential and logical outline of the narrative. Looking
to the entertainment media she grew up with in the 1970s, Adventure Series is inspired by Moffatt’s interest
in The Flying Doctor series, an adventure comic strip and The Rovers a television show with a seafaring
theme. Like her early series Something More Adventure series uses the deliberate fakery of painted
backdrops but in Adventure Series they contrast even more with the figures. With Postmodern humour,
Moffatt almost overplays the use of types in the images with a busty blonde, a sexy Asian woman, an
extremely suntanned pilot and exotic native types complete with grass skirts. Like daytime soap operas, in
Adventure Series, even when it appears disaster (a plane crash) or danger (predatory animals) are eminent,
all players have perfect make-up and clean clothing and the backgrounds seem too appealing in their
heightened colour to be realistic in any way. The choice of digital photography, tight framing and
outsourced brightly painted sets has contributed to a witty, yet somewhat confusing narrative.
Rosslynd PIGGOTT
Australia 1958
Air of flower clouds
glass, paper, cardboard, silk
2002
2002.5.a–b
Rosslynd explores ideas of ephemerality and beauty in Air of flower clouds. This artwork continues her series
of works involving collections of air from places she has visited. Piggott has an ongoing interest in
Japanese culture and this has been explored through painting and object based art. Perhaps borrowing
from a Buddhist sensibility, her recent works are subtle and poetic. Air of flower clouds features a hand
blown glass tube containing air collected under a cherry blossom tree at Tenryuji Temple, Arashiyama,
Kyoto, Japan. The tube is etched with details of the air’s origin and displayed with a hand made box.
Brent HARRIS
Australia 1956
Deities series: Buddha II
woodcut on German copper
etching paper
2004
2005.52.4
Brent HARRIS
Australia 1956
Deities series: Ganesha II
woodcut on German copper
etching paper
2004
2005.52.6
Brent Harris is a painter-printmaker based in Melbourne. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Art, Victorian
College of the Arts in 1984, and his work has been the subject of various solo exhibitions between 1988
and 2005 in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide. In 2002 Harris’s work was included in the
Archibald prize and he was commissioned to produce a portrait of Leo Schofield for the National
Portrait Gallery, Canberra. His work is held in numerous state gallery and private collections.
While his paintings are well known and appreciated, his prints occupy an important place within his
practice. In 2004 Harris undertook a residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI) focussing on
a series of prints and paper pulp works.
19
A dominant aspect of Harris’s painting and printmaking practice has been the use of immaculate surfaces
of colour and tone, beautifully printed and painted to visually mask the hand of the artist. More than a
decade ago Harris’s work began to shift from controlled geometric designs toward disorder, chance and
organic forms that pulse and glide across the surface. Humour, wit and the unpredictable replaced order
and design in his work and began t move towards a more psychological basis.
While undertaking the residency at STPI, Harris produced three jigsaw puzzle woodcut prints that
incorporate minor elements of screenprinting and lithography. Harris became aware of the jigsaw puzzle
technique through the works of Edvard Munch. Titled Deities they image Buddha, Jesus and the God
Ganesha. Three variations using the same block were editioned. Together, these nine prints constitute a
single work of art.
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Julie RRAP
Australia 1950
Escape Artist: Castaway 2
digital print on archival rag paper
2009
2009.21
Background:
As a woman growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, Rrap was well aware of the feminist ideas emerging at
this time. During this period people in general eschewed authority and rebelled against the norms of
society and artists often explored non-traditional ideas about the body and sexuality. The 70s coincided
with women’s liberation movements and a rise in feminism. The 70s was also a time when performance
art was popular, breaking with the dominance of painting in previous decades and Austrian artists such as
Hermann Nitsch lead the world in creating confronting artworks featuring often violent and blood
stained performances. In her formative years, Rrap participated in performance art with her artist
brother Mike Parr and her practice, although photographic, can often been seen to have a performative
element, especially as she is often both the subject/performer and the artist.
How do you think time (growing up in the 60s and 70s) has influenced her practice?
Her brother, Mike Parr often uses his body in his performances in confronting ways, for example, stitching his lips together
in protest against the treatment of refugees in detention centres in 2002. Compare and contrast the similarities and
differences in how these sibling artists use their body in their art.
Rrap completed a double degree in Literature. Of her many years trying to be a writer, she said all her art
is like an “endless dialogue”. “It's not like you have an idea and it's got nothing to do with what you've
done in the past. It's moving back and forward and across things.” Many artists in this exhibition have
studied in areas other than photography (Patricia Piccinini studied economics before painting and
Rosemary Laing studied traditional art) and this often contributes to a strong basis for meaning and
message.
Style: Postmodernism / Contemporary
Rrap’s work over three decades has often been seen as a critique of the depiction of women in art. She is
a frequent user of the Postmodern technique of appropriation. Unlike some artists who directly copy
parts of other artists’ works into their own, Rrap restages renowned artworks or images from popular
culture usually using her own body in a tableaux style. This can be seen in her 1984 series Persona and
Shadow when she rephotographed painted photographs of herself in the pose of icon paintings such as
Munch’s Puberty. You can view thumbnails of this series on her commercial dealer’s website:
http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/32/Julie_Rrap/462/ In Escape Artist: Castaway 2 her use of
appropriation is more subtle as she blends the use of Marilyn Monroe’s flighty white dress in the film The
Seven Year Itch with a resemblance of a raft, borrowed from the idea of Gericault’s The Raft of Medusa.
21
View a reproduction of Gericault’s The Raft of Medusa (easily accessible from the internet). Compare and contrast the use
of figures in The Raft of Medusa with Castaway 2.
Rrap’s aesthetics vary across her 25 year oeuvre. Given that subject matter often consists of a figure with
various props or in states of distortion, pictorial space is well considered. In order to create a sense of
depth, colour, shadows or smaller shapes of props are often used. At other times, such as in the Castaway
series, pictorial space is less important and the figure occupies the same ground as the raft slats,
suggesting a deliberate Postmodern staged approach. Throughout the many series of works she has
created, figures are often photographed from a variety of points of view. In order to simulate the poses
of the figures in the paintings appropriated, the Persona and Shadow series was photographed from an
above subject or bird’s eye view, whereas Camouflage from the series A-R-MOUR was photographed from
a low angle, almost mimicking the angle of view of the famously masculine Sunbaker by Max Dupain.
Using a shadow as a focal point against an infinity screen, the Soft Targets series was photographed from
an angle as if looking up at the subject. The Castaway series creates a confusing perception of gravity as it
is difficult to tell from which angle Rrap has photographed herself. It is possible that it is an above
subject angle, but perhaps she is standing upright against a wall. This confusion contributes to the
Postmodern layering of images and contexts.
Techniques:
Using the common subject matter of the female figure, Rrap has explored a gamut of technical processes
to create a diversity of artforms. Some of her photographs are actually photographs of photographs that
have been painted over (Persona and Shadow) whilst other series are actually drawings. In a number of
series she has used mould making techniques to create plaster moulds of her body or rubber heads that
are then further used on the photographs or drawings. Recently, she has used digital manipulation in a
variety of ways: to create overlapped images; to create distorted body shapes; to create trickery and
illusion or to morph body parts with other objects (made famous in Overstepping 2001). Props are a
common device used throughout her practice. In the Castaway series, wooden slats have been made to
symbolise the raft in Raft of Medusa.
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Rosemary LAING
Australia 1959
A dozen useless actions for grieving blondes #5
type c photograph
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?
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
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.
23
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.
24
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
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
Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
Photographer: Mark Ashkanasy
25
Donna BAILEY
Australia 1963
New Moon #10
type c photograph
2010
In memory of Wynne Baring. Purchased by Bendigo Art Gallery Foundation 2010
2010.31
Artist Statement:
The series was made on medium format film with my Mamiya 7ii camera. This camera has a 6 x 7cm negative
format. At the time that I made the series, my camera was quite new - I have previously used a Bronica camera (6 x
4.5cm format) and a Toyo large format camera (5 x 4 inch format). The difference with this camera is that it has a
rangefinder and it took a bit of getting used to. I used Kodak color film and the negs were processed in Melbourne
and the prints made in Sydney. My printer in Sydney still uses an analogue process rather than digital.
Justine Kurland's works were a bit of an influence. I like the way she positions her subjects in the landscape. I
wanted the figures in my series to appear small against the larger facets of the Australian landscape.
This series was made at a junction in my practice. Whereas previously I had photographed my children and their
friends (middle distance), in a more realistic style, I felt that I wanted to express something in this series about the
trajectory that children take as they grow up and move away from their parents. Hence, I physically shifted back
from them as I photographed them. In this series they often appear much smaller. At the same time, the event of
the ten year long drought in central Victoria meant that I saw layers of the bush peeled away, dried out, laid bare and
I wanted to make pictures of some of this barren, denuded landscape.
Living right in the midst of the goldfields landscape means that I am constantly engaging with its history. When I
began to research this project I was struck by the place names of this area. The south of Bendigo, where I live has
quite decorative names like Golden Gully, Diamond Hill, Milkmaid Flat, and on the other side (Eaglehawk) names
like Whipstick, Beelzebub Gully and Lightning Hill are more ominous and spooky. There were a range of other
cultural and historical contexts that inspired the work but overall it was the gold-mining history and the depth of the
effect it has had on this part of the world.
Petrina HICKS
Australia 1972
Emily the Strange
lightjet print
2011
2012.2
Like many contemporary photographic artists, Petrina Hicks works in series. Emily the Strange is drawn
from the recent Beautiful Creatures series, produced in 2011. Hicks use the seductive language of
advertising in the form of smooth textures, close-ups and appealing colours to present subject matter that
suggests the failures of hyperreality. In addition to becoming an artist of critical acclaim, Hicks is also a
commercial photographer and she uses these tricks of advertising and graphic design to coerce the viewer
into thinking that the youthful subjects are super perfect. Upon closer inspection of the subjects however,
faults appear . Her portraits often use simple backgrounds to highlight the central subject, borrowing
from the traditional commercial photographic portrait genre. Or they may use compositions borrowed
from art history but without a definite message. Her playful but skilfully executed photographs rupture
the viewer’s expectation of perfection through subtly exaggeration or manipulation.
Key Terms:
• Lightjet print
•
Hyperreality
Hyperreality could be described as the postmodern idea of using imagery in what appears to be a realistic
way to suggest a perfect world. We are tricked and coerced into believing something is real when it is not.
Examples of hyperreality include digitally enhanced figures in art or film, cities created out of nothing that
26
did not evolve with a functional purpose such as Disney World, Las Vegas and Dubai, a well manicured
garden which is clipped to a high level of perfection and online virtual worlds such as Second Life.
David ROSETZKY
Australia 1970
Nothing like this
16mm film transferred to DVD 16:9 format; colour, sound edition of 2/6 +2 AP duration:24:36mins
2007
2007.35
David Rosetzky works mainly in video and photographic formats, and creates portraits and narratives that
explore human behaviour, interaction and contemporary thinking. Voice-overs are common in
Rosetzky’s film works and suggest themes self consciousness and how people perceive themselves. His
subjects are often stylised and perfect, as if models form advertising or film; however the voice-overs
often suggest that the subjects are less than confident.
Rosetzky shot Nothing like this on film but later transferred it to DVD. This enables the film as an artwork
to be easily transported and acquired by public galleries whilst retaining the quality of film. Like many
artists, Rosetzky needed to outsource some of the technical aspects and he employed cinematographer
Katie Milwright to film the scene.
The film is designed to be looped and repeated over 24 minutes, in which each piece is shot slightly
differently. This may be to suggest that nothing stays the same forever.
Fashion, with its emphasis on surface and materiality, provides an interesting counterpoint to Rosetzky’s interest in layering
and portraiture and the relationship between interiority and exteriority, reality and fantasy, authenticity and artificiality.
David Rosetzky Artist Profile, Sutton Gallery, Fitzroy, Victoria.
Anne ZAHALKA
Australia 1957
Karo, Performer
2009
type c photograph
2009.20
Sports Portraiture
Anne Zahalka effectively reworks the theme of sports portraits of the 1930s-60s in Karo,
Performer. This work is part of a series of portraits entitled Playing the Game! which appropriated
the poses, compositions and lighting seen in the early 20th century Australian sports portrait,
often seen displayed in pubs. Continuing one of her processes of creating photographic tableaux
of iconic western based paintings or photographs, the series Playing the Game! uses non-athletic
people as models instead of the sun bronzed Australian men of the original ‘pub portraits’.
These ordinary men and women are not necessarily muscular and are frequently non AngloSaxon, unlike traditional Australian ‘pub’ portraits. This continues a long practised investigation
into stereotypes and representation of gender and culture in art and photography. Given the
aesthetic of studio lighting, the ordinary people in Playing the Game! still assume an important
role and are given a celebrity style glamorous appearance.
‘I wanted to consider the diversity of sports practiced now, and to explore those who
consume and are consumed by it.’ Her sportsmen and women are ordinary people, a
representative cross-section of class, gender and ethnicity. Zahalka has replaced the ‘ideal’
Australian with ‘other’. Anne Zahalka, 2009
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Thinking Processes - Level 5
Learning focus
As students work towards the achievement of Level 5 standards in Thinking Processes, they
participate in increasingly complex investigations and activities in which they seek evidence
to support their conclusions, and investigate the validity of other people’s ideas; for example,
by testing the credibility of differing accounts of the same event, questioning conclusions
based on very small or biased samples of data, and identifying and questioning
generalisations. From such investigations and activities, students learn to make and justify
changes to their thinking and develop awareness that others may have perceptions different
from their own.
Students draw on an increasing range of contexts to formulate the questions that drive their
investigations. They participate in challenging tasks that stimulate, encourage and support
the development of their thinking. They apply a range of discipline-based methodologies to
conduct inquiries and gather, analyse and synthesise information. They gather information
from a variety of sources and begin to distinguish between different types (for example,
quantitative and qualitative) and sources (primary and secondary) of data. They begin to
synthesise both self-selected and teacher-directed information to make meaning. They
recognise the complexity of many of the ideas and concepts they are exploring and use a
range of thinking strategies to develop connections.
Students increasingly focus on tasks that require creative thinking for understanding,
synthesis and decision making. They develop creative thinking behaviours and strategies
through flexible approaches; for example, considering alternative perspectives, suspending
judgment, seeking new information and testing novel ideas. They evaluate alternative
conclusions and perspectives using criteria developed individually and in collaboration with
their peers.
Students reflect on their own learning, seeking to refine existing ideas and beliefs when
provided with contradictory evidence. They develop their capacity to identify, monitor and
evaluate the thinking skills and strategies they use. During their investigations and inquiries
they use specific language to discuss their thinking and reflect on their thinking processes.
They reflect on, modify and evaluate their thinking strategies.
Standards
Reasoning, processing and inquiry
At Level 5, students use a range of question types, and locate and select relevant
information from varied sources when undertaking investigations. When identifying and
synthesising relevant information, they use a range of appropriate strategies of reasoning
and analysis to evaluate evidence and consider their own and others’ points of view. They
use a range of discipline-based methodologies. They complete activities focusing on
problem solving and decision making which involve an increasing number of variables and
solutions.
Creativity
At Level 5, students apply creative thinking strategies to explore possibilities and generate
multiple options, problem definitions and solutions. They demonstrate creativity, in the ways
they engage with and explore ideas in a range of contexts.
28
Reflection, evaluation and metacognition
At Level 5, students explain the purpose of a range of thinking tools and use them in
appropriate contexts. They use specific language to describe their thinking and reflect on
their thinking processes during their investigations. They modify and evaluate their thinking
strategies. They describe and explain changes that may occur in their ideas and beliefs over
time.
Level 6
Learning focus
As students work towards the achievement of Level 6 standards in Thinking Processes, they
become discriminating thinkers, capable of making informed decisions about controversial
and complex issues. They are supported to put effort into sustained thinking in order to
construct deep understanding of key concepts across the curriculum. They continually reflect
on their own thinking and identify assumptions that may influence their ideas. They seek to
develop coherent knowledge structures and recognise gaps in their understanding. They are
challenged to identify, use, reflect on, evaluate and modify a variety of effective thinking
strategies to inform future choices.
Students begin to formulate and test hypotheses, contentions and conjectures and to collect
evidence to support or reject them. They develop their skills in synthesising complex
information and solving problems that include a wide range of variables. Students develop
questioning techniques appropriate to the complexity of ideas they investigate, to probe into
and elicit information from varying sources. They work with others to modify their initial
questions and to develop further their understanding that sources of information may vary in
their validity.
Students explore differing perspectives and issues in depth and identify a range of creative
possibilities. They are encouraged to examine and acknowledge a range of perspectives on
an issue and to accommodate diversity. They engage positively with novelty and difference
and are innovative in the ways they define and work through tasks, and find solutions. They
practise creative thinking behaviours and strategies to find solutions, synthesise information
and understand complex ideas.
In inquiry projects, students select appropriate strategies and connect existing knowledge
and new knowledge to process and organise information. They begin to analyse the
relationships between ideas, and synthesise these to form coherent knowledge.
Students recognise that different disciplines use different methodologies to create and verify
knowledge. They investigate a variety of discipline-based methodologies and reflect on their
usefulness in different contexts; for example, the application of the scientific methodology of
hypothesis, observation, data collection and conclusion in contexts other than science. They
continue to evaluate their solutions using appropriate criteria and identify assumptions that
may underpin a particular line of reasoning.
Standards
Reasoning, processing and inquiry
At Level 6, students discriminate in the way they use a variety of sources. They generate
questions that explore perspectives. They process and synthesise complex information and
complete activities focusing on problem solving and decision making which involve a wide
range and complexity of variables and solutions. They employ appropriate methodologies for
29
creating and verifying knowledge in different disciplines. They make informed decisions
based on their analysis of various perspectives and, sometimes contradictory, information.
Creativity
At Level 6, students experiment with innovative possibilities within the parameters of a task.
They take calculated risks when defining tasks and generating solutions. They apply
selectively a range of creative thinking strategies to broaden their knowledge and engage
with contentious, ambiguous, novel and complex ideas.
Reflection, evaluation and metacognition
At Level 6, when reviewing information and refining ideas and beliefs, students explain
conscious changes that may occur in their own and others’ thinking and analyse alternative
perspectives and perceptions. They explain the different methodologies used by different
disciplines to create and verify knowledge. They use specific terms to discuss their thinking,
select and use thinking processes and tools appropriate to particular tasks, and evaluate
their effectiveness.
Principles of Learning and Teaching:
3.2 The teacher utilises a range of teaching strategies that support different ways of thinking and learning
This component refers to different ways students might approach learning, their different abilities and strengths, or their
different perspectives on themselves as learners. It also refers to the variety of ways ideas are represented and the need to
approach and demonstrate learning using different media and representational modes. The component implies the use of
diverse approaches to allow students to experience diverse ways of
learning and knowing, and targeted support for individuals, based on teacher monitoring.
4 Students are challenged and supported to develop deep levels of thinking and application
Students are challenged to explore, question and engage with significant ideas and practices, so that they move beyond
superficial understandings to develop higher order, flexible thinking. To support this, teaching sequences should be
sustained and responsive, and explore ideas and practices.
4.2 The teacher promotes substantive discussion of ideas
This component involves the teacher providing opportunities for students to talk together, discuss, argue and express
opinions and alternative points of view. ‘Substantive’ refers to a focus on significant ideas, practices or issues, that are
meaningful to students, and that occur over a sufficient period of time to be effectively explored. This component is
demonstrated by teachers:
• providing stimulus materials that challenge students’ ideas and encourage discussion, speculation and ongoing
exploration
• encouraging students to raise questions or speculate or make suggestions
• asking a high proportion of open-ended questions
• encouraging students to challenge, support or amplify others’ contributions.
30
Thinking Skills activities and appropriate artworks:
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03c_Core_r
outines/SeeThinkWonder/SeeThinkWonder_Routine.html
See Think Wonder
A routine for exploring works of art and other
interesting things
•
What do you see?
•
What do you think about that?
•
What does it make you wonder?
Purpose: What kind of thinking does this routine encourage?
This routine encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful interpretations. It helps
stimulate curiosity and sets the stage for inquiry.
Application: When and Where can it be used?
Use this routine when you want students to think carefully about why something looks the way it does or is
the way it is. Use the routine at the beginning of a new unit to motivate student interest or try it with an
object that connects to a topic during the unit of study. Consider using the routine with an interesting
object near the end of a unit to encourage students to further apply their new knowledge and ideas.
Launch: What are some tips for starting and using this routine?
Ask students to make an observation about an object--it could be an artwork, image, artefact or topic--and
follow up with what they think might be going on or what they think this observation might be. Encourage
students to back up their interpretation with reasons. Ask students to think about what this makes them
wonder about the object or topic.
The routine works best when a student responds by using the three stems together at the same time, i.e., "I
see..., I think..., I wonder...." However, you may find that students begin by using one stem at a time, and
that you need to scaffold each response with a follow up question for the next stem.
The routine works well in a group discussion but in some cases you may want to ask students to try the
routine individually on paper or in their heads before sharing out as a class. Student responses to the
routine can be written down and recorded so that a class chart of observations, interpretations and
wonderings are listed for all to see and return to during the course of study.
Suggested artworks:
Rosemary Laing:
A dozen useless actions for grieving blondes #5
Stephen Bush:
Stephen Haley:
Reverberator
•
I see
•
I think
•
I wonder
31
Explanation Game
A routine for exploring causal understanding
The routine focuses first on identifying something interesting about an object or idea:
"I notice that..."
And then following that observation with the question:
"Why is it that way?"
or
"Why did it happen that way?"
This is a routine for understanding why something is the way it is. This routine can get at either
causal explanation or explanation in terms of purposes or both.
You can apply it to almost anything: a pencil, cell phones, forms of government, historical
documents, and events. Students can work in pairs or groups of larger size, even a whole class. The
explanation game can also be used solo. The first time the routine is used, the teacher may need to
take an active role in scaffolding the conversation and modeling how to ask questions of
explanation and clarification if others. Over time, students can begin to emulate the conversational
moves and questioning they have seen modeled.
Begin with something "on the table"-an object like a cup or a compass, a document like a poem, a
picture, an historical event, a scientific theory, etc. The first person (this might be the teacher
initially) points out an interesting feature of the object: "I notice that... That's interesting. Why is it
that way? or "Why did it happen that way?" (or some similar why question). The other people in
the group try to answer the question or at least to propose possible explanations and reasons. As
these students share their ideas, the person asking the original question follows up by asking,
"What makes you think so?" The group works together to build explanations rather than merely
deferring to an outside source, the teacher or a textbook, to provide an answer.
Student questions and explanations become visible to the class as they are shared. Responses to the
routine also can be written down and recorded so that there is a class list of evolving ideas. A few
key issues or puzzles might then be chosen for further investigations. A conversation could also be
recorded as a chart with four columns representing the key structures of the conversation: 1) the
Observation that is initially made, 2) the Question that comes out of that observation, 3) the
various Explanations/Hypotheses that the rest of group puts forth, 4) the Reasons /Justifications
that are given in support of the explanations.
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03d_Unders
tandingRoutines/ExplanationGame/ExplanationGame_Routine.html
•
"I notice that..."
And then following that observation with the question:
•
32
"Why is it that way?"
or
"Why did it happen that way?"
Think, pair, share
tandingRoutines/ThinkPairShare/ThinkPairShare_Routine.html
Think Pair Share encourages students to understand multiple perspectives.
When first introducing the routine, teachers may want to scaffold students' paired conversations by
reminding them to take turns, listen carefully and ask questions of one another. One way to ensure
that students listen to each other is to tell students that you will be calling on individuals to explain
their partners thinking, as opposed to telling their own thoughts.
Encourage students to make their thinking visible by asking them to write or draw their ideas before
and/or after sharing. Journals can also be useful. Student pairs can report one another's thoughts to
the class and a list of ideas can be created in the classroom.
This routine is adapted from Frank Lyman: Lyman, F. T. (1981). The responsive classroom discussion: The inclusion of all students. In A. Anderson
(Ed.), Mainstreaming Digest (pp. 109-113). College Park: University of Maryland Press.
tandingRoutines/WhatMakes/WhatMakes_Routine.html
Application: When and where can I use it?
This is a thinking routine that asks students to describe something, such as an object or
concept, and then support their interpretation with evidence. Because the basic questions in
this routine are flexible, it is useful when looking at objects such as works of art or historical
artifacts, but it can also be used to explore a poem, make scientific observations and
hypothesis, or investigate more conceptual ideas (i.e., democracy). The routine can be
adapted for use with almost any subject and may also be useful for gathering information on
students' general concepts when introducing a new topic.
outines/UsedToThink/UsedToThink_Routine.htm
This routine helps students to reflect on their thinking about a topic or issue and explore how and
why that thinking has changed. It can be useful in consolidating new learning as students identify
their new understandings, opinions, and beliefs. By examining and explaining how and why their
thinking has changed, students are developing their reasoning abilities and recognizing cause and
effect relationships.
This routine can be used whenever students’ initial thoughts, opinions, or beliefs are likely to have
changed as a result of instruction or experience. For instance, after reading new
information, watching a film, listening to a speaker, experiencing something new, having a class
discussion, at the end of a unit of study, and so on.
outines/SeeThinkWonder/SeeThinkWonder_Routine.html
33
This routine encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful interpretations. It
helps stimulate curiosity and sets the stage for inquiry.
Use this routine when you want students to think carefully about why something looks the way it
does or is the way it is. Use the routine at the beginning of a new unit to motivate stu-dent interest
or try it with an object that connects to a topic during the unit of study. Consider using the routine
with an interesting object near the end of a unit to encourage students to further apply their new
knowledge and ideas.
Ask students to make an observation about an object--it could be an artwork, image, artifact or
topic--and follow up with what they think might be going on or what they think this observation
might be. Encourage students to back up their interpretation with reasons. Ask students to think
about what this makes them wonder about the object or topic.
The routine works best when a student responds by using the three stems together at the same time,
i.e., "I see..., I think..., I wonder...." However, you may find that students begin by using one stem at
a time, and that you need to scaffold each response with a follow up ques-tion for the next stem.
The routine works well in a group discussion but in some cases you may want to ask students to try
the routine individually on paper or in their heads before sharing out as a class. Student responses to
the routine can be written down and recorded so that a class chart of observations, interpretations
and wonderings are listed for all to see and return to during the course of study.
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03g_CreativityRo
utines/StepInside/StepInside_Routine.html
This routine helps students to explore different perspectives and viewpoints as they try to imagine
things, events, problems, or issues differently. In some cases this can lead to a more creative
understanding of what is being studied. For instance, imagining oneself as the numerator in a
fraction. In other settings, exploring different viewpoints can open up possibilities for further
creative exploration. For example, following this activity a student might write a poem from the
perspective of a soldier’s sword left on the battlefield.
This routine asks students to step inside the role of a character or object—from a picture they are
looking at, a story they have read, an element in a work of art, an historical event being discussed,
and so on—and to imagine themselves inside that point of view. Students are asked to then speak or
write from that chosen point of view. This routine works well when you want students to open up
their thinking and look at things differently. It can be used as an initial kind of problem solving
brainstorm that open ups a topic, issue, or item. It can also be used to help make abstract concepts,
pictures, or events come more to life for students.
In getting started with the routine the teacher might invite students to look at an image and ask them
to generate a list of the various perspectives or points of view embodied in that picture. Students
then choose a particular point of view to embody or talk from, saying what they perceive, know
about, and care about. Sometimes students might state their perspective before talking. Other times,
they may not and then the class could guess which perspective they are speaking from.
34
In their speaking and writing, students may well go beyond these starter questions. Encourage them
to take on the character of the thing they have chosen and talk about what they are experiencing.
Students can improvise a brief spoken or written monologue, taking on this point of view, or
students can work in pairs with each student asking questions that help their partner stay in
character and draw out his or her point of view.
This routine is adapted from Debra Wise, Art Works for Schools: A Curriculum for Teaching Thinking In and Through the Arts (2002)
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Underground Railway Theater.
Project Zero's mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity
in the arts, as well as in humanistic and scientific disciplines, at individual and
institutional levels.
Copyright Information
This web site is copyrighted 1996-2009 by the President and Fellows of Harvard
College on behalf of Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Materials from this site may be printed, copied, and disseminated for non-profit
educational use, provided that no charge is made for the copy and this notice appears
on all copies. For all other uses, please contact Project Zero.
35
STUDIO ARTS UNIT 4 EXHIBITION FOCUS
STUDIO ARTS UNIT 4 EXHIBITION FOCUS
PHILANTHROPY:
PHILANTHROPY: THE
THE ART
ART OF
OF GIVING
GIVING
View a current exhibition; research aspects of the preparation and presentation of the exhibition
with reference to:
The classification of gallery/exhibition space, for example, public or commercial gallery,
alternative art space or online exhibition.
Bendigo Art Gallery is a public art space, owned and operated by the City of Greater Bendigo
(local government) and retaining an independent Board of Management (volunteers who are
elected from the membership) who oversee investment of funds specifically for acquisitions.
There is a diverse range of media included in the exhibition, from painting and photography
through to work on paper and screen based work.
What audiences do you think this exhibition caters for? How does this relate to the goals of a
public gallery? Why do you think a commercial or artist run gallery would not show an exhibition
such as this?
The main characteristics of the exhibition space
The exhibition is displayed in the Gallery’s main temporary exhibition space. The works are hung
singly and the walls are painted off-white to create a clean, contemporary space for display.
There is an introductory text panel and interpretative information at intervals in the room to
explain further the method of acquisition and how this relates to the overall theme of
philanthropy.
How does the colour of off-white work with the contemporary theme of the exhibition? What is
another name for a simple white exhibition space in an art gallery?
36
The approach for displaying artworks
This exhibition includes a diverse range of subjects and media and potentially was difficult to
present in a cohesive and balanced way. It was important that each artwork had sufficient space
to ensure that works were considered equally. All works were hung singly at eye level – 1500mm
from the floor. The layout was determined by the Curator. A harmonious layout was determined
aesthetically – determining which works can sit side-by-side without impacting negatively on
each other, and every effort was made to group works that brought out favorable elements that
they shared. For example, temporary walls were utilised to separate and make a feature of
contemporary photography. Of these, two works with flesh tones within the compositions were
hung together, to compliment each other. The colours within works were also a consideration,
for example placing dark works either side of the very luminous painting by Stephen Bush served
to balance the entire layout of that wall. The lighting was varied according to the media, with
lower light levels being necessary for works on paper and textiles.
Why is the lighting consistent across all artworks? Why not use strategic lighting to highlight
particular works? Select specific combinations of artworks and discuss why you think they work
harmoniously together.
What other display techniques have been used to guide you through the exhibition? Is there a
large amount of floor space? Why/ why not?
The role of the curator, graphic designer
The Curator administers all aspects of the exhibition. Once the curator decides upon an
exhibition idea, she discussed the rationale with the Director. After researching the collection a
list of works was made, the rationale re-evaluated, and then the final list of works decided upon.
A floor plan was drawn up to scale and the works proposed for the exhibition laid out in this
37
model to see how best they would work together. The layout of temporary walls is also mapped
at this stage. Text about the exhibition is created, discussed with the publicist, and promotional
work commences in the lead up to the exhibition. The Curator in this instance researched the
history of the bequests for the Gallery, and the methods of acquisition, gathering information
from annual; reports, Board members, staff and the Gallery’s electronic cataloguing system,
Vernon. The Curator worked with a designer to create the invitation for the exhibition and
reviewed the invitation database. With the Gallery Café the Curator planned the opening event,
briefed the opening speaker, coordinated staff, and oversaw the final installation of the
exhibition.
List the skills required by a Curator to be able to perform the duties mentioned:
The intention of the curator and/or artist in displaying the artworks
The Curator selected a title for the exhibition that would succinctly convey the rationale of the
exhibition in a clear and interesting way. A ‘hero’ image was selected for the promotion of the
exhibition, a recent acquisition by Petrina Hicks titled Emily the Strange, along with a colour for
use in designed materials (hot pink). The juxtaposition of the title and the word ‘philanthropy’
against a very contemporary look was intentional and designed to catch the viewer’s attention.
The exhibition is an opportunity to acknowledge and thank those who have been so generous
over the last ten years, assisting in building the collection. It’s also timed to coincide with the
Gallery’s current fundraising drive, as we are seeking additional funds/support for the
completion of our redevelopment goals.
Explain how you can see colour used as a dominant element to unite certain artworks
throughout the exhibition:
38
How the exhibition space deals with conservation issues
Handling: mostly done with white gloves. Some very fragile works and the ceramic piece were
handled with latex gloves (no bare hands). Where appropriate the staff consulted with artists
regarding any special handling instructions or requirements, for example the work by Sally Smart.
Transportation: as the Gallery is currently in redevelopment mode, most of the
collection is being stored off site in Melbourne. The Curator had to supply the list of
works in advance to the Collections Manager who then liaised with the transport
company to arrange for the works to be transported to the Gallery in secure, climate
controlled trucks.
Explain how the lux levels have been adjusted for this exhibition:
How did Gallery staff use preventive conservation when installing this exhibition?
How the Gallery deals with promotion and marketing
The Gallery devised a marketing plan, working within the budget negotiated with Council, and
booked in advance advertising spaces in key publications. Advertisements featured the hero
image mentioned previously.
The Publicist works closely with the Curator to develop the media releases for the exhibition.
We have been fortunate to secure coverage in The Australian, and also on ABC TV’s 7.30
Report.
39
List the different ways you have seen this exhibition advertised and promoted:
Prepared by Leanne Fitzgibbon, Senior Curator, Programs and Access and Helen Attrill, Education Officer, Bendigo Art Gallery
References:
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://www.greenaway.com.au/Artists/Peter-Atkins.html
http://netsvictoria.org.au/louise-weaver/
http://www.artaustralia.com/article.asp?issue_id=177&article_id=84
40

philanthropy the art of giving teacher notes

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