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Teaching and learning

Accreditation period Units 1-4: 2023-2027

Introduction

The VCE Art Creative Practice 2023–2027 Support materials (incorporating the previously known Advice for teachers) provides teaching and learning advice for Units 1 to 4 and assessment advice for school-based assessment in Units 3 and 4. 

The program developed and delivered to students must be in accordance with the VCE Art Creative Practice Study Design 2023–2027.

Unit 1: Interpreting artworks and exploring the Creative Practice

Unit 1 Area of Study 1: Artists, artworks and audiences

Outcome 1

Discuss the practices of three artists, and apply the Structural Lens and the Personal Lens to analyse and interpret one artwork by each artist.

Examples of learning activities

A list of suggested artists can be found in the Assessment section for Unit 1, Area of Study 1.

  • Choose an artwork to analyse and make dot points about how you respond and relate to the work, personally. Interview a person whose life is quite different from your own, showing them the work and gathering their responses. Are they different? In what way? Why?
  • Develop a mnemonic that helps to remember the Structural and Personal Lenses. For example, the Structural Lens mnemonic may be ‘Ellen and the Prince Met the Tech Pro in his Stylish, Symbolic Context’ (Elements, principles, materials, techniques, processes, style, symbols, context). Make a drawing of Ellen and the Prince meeting the tech pro etc. to embed the information visually.
  • Using the questions of the Structural and Personal Lenses, view a series of unseen artworks and use the questions as starting points. Present the artworks using the findings of these questions as a basis for the discussion. Lead a class discussion using the Structural and Personal Lens.
  • From broad research, select three reliable sources of information about each artist’s practice. Reference the sources correctly. Make dot point comments that summarise the key significance of each source. From these, research the processes and techniques, using three different sources. Make dot points that summarise the key significance of the source. Share your sources with other students to create a pool of credible sources.
  • Investigate an artist and artwork through the Structural and Personal Lenses. Research and make dot points about the life of the artist and the meanings and messages of the work, and annotate a copy of the work. What can be seen in the work that relates to the research? Are there key images that reflect the artist’s experience? Is the style of the work indicative of their mood or emotion? Write statements that describe what can be seen, and how this is evidence of the artist’s personal experience.
  • Using the work of three artists, work with other students to produce a documentary that explains the composition, technique and style of each work and outlines how each artwork relates to each artist’s life.
  • Self-portraiture has been described as an artist’s ‘inner dialogue’. Discuss this statement by analysing and interpreting the work of Rembrandt van Rijn, Romaine Brooks and Cindy Sherman. The response should use the Structural and Personal Lenses and draw on at least three art sources.
  • Using the Structural and Personal Lenses discuss the ways in which the art and art practices of Christine Ay Tjoe and Sofonisba Anguissola relate to their personal life.
  • Using the Structural and the Personal Lenses, discuss the ways in which artists have emotionally responded to the theme of death, dying and grief as a central theme in their artworks.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Investigate, analyse and interpret a work by each of the following artists: Hilma af Klint, Badger Bates, Grayson Perry.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example

Investigate, analyse and interpret a work by each of the following artists: Hilma af Klint, Badger Bates, Grayson Perry.

Artist one

  • Artist: Hilma af Klint
  • Date of birth / Death: 1862–1944
  • Nationality: Swedish
  • Title: Tree of Knowledge, No. 1
  • Date: 1913
  • Technique / Medium: Watercolour
  • Subject matter: Spirituality

Learning activities

  • Research and cite three different sources to learn about the life and work of Hilma af Klint.
  • Print out a copy of Tree of Knowledge No 1 to study and annotate.
  • Use the Structural and Personal lenses to analyse and interpret the work.
    • What can be seen in the artwork that tells us about Hilma af Klint’s life?
    • What symbols can be seen, and what do they mean?
    • Identify how Hima af Klint uses the Art elements and principles to communicate meaning.
  • What is the student’s interpretation and response to the work? Does it relate to their own life? Explain.
  • Consider the context within which the work is viewed, who the intended audience is and how different audiences might respond differently to the work.

References:

Art Gallery NSW

Artist two

  • Artist: Badger Bates
  • Date of birth / Death: 1947–
  • Nationality: Australian
  • Title: Mission Mob, Bend Mob, Wilcannia 1950’s
  • Date: 2009
  • Technique / Medium: Linocut
  • Subject matter: Memory Map

Learning activities

  • Research and cite three different sources to learn about the life, work, and process of Badger Bates.
  • Print out a copy of Mission Mob, Bend Mob, Wilcannia 1950’s to study and annotate.
  • Use the Structural and Personal lenses to analyse and interpret the work.
    • What can be seen in the artwork that tells us about Badger Bates’s life?
    • What symbols can be seen, and what do they mean?
    • Identify how Badger Bates uses the Art elements and principles to communicate meaning.
  • What is the student’s interpretation and response to the work? Does it relate to their own life? Explain.
  • Consider the context within which the work is viewed, who the intended audience is and how different audiences might respond differently to the work. 

Artist three

  • Artist: Grayson Perry
  • Date of birth / Death: 1960–
  • Nationality: English
  • Title: Aspects of Myself
  • Date: 2001
  • Technique / Medium: Earthenware
  • Subject matter: Identity

Learning activities

  • Research and cite three different sources to learn about the life and work of Grayson Perry. 
  • Print out a copy of Aspects of Myself to study and annotate.
  • Use the Structural and Personal lenses to analyse and interpret the work.
    • What can be seen in the artwork that tells us about Grayson Perry’s life?
    • What symbols can be seen, and what do they mean?
    • Identify how Grayson Perry uses the Art elements and principles to communicate meaning.
  • What is the student’s interpretation and response to the work? Does it relate to their own life? Explain.
  • Consider the context within which the work is viewed, who the intended audience is and how different audiences might respond differently to the work.

Unit 1 Area of Study 2: The Creative Practice

Outcome 2

Use the Creative Practice to develop and make visual responses informed by their exploration of personal interests and ideas.

Note: Areas of Study 2 and 3 are concurrent and support each other.

Examples of learning activities

  • Make a 24-hour photographic journal, documenting everyday life. Compile selected images to communicate a narrative, either genuine or fictional.
  • Make a cardboard frame through which to view compositions and create a series of charcoal sketches of the views. Consider what can be observed about these, as a group. Are there consistencies or connections? What observations are made about the nature of the materials?
  • Consider the work of the abstract expressionist painters. Using water, mops, sponges and rollers, experiment with making gestural actions on concrete. Observe the visual effects, and the physical experience of the mark-making. In the studio, work with ink or dilute paint to replicate the action and gesture of this process.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Use the work of artists as a starting point to investigate, explore and experiment with three different art forms.
  • Using the art forms of textiles, photography and painting, experiment with art materials, techniques and processes to explore the principle of each form. Investigate specific characteristics of the materials, techniques and processes. For example, do the materials, techniques or process have a limit? How far can the materials, techniques and processes be pushed? How does one get the best result from the materials, technique or process?
  • Make visual responses in the style and media of a selected artist. Keep the visual responses open-ended because the goal is to develop skills and visual language and not to make finished work.
  • Using found objects, experiment with art materials, techniques and processes to explore construction and the principle of Form. Investigate specific characteristics of the materials, techniques and processes.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example

Investigate a painting process, a printmaking process and a ceramics process. Select an artist for each art form and learn about these art forms through the work of the artists. Students are guided through the relevant materials, techniques and processes, allowing space and time to make discoveries about the form. Equal time should be allocated for each art form.

Artform 1: Painting processes

Investigate and explore the potential and limitations of working with watercolour.

  • Brush strokes
  • Colour saturation
  • Various paper
  • Blending
  • Washes
  • Dilute or thicken watercolour

Use Hilma af Klint’s Tree of Knowledge, No. 1 as inspiration.

  • What is the specific style and technique of Hilma af Klint’s watercolour?
  • In Tree of Knowledge, No. 1 Hilma af Klint uses abstract compositions to express her ideas about spirituality. She has developed a special visual language, with trademark symbols and colour.
  • Everyone has different beliefs. Students reflect on their own. How could they represent their beliefs symbolically? They create thumbnail sketches that explore this.
  • Use the images to make small studies that play with colour, composition and detail to express ideas.
  • Evaluate the body of experimental work. Is the personal visual language becoming evident?

Artform 2: Printmaking processes

Investigate and explore the potential and limitations of working with lino.

  • Carving techniques
  • Various plates
  • Inking techniques
  • Printing methods
  • Various Papers

Use Badger Bates’s contemporary linocut Mission Mob, Bend Mob, Wilcannia 1950s as inspiration.

  • What is the specific style and technique of Badger Bates’s print?
  • In Mission Mob, Bend Mob, Wilcannia 1950s Badger Bates employs a birds-eye-view to symbolically tell the audience about a place that had personal and cultural meaning for him.
  • Students think about places that have personal and cultural meaning to them and create thumbnail sketches from a birds-eye-view to tell their story to the audience.
  • Use the images as a starting point for experimenting with carving and printing on lino.
  • Evaluate the body of experimental work. Is the personal visual language becoming evident?

Artform 3: Ceramic processes

Investigate and explore the potential and limitations of working with clay.

  • Rolling
  • Coiling
  • Pinching
  • Pressing
  • Sculpting
  • Joining
  • Incising
  • Decorating
  • Glazing

Use Grayson Perry’s Aspects of Myself as inspiration.

  • What is the specific style and technique of Grayson Perry’s vase?
  • In Aspects of Myself Grayson Perry incorporates drawn images about his life into clay forms. These images are about identity and his place in society.
  • Students think about their own personal and cultural identify, their relationships and their place within society. They create thumbnail sketches that explore their story.
  • Use the images as a starting point for experimenting with drawing into / onto clay.
  • Evaluate the body of experimental work. Is the personal visual language becoming evident?

Unit 1 Area of Study 3: Documenting and reflecting on the Creative Practice

Outcome 3

Document and evaluate the components of the Creative Practice used to make personal visual responses.

Note: Areas of Study 2 and 3 are concurrent and support each other.

Examples of learning activities

  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Using a journal format, progressively record and evaluate the Creative Practice with photographs, sketches and annotations. For each art form, make photographs, sketches and notes that critically evaluate personal visual responses.
  • Use a digital journal to record and evaluate the Creative Practice. Consider the structure of the digital journal and how the written and visual information will be demonstrated.
  • Hold a round-table critique of the art form explorations to inform documentation.
  • Make a poster that shows visual responses to the work and art form of a selected artist. Observe how the visual responses were informed by the inspiration and the potential and limitations of the materials.
  • Create an instructional video that explains how personal visual responses to a source of inspiration were created in a particular art form. Critically evaluate how ideas were explored and communicated.
  • Use the prompts What did I do? How did it go? What could I do next? to annotate the exploration of art forms.
  • Make a table of positives and negatives about the exploration of a material, technique or process. Consider what influenced the outcomes: why were things difficult or unsuccessful, and why were things easier, or more successful?
  • Critically evaluate the visual responses through sketches and annotations. What can be seen in the visual responses? Do they tell a story? Evoke a feeling or emotion? Document an event? Present an idea? Explain where and how this occurs in the response, and whether it has potential for further development.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example

Using a journal format, progressively record and evaluate the Creative Practice with photographs, sketches and annotations. For each art form, make photographs, sketches and notes that critically evaluate personal visual responses.

Journal entry

  • Date
  • Visual responses (pasted in or copies of)
  • Artform
  • Inspiration
  • Observations
  • Activity
  • Observations
  • Personal response
  • Developing visual language
  • Critical evaluation

Example Journal entries

March 27

Inspiration:

We looked at Hilma af Klint’s work as inspiration. At first, I didn’t understand it and wanted to make a picture that was more realistic, but when we read about the spiritual story in her work, I liked it more.

Observations:

I started to think about what colours have a spiritual connection for me. I love the summer and being on the beach, so I decided to try strong warm colours.

March 30

Paste in visual responses, or copies.

Artform: 

Painting (watercolour)

Activity:

Today we made organic shapes using pen on heavy watercolour paper. We played with mixing watercolours in various intensities, and painting these into the organic shapes with soft round brushes.

Observations:

I noticed that if the watercolour was even a tiny bit wet, the colours bled. This could be frustrating if you’re trying to make neat and tidy shapes, or it could be used to achieve an interesting effect, although it would be a bit risky. I noticed that if the watercolour was quite dry on the brush, the brush left marks. I also noticed that the colours dried lighter. The teacher showed us how to use the lid of the watercolour palette to mix and dilute colours, and how to keep a sample swatch of paper to test colours before using them. You can’t really cover up any mistakes or change your mind.

Personal response:

The shapes that I was colouring in were a bit corny, like flowers and leaves, so I made some more sketches where I let my hand move a bit more randomly. This was tricky but I think the resulting shapes are more interesting.

April 5

Paste in visual responses

Activity:

We continued working on the watercolours. I found that I could mix the colours more easily and I’m getting better at using the brush accurately.

Observations:

These actually looked too bold, so my second visual response was softer. I added small areas of blues and greens to contrast with the warm colours.

I noticed that Hilma af Klint often included symmetry in her pictures, so for some of my visual responses I tried to balance the shapes.

Developing visual language:

Thinking about the message I was trying to communicate, the last two visual responses are quite luminous and remind me of the brightest days on the beach. I kept the shapes simple and large in scale, to try to capture the expanse of the air.

Critical evaluation:

There is potential for these visual responses to be developed further. Some of Hilma af Klint’s works were huge, larger than a person, and I’d love to make some massive watercolours on that scale. I’d need to use different materials as I don’t think paper would work that well if it was so big. Also, the brushes would need to be bigger, and I might have to use diluted acrylic paint because watercolours aren’t designed for such big areas.

Unit 2: Interpreting artworks and developing the Creative Practice

Unit 2 Area of Study 1: The artist, society and culture

Outcome 1

Use the Cultural Lens, and the other Interpretive Lenses as appropriate, to analyse and compare the practices of artists and artworks from different cultures and times.

Examples of learning activities

  • Make a mnemonic to help remember the Cultural Lens. Aspects may include place, ethnicity, race, values, era, religion and traditions, as well as historical, political, social and economic considerations. Make a drawing of what is happening in the mnemonic, to embed it visually.
  • Make a ‘My Culture’ mind map that considers the aspects of the Cultural Lens as they appear in their own lives. Reflect on the rituals of your own lives, which could include technology, leisure, food, celebration, sport or religion.
  • Australian Rules Football appears as a theme in the work of Vincent Namatjira, Pitcha Making Fellas and the Hermannsburg potters, all of whom are First Nations artists. Consider their work through the Cultural lens and compare their practices, meanings and messages. Useful references include: Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre , The Museum of Contemporary Art.
  • The Silo Art Trail travels through Victoria’s Mallee and Wimmera area. Artists have collaborated with communities to transform wheat silos into huge works of art. Investigate the Trail and find out about the collaboration between the communities and the artists.
  • Master lithographer Peter Lancaster has provided technical support for many artists, including Rick Amor, Jim Pavlidis and Mirka Mora. Research the way a master printer works and investigate the collaboration between Lancaster and Pavlidis.
  • Investigate the culturally traditional work of Yolngu artists and the etched metal signs of Gunybi Ganambarr. Compare the practice of Gunybi Ganambarr with that of Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi (considering surface, pattern, place).
  • The Tjanpi Desert Weavers created two short films in collaboration with animator Jonathan Daw. Consider the specific cultural elements of the materials and imagery, and the value of the collaboration with the animator.
  • Hold a round-table discussion about the importance or otherwise of authenticity in art. Consider the prices paid for Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (1982)or Roy Lichtenstein’s Masterpiece (1962) and what this tells us about society and culture.
  • Hold a round-table discussion about the importance or otherwise of the hand of the maker in art. Consider the work of artists who outsource the making of their work and discuss society’s perceptions of this. Artists to consider are Jeff Koons, Patricia Piccinini, Alexander Tarrant.
  • After having success as a painter, Marcel Duchamp dismissed ‘retinal’ art and began making conceptual art. Through his ‘ready-mades’ Duchamp opened the art world up to the idea of completely outsourcing the material act of making art, retaining only the creative act. Analyse Duchamp’s Fountain and discuss why the work provoked such strong responses.
  • Examine the impact that Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore’s artistic collaborations had on Cindy Sherman’s artistic practice. Compare Sherman’s use of assistants to Cahun and Moore’s collaborations.
  • May Morris, Sally Smart and Yinka Shonibare have all collaborated with craftspeople to realise their ideas. Analyse and compare the practices of these artists.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Analyse and compare how the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are reflected in the works of artists from different periods of time.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example 1

Compare the practices of two artists

May Morris, Sally Smart and Yinka Shonibare have all collaborated with craftspeople to realise their ideas. Analyse and compare the practices of these artists.

Scaffold

  • Collect information about the artists.
  • Make dot points – for description and comparison of artworks, materials, methods / collaboration.
  • Make dot points using the Interpretive Lenses questions.
  • Create and present response.

Interpretive Lenses questions

  • How has each artist used their artworks as a vehicle to invite change and provoke conversation?
  • How has each artist worked in collaboration? Do they work specifically with someone? How?
  • How do each artist’s methods differ? Is the era relevant to the way they work?
  • What is significant culturally to the way the artist works?

The following artists from different cultural backgrounds engage in collaborative work incorporating textiles.

May Morris (1862–1938) English HIST, COLL

  • Technique / Medium: Fabric
  • Subject matter: English Flora
  • Practice: Textile and embroidery
  • Collaboration: Artisans, Morris & Co, England
  • Designs for embroidery, wallpaper, textile, fashion, botanical drawing watercolours, jewellery also sold worldwide in ‘kit form’
  • Designs don’t repeat pattern, they are organic, flowing forms, based on stylised flowers and foliage exuberantly rising or curling, with silk-winged birds among the leaves, and gothic-script quotations from ancient or modern verse
  • Founded the Women's Guild of Arts in 1907 to address gender inequality
  • Hand-embroidered textiles were a reaction against the machine age
  • Collaborations with family, artisans, commissions
  • Wealthy artisan family – went into the family business
  • Arts and Crafts movement

Sally Smart (1960– ) Australian CON, COLL

  • Collaboration: Artisans, Dancers, Marni Fashion House, Italy
  • Subject matter: Identity, gender politics
  • Practice: Large scale assemblage installation with performance and video
  • Technique / Medium: Fabric collage installations
  • Large-scale installations with richly coloured textile assemblages that include artisan-made embroideries and screen-printed metal
  • Performance and video
  • Collaboration with artisans, dancers, fashion house

Yinka Shonibare (1962– ) British-Nigerian CON, COLL

  • Technique / Medium: Mixed media, fabric installations
  • Collaboration: Artisan, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (FWM), USA
  • Subject matter: Cultural identity, colonialism, post colonialism
  • Practice: Large-scale mixed-media installations
  • Social class, aesthetics, and historical and contemporary colonialism interdependencies between Europe, Asia and Africa
  • Recurring visual symbols
  • ‘Dutch wax’ fabric, inspired by Indonesian batiks and produced in Europe for the West African market in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which symbolises economic and racial interactions
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example 2

Compare the practices of two artists

Analyse and compare how the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are reflected in the work of Albert Namatjira, Emily Kngwarreye and Joan Ross.

Albert Namatjira (1902–1959) Australian HIST, FNA
Watercolour. Australian landscapes in a ‘western’ style connection to the land

Emily Kngwarreye (1910–1996) Australian HIST, FNA, COLL
Paintings and textiles. Traditional dreaming stories

Joan Ross (DOB unknown– ) Scottish / Australian CON, COLL
Multimedia artist, assemblage and video. Colonialism in Australia, particularly its effect on indigenous Australians.

Sample response

With continuous human settlement stretching back more than 65,000 years, Australia is a continent with many stories. As a Central Australian artist who worked in a European style in the 1950s, Albert Namatjira’s work embraced the materials and visual language of Western landscape art, while maintaining the vitality and fidelity of his Aboriginal heritage. His figurative watercolours contrast with the large abstract paintings on canvas of Emily Kngwarreye, also from Central Australia. Kngwarreye’s expansive representations of her cultural practices and stories are reminiscent of American Abstract Expressionist paintings and the depth of story and connection to land make them significant records of Kngwarreye’s life. Joan Ross is a contemporary Australian artist whose work discusses the problems created by the colonisation of the continent. She uses cutting edge digital technologies to combine appropriated colonial paintings with contemporary objects, pressing the viewer to reflect on the damage inflicted on Australia’s First Nations people.

Namatjira and Kngwarreye are both First Nations people from Central Australia. Although their visual language is hugely different, both speak about connection to country consistently. Joan Ross also considers this notion, but as an observer.

The context in which these artists worked influenced how their work was received, and their acceptance as artists. Namatjira was the most successful First Nations artist of the time, and his work achieved great mainstream popularity. However, his place within White culture was controlled and limited. His sense of kinship required that he share his income with family and he was also exploited by those who sought to promote him. Kngwarreye lived much of her life removed from the influence of Europeans, starting formal art making in her 60s. An intelligent and independent person, like Namatjira she too navigated the demands from art dealers and the expectations of financial support for her community.

Joan Ross presents a different perspective. Speaking about injustices of the past, and drawing parallels with the present, she asks audiences to examine the way history has been told. Working in the contemporary context, where First Nations people have a stronger voice than in the past, Ross speaks to an audience who are ready to hear.

Unit 2 Area of Study 2: The collaborative Creative Practice

Outcome 2

Use the Creative Practice to explore social and cultural ideas or issues to make and present at least one finished artwork using collaborative approaches.

Areas of Study 2 and 3 are concurrent as the critique and documentation support the Creative Practice and the production of the Body of Work.

Examples of learning activities

  • In a group, identify a theme relating to local culture. Respond visually to the theme individually but display the visual responses together. Reflect on the common features of the responses, as well as the differences.
  • ‘What We Eat’ – Photographer Peter Baldeston has an ongoing series called ‘What’s for Lunch?’, where he has photographed his lunch as subject matter for his artworks for more than 10 years.  When viewed consecutively, the images tell us about his taste, his economic status and his cultural context. Using Baldeston’s work as a starting point, photograph your evening meal every day. Working collaboratively with peers, make a digital slide show, or a series of prints, that presents your meals. Display the images alongside those of classmates. What can be observed? Are there similarities? Differences? What has influenced the meals?
  • How We Celebrate: Gatherings such as birthdays often see a large group of people get together to share food and enjoy company. What we eat and how we celebrate reflects our culture. Make large, quick, loose sketches from memory of the gatherings you participate in. This could include with family, with friends, or even at school. Include details that tell the audience about the special aspects of the gatherings, aiming to capture the atmosphere. Display these sketches as a class and discuss what distinguishes the different gatherings.
  • What We Wear: The way we dress says a lot about our culture. Sometimes our outfits are determined by others, such as a school or work uniform. Sometimes they are dictated by social expectations, such as for a church or mosque. Sometimes we dress to identify ourselves with a particular subculture. Observe the way people in your neighbourhood dress. In groups, make a short film in the style of a mockumentary, that documents the diversity of dress and considers what the outfits tell us about the people who wear them.
  • In pairs, select a topic and make sketches individually. Swap the sketches and develop them further. Reflect on the benefits and challenges of collaborating in this way.
  • Make a still life from contemporary objects. After drawing a still life of one object and at a nominated time, rotate to the next object and start drawing it. Continue rotating until every object has been drawn by every student. Evaluate the drawings and the process and then combine the drawings to make a collaborative work. Alternatively, each student can use parts of other students’ works to make their own work.
  • Begin by making a print in response to a theme. Make two copies and swap one of these with another student. Work on the other student’s print to develop the image or idea. Present the prints and write a statement that reflects on the outcomes (expected and unexpected).
  • Select an artwork to appropriate that has a connection to your community, or make an original design. Divide the work into squares. Each student completes one square using their own visual language. Connect the sections and display the work. What was gained by collaborating? What was lost? How was appropriation used? What was the benefit of this?
  • Create an art exchange with another class / school. Record video reviews of the works and exchange these.
  • Gather and record audience input for a project. Brainstorm potential directions that the artist response may take. Evaluate each of these and make a plan to carry out visual responses.
  • Engage an artist-in-residence to carry out a collaborative project with the class.
  • Visit the studio of a local artist and interview them about their work. On return to school, experiment with visual responses to the artist’s work. Share these with the artist and seek feedback.
  • Participate in workshops led by a practising artist. Discuss the conceptualisation and development of the student works reflecting on the responses and relationships to the artist’s works.
  • Work with a teacher / department / faculty specialist within the school, or from another school, to learn or develop techniques that can be developed into a series of artworks.
  • Work with a master printer at a printmaking studio. Document the printmaking process and the development of a personal style.
  • Visit a local foundry and view how artists engage and work collaboratively with the specialists. Document the findings and research in the visual diary and then discuss as a class how to develop an artwork for a public area in the school or community. Develop a series of maquettes that could be cast by the foundry.
  • Investigate the work of commercial digital printers and their collaboration with artists. Work with a commercial digital printer on a series of artworks from conceptualisation through to refinement. Document the processes used and how the artwork was explored, developed and refined. Investigate the practices of several artists who have worked with a commercial printer.
  • Investigate the printing processes of a commercial textile company and their collaboration with artists. From the investigation, design a series of prints to be printed by the company. As inspiration, use the work of artists who have worked with the company.
  • Investigate a technical process such as welding, woodworking or sewing. From the investigation develop a series of works using the technique and document the collaboration with technicians to develop the skill. Discuss the relevance of the skill to the development of a series of artworks that express personal ideas and evaluate why it was important to use the specific process.
  • Create a work that invites the audience to take a piece away with them, or design a work that is completed by the audience entering or adding their own mark. Reflect on the collaboration between the artist and the audience to communicate ideas and meaning through the work.
  • Make a presentation that mocks up the display of your work in different contexts. Compare the effect that the different contexts have on the impact of the work. Collaborative on the display of the work and consider the relationship of it to other works by other students.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Experiment and collaborate using the Creative Practice to make a series of visual responses in a selected art form.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example

Collaborative Creative Practice

These tasks take the form of visual responses, concurrent with Area of Study 3 documentation.

Key points

  • Collaborate to explore personal interest related to society and culture
  • Experiment with visual language
  • Experiment with techniques, materials, processes and art forms
  • Express and represent ideas inspired by culture
  • Response may be to the artists and artworks you have researched

Scaffold

  • Starting Points: Culture – read and make notes
  • Starting Points: Collaboration – read and choose a collaboration method
  • Exploration of personal ideas – social culture context
  • Experiment with art techniques, materials, processes and art forms
  • Presentation to audience
  • Refinement of art techniques, materials, processes and art forms to produce a finished artwork

Artform 1: Printmaking

Inspiration: Personal interest relating to culture. Could relate to meals, rituals, spirituality, ethnicity or other.

Method: Collaboration in pairs.

Create a linocut inspired by a cultural activity and print a small edition. One print from the edition is put aside to be used by a collaborator. Students work in pairs. A simple method is to split the number of students in half and number each half. The matching numbers are collaborators. Collaborators work individually to respond to the print.

Each student works on the print given to them without consultation with the other artist. They then share their visual responses.

A critique is presented to reflect upon and evaluate the process. Feedback is gathered and used to refine and resolve a finished work(s). Students make decisions about how to display the work(s), whether all prints are exhibited, or a selection or changed / unchanged side by side.

Artform 2: Painting

Inspiration: Personal interest relating to culture inspired by studying or viewing an artist and / or artwork.

Method: Collaboration in small groups.

Develop a collaborative painting. Small groups work best. Each collaborator creates a rough sketch based on their personal ideas from the original inspiration. Inspiration may come from an artist and / or artwork studied or viewed at a local galley. Collaborators come to an agreement and mould the sketches into a single design, which becomes the base for a larger collaborative painting.

A critique is presented to reflect upon and evaluate the process. Feedback is gathered and used to refine and resolve a finished work(s).

Unit 2 Area of Study 3: Documentation of collaboration using the Creative Practice

Outcome 3

Critically reflect on, evaluate and document their use of the Creative Practice to develop and make collaborative visual responses.

Areas of Study 2 and 3 are concurrent as the critique and Documentation support the Creative Practice and the production of the Body of Work.

Examples of learning activities

  • At the end of a collaborative making task discuss the positives and negatives of the process. Reflect on these and identify and record considerations for future collaborations.
  • Photograph or sketch the stages of a project with an artisan. Annotate the images, making notes about processes and evaluating the development of skills.
  • Film interviews with fellow students to collect their reflections and evaluations about a collaborative project. Summarise the strengths and weaknesses of the project as the final scene.
  • Document an art exchange in journal form. Use critical reflections to evaluate the progress and outcome of the exchange.
  • Following the development of ideas in a collaborative task, present a critique to the teacher that critically reflects on the body of experimental work to this point. Use the feedback from the critique to refine and resolve one finished work.
  • Prepare a critique of the Creative Practice inspired by a print exchange between two artists. Present the critique to the class, seeking and engaging with feedback to develop ideas for the resolution and presentation of finished artworks.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Present a critique to another student of the Creative Practice that was inspired by collaboration with an artisan. Critically evaluate the visual responses, seek and engage with feedback and plan for the resolution of finished work.
  • Reflect on the feedback received in the critique and make a time plan that sets out how the feedback will be used to resolve and present the work to an audience.
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Detailed example

Prepare and present a critique

Prepare and present a critique of the Creative Practice inspired by a print exchange between two artists. Use feedback from the critique to refine and a resolve a finished artwork. [Further information about planning and presenting the critique can be found in Developing a program.]

Progressively document the Creative Practice undertaken during the print exchange project. Use headings:

  • Starting points
  • Collaboration
  • Exploration
  • Experimentation.

To prepare for the critique, write a statement that outlines the focus and process of the collaborative creative practice. Explain the process so far and show the Body of Work. Present the critique to the class, seeking and engaging with feedback to develop ideas for the refinement, resolution and presentation of finished artworks.

Following the critique, critically evaluate the feedback and then go ahead and refine, resolve and present the finished work. Document this using the following headings:

  • Refinement
  • Presentation.

Unit 3: Investigation, ideas, artworks and the Creative Practice

Unit 3 Area of Study 1: Investigation and presentation

Outcome 1

Develop personal ideas using research that examines one artwork and the practice of an artist, and produce at least one finished artwork using the Creative Practice.

Examples of learning activities

  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Australian artist Rosalie Gascoigne (1917–1999) made art from found objects. Consider the sources and previous purposes of her materials, her methods of construction and the meanings and messages of her work. Select an artwork of Gascoigne’s to investigate and respond to, leading to a finished work. Reflect upon and evaluate your Creative Practice in a critique and gather feedback from this.
  • Thai-born Australian artist Vipoo Srivilasa (1969– ) makes porcelain figurines that explore ideas about culture and identity. Investigate one of his works and develop visual responses in clay that speak of your own experience. Refine and resolve ideas to create a finished work. Reflect upon and evaluate your Creative Practice in a critique and gather feedback.
  • Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) made complex etchings of European architecture. His prints employ a great deal of hatching and cross-hatching to create tone and depth. Investigate one of Piranesi’s prints and experiment with making your own drawings or etchings of architecture. Refine and resolve ideas to create a finished work. Reflect upon and evaluate your Creative Practice in a critique and gather feedback.
  • American artist Edward Weston (1886–1958) was a photographer whose subject matter included natural forms, landscapes and nudes. His work is characterised by careful composition and sharp focus. Select a photograph of Weston’s to study and consider how he manages the light. Set up your own studio using bed sheets, desk lamps and so on, and experiment with capturing mood in photographs. From your visual responses develop a group of three images to display as a set. Refine and resolve ideas to create a finished work. Reflect upon and evaluate your Creative Practice in a critique and gather feedback. Resolve ideas to create a finished work.
  • French artists Claude Cahun (1894–1954) and Marcel Moore (1892–1972) were surrealist photographers whose collaborations were both political and personal. They examined gender and identity. Examine and discuss how their use of symbolism and performance informs the development of their personal ideas and Creative Practice.

The critique

  • Prompt questions for the critique can be found in the advice on the critique and in the Assessment section. The presentation should take a form that is appropriate to the student and may include:
    • A live or recorded spoken description of the Creative Process, supported by visuals in the form of a diary, a slide show or a poster and the finished work, followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.
    • An annotated slide show that demonstrates the progression of the Creative Process including the finished work, watched by the audience in their own time, and to which they respond with feedback, questions and suggestions.
    • A display of visual responses and notes and the finished work, exhibited to elicit and collect audience interaction, and followed up with student reflection.
    • An online presentation during which the student talks the audience through their creative process and the presentation of the finished work, and where the audience responds with questions and suggestions.
      The audience may be:
      • Student to teacher
      • Student to student
      • Student to class
      • Student to respected other
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Detailed example

Research, exploration, resolution, presentation and critique

Scaffold:

  • Research
  • Analyse, Experiment and Explore
  • Reflect
  • Refine, Resolve and Reflect
  • Present critique
  • Reflect

Research:

Rosalie Gascoigne (Australian, 1917–1999) made art from found objects. Consider the sources and previous purposes of her materials, her methods of construction and the meanings and messages of her work.

Prompts:

  • Found object art
  • Assemblage
  • Australian landscape / the Monaro Plains region of New South Wales
  • Ikebana
  • Text in art
  • The materiality of recycled objects
  • The stories that patina tell us

Analyse, experiment and explore

Analyse Gascoigne’s work Tiger, Tiger (1987) through the Structural Lens. Make a mind map that observes key elements and principles and teases out related ideas to investigate and respond to.

Use the Personal and Cultural Lenses to understand Tiger, Tiger in more depth. Consider the ideas that Gascoigne was exploring. What discarded objects might Gascoigne find now?  What methods of construction might now be employed? What ‘landscapes’ might now be represented?

Collect or construct natural objects and objects made by hand, and experiment with assembling them to develop visual responses through the Personal or Cultural Lens.

Reflect

Consider and document how the visual responses relate to Tiger, Tiger. Are there similarities or differences in the use of materials? The aesthetics? The meanings and messages? Refine the visual responses to resolve one finished work that will contribute to the Body of Work over Units 3 and 4.

Present critique

For the critique, make an installation of the visual responses, organised in a way that shows the development of ideas and the finished artwork. Present the critique to an audience, explaining the progression of the work and discussing the influence of Gascoigne and Tiger, Tiger on the work. Gather feedback from your audience.

A note about critiques

The purpose of the critique is for the artist to conclude a period of investigation and to reflect constructively on the process. They seek meaningful feedback from an audience to consolidate ideas and open other points of view. The critique addresses the student response to the prompt, not the student personally. It should always be respectful, observing the development of student response to the research. Students should resist the temptation to make it personal. The audience must be polite, ask for clarification, try not to interrupt or give specific suggestions as appropriate.

Ask the audience:

  • What do they see?
  • Is the artwork resolved? Why or why not?
  • What do they wonder?
  • What potential can they imagine?

Reflect

Document the critique, making notes for Area of Study 2.
Reflect again on the Body of Work, including finished artwork(s).

  • What connections are there between the initial source of inspiration and the finished work?
  • What were the strengths of the Creative Process?
  • What were the weaknesses?
  • What else will be investigated?
  • Will the subject matter of Area of Study1 be built on, or will a new direction be selected?

Unit 3 Area of Study 2: Personal investigation using the Creative Practice

Outcome 2

Apply and explore ideas and an area of personal interest using the Creative Practice.

Examples of learning activities

  • Choose an idea or area of personal interest to use as inspiration or continue from Outcome 1 investigations. Engage with the first part of the Creative Practice to research, explore, experiment and develop ideas.
  • Draw a storyboard that sets out the steps that may be taken to work through ideas, techniques and processes.
  • Draw a large target of concentric rings to brainstorm ideas. In the centre circle write a statement, theme or prompt. In the adjacent ring surround it with stream-of-consciousness ideas. In the next ring list imagery and make thumbnail sketches that relate to each idea. In the next ring, write an art form, process or technique that could suit each proposed imagery. In the final ring, write suggestions for the aesthetics of each idea. Select elements from the target to plan the direction of explorations.
  • In the library, carry out a deep investigation of an idea using books and journals. Select an artist or art form to start with. Make sketches from images, copy quotes about inspiration and influences, and write reflections on interesting aspects of the artist’s life or practice. Reflect on how their work can be used as a source of inspiration for the Creative Practice. Follow up aspects of the research by locating books about the time and place in which the artist was working, their materials or art forms, their ideas or issues. Remember to cite all sources in a bibliography. Use this research to start the Creative Practice.
  • Paste a photograph from an old magazine in the middle of a page. Set a timer for 5 minutes and respond creatively to the image using thumbnail sketches and brief annotations. Share the ideas with classmates and discuss the process of finding ideas within a time limit.
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Detailed example 1

Body of Work – building on the artist from Outcome 1

Artist inspiration: Rosalie Gascoigne (HIST) (Australian, 1917–1999)

Research and exploration

Found objects; signs; everyday imagery; collage; assemblage; square format; all-over composition; two-colour palette; text; pattern; repetition.

Experimentation and development

Collect packaging from your daily life. This could be fast-food wrappers, grocery packaging, brand tags from clothing etc.

Experiment with compositions that use repetition and assemblage to create compositions.

Scan or photograph these and print them out on a large scale.

Document these in visual and written form.

Reflection and evaluation

In visual and written form, consider how your visual responses relate to the original idea. Use the Interpretive Lenses to inform your reflections. How do your responses build on your findings for Outcome 1? How could you extend your ideas further? What ideas are you communicating with the responses? Could you deepen these? Could you take collages into assemblage format? What objects would you use? Make thumbnail sketches and notes.

Experimentation and development

From your reflections, expand your ideas, continuing to experiment with materials, techniques and processes. Continue to reflect and evaluate, recording this in visual and written form.

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Detailed example 2

Body of Work – starting from a new personal concept

Inspiration: Shadows and Reflections: How Light Behaves

Research and exploration

Investigate artists such as Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Edward Weston, James Turrell, Cassils.

Explore ideas such as projected light, silhouettes; light and water; shadows on texture; performance; installations.

Experimentation and development

  • Collect recyclables and play with forming these into structures. Cast a strong light across the structures and observe how the shadows behave.
  • Using a model, cast a strong light across the body and observe how the shadows distort the human form.
  • Use ordinary objects from the kitchen to set up simple still life compositions. Photograph these, changing the light source to see how this affects the mood of the image.
  • Observe the way light and dark exist in architectural spaces. Make sketches or painting studies that focus on capturing the contrast in these scenes.
  • Document these in visual and written form.

Reflection and evaluation

In visual and written form, consider how your visual responses relate to the original idea. Use the Interpretive Lenses to inform your reflections. How could you extend your ideas further? Could you build installations that immerse the audience in dark and light? Could you build a series of photographs of still objects that collectively create a sense of tension or drama because of the lighting? Make thumbnail sketches, trials and notes.

Experimentation and development

From your reflections, expand your ideas, continuing to experiment with materials, techniques and processes. Continue to reflect and evaluate, recording this in visual and written form.

Unit 4: Interpreting, resolving and presenting artworks and the Creative Practice

Unit 4 Area of Study 1: Documentation and critique of the Creative Practice

Outcome 1

Document their use of Creative Practice and present a critique to inform the refinement and resolution of a Body of Work.

Areas of Study 1 and 2 are concurrent as the critique and Documentation support the Creative Practice and the production of the Body of Work.

Examples of learning activities

  • Make a slide show that presents the Unit 3 Body of Work, with questions for the audience. Seek feedback and use this to plan a direction for Area of Study 2.
  • Present a critique to reflect on the Unit 3 Body of Work and set a course for Unit 4 Outcome 2. From feedback, reflection and evaluation, consider how effectively you are communicating ideas, and how you could strengthen this. Write a statement that identifies the key ideas, art forms and aesthetics. Create a table that sets out a time plan to apply the Creative Practice and resolve and refine key ideas, art forms and aesthetics. Allow sufficient time to then consider and plan the presentation of the Body of Work in a suitable manner.
  • Review the Body of Work from Unit 3 as though seeing it through fresh eyes. Look for threads that could be picked up and explored, ideas that remain unconsidered, skills or techniques that allow for further development. Consider the early inspiration of the artwork from Area of Study 1 and contemplate revisiting or refreshing that source. Set goals for the resolution of ideas within a time frame and consider a wide range of options for the presentation of work. Having done this, present the reflection and evaluation as a critique, in an appropriate form.
  • Make regular journal entries to document the critique and the refinement and resolution of the Body of Work.
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Detailed example

Journal documentation and critique

Critique:

Present a critique of the Unit 3 Body of Work to a small group of peers and the teacher. Take them through the progression of ideas from initial responses to inspiration through to developed visual responses. Discuss the application of the Interpretive Lenses and reflect on the development of Visual Language. Seek feedback on the communication of ideas, the development of technical skills and the resolution of aesthetics. Following the critique, make a journal entry that gathers and reflects upon the feedback, and set directions for the refinement and resolution of the Body of Work.

Documentation:

During the refinement and resolution of the Area of Study 2 Body of Work, make journal entries to reflect on directions and decisions. Include sketches and photographs. Use the prompt questions: What am I communicating in my personal visual responses? How am I doing that? Do they need more? Less? How have I used and refined materials, techniques and processes? Do I need to investigate these more? Can I improve the way I have used them? Have I applied the Interpretive Lenses to inform my ideas? How are these evident? Is my personal visual language clear? What does it need?

Presentation:

Throughout Area of Study 2, develop a range of possibilities for the presentation of the Body of Work. Record these and annotate their strengths and weaknesses, potential and pitfalls. At the final presentation of the Body of Work, make a visual record and evaluate how effective it has been.

Unit 1 Area of Study 2: Resolution and presentation of a Body of Work

Outcome 2

Use the Creative Practice to resolve and present a Body of Work.

Areas of Study 1 and 2 are concurrent as the critique and Documentation support the Creative Practice and the production of the Body of Work.

Examples of learning activities

  • Work through the Reflect-Evaluate-Refine-Resolve-Present structure to complete Area of Study 2.
  • Revisit or seek more sources of inspiration to deepen ideas that have developed in Unit 3 Area of Study 2. Use these sources to focus or extend the Body of Work.
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Detailed example

Body of Work

Scaffold:

  • Reflect
  • Evaluate
  • Refine
  • Resolve
  • Present

Reflect and evaluate:

To begin, spread out all the visual responses and documentation of the Unit 3 Body of Work. Take time to notice what ideas have emerged, what techniques and processes have been employed, what trials or responses have not been extended. Is there room for improvement? What technical problems arose? How were these resolved?  Think about the original intention of the Creative Practice. What was the starting point? What inspired the investigation? Has this continued, or changed? What is needed to begin to refine and resolve the Body of Work? When must the work be ready for presentation? Make a list and set a time plan. Document the reflection and evaluation in visual and written form as part of Area of Study 1.

Refine and resolve:

Following the time plan, work through the list to progressively resolve the Body of Work. Continue to refer to the sources of inspiration and consider the Interpretive Lenses when making decisions. During this time, consider the context within which the works would best be viewed. How have other artists presented similar work? Would a digital display be appropriate? Does the work need a dedicated installation space? Does it have specific lighting needs? Power supply? How will the audience be engaged? The work is only complete when it has connected with an audience, so these considerations are part of the Creative Practice. Make a list for Presentation and add it to the time plan.

Present:

Work through the time plan to prepare the Body of Work for presentation.

Unit 4 Area of Study 3: Comparison of artists, their practice and their artworks

Outcome 3

Compare the practices of historical and contemporary artists, and use the Interpretive Lenses to analyse and interpret the meanings and messages of selected artworks.

Examples of learning activities

  • Use the comparison table in the Assessment section to collect information and analysis about the two artists.
  • As a class, create a literature review to gather trustworthy sources about your artists. Seek authentic, reliable articles, journals, authors and websites. Write a brief overview of the relevance of the source to the life and work of the artists and include the link. Collate this for class use.
  • Make a Venn diagram of the artists to look at similarities and differences.
  • Play a game with a classmate where one argues why the artists are similar, and one argues why they are different.
  • Make cards with reproductions of works by both artists. Group them in different ways, using the Interpretive lenses. For example, group works with a similar palette, or works with a similar theme. What similarities and differences can be seen?
  • Imagine one of the artists is looking at the work of the other. How might they respond? What would influence their viewpoint?
  • Make a list of things that existed or happened at the time the historical artist was working, but no longer exist or happen now. How would these have influenced the way they work, and their meanings and messages? Then, make a list of things that no longer exist or happen in the life of the contemporary artist. How might this influence the way they work, and their meanings and messages?
  • John Glover and Joan Ross consider the Australian landscape from very different perspectives. Imagine that Glover could look at Ross’s work? What would surprise him? Why?
  • Latoya M. Hobbs and Robert Mapplethorpe both address beauty and identity through figurative imagery.
  • Judy Chicago and Jenny Saville deal with issues to do with the female body and feminism. Consider both artists’ work through a contemporary cultural lens.
  • Eadweard Muybridge and Shaun Gladwell deal with the theme of bodies in motion. Consider the importance of technology in the work of each artist and compare the meanings and messages in their work.
  • Keith Haring and Peter Drew use street art to communicate messages about social justice. Compare the meanings and messages of two of their artworks.
  • Claes Oldenburg and Ron Mueck make figurative sculptures that use scale to influence meanings and messages. Consider and compare the impact of their work on audiences.
  • William Kentridge and Aunty Marlene Gilson’s projections explore ideas around colonisation. Consider and compare the impact of their work on audiences.
  • Frank Poor and Fra Angelico (The Annunciation 1440–1445) both depict architecture. Consider and compare the impact of the work on audiences.
  • Sound is integral to both Sam Peterson and Pipilotti Rist installations that question the audience perceptions on identity and sexuality. Consider and compare the impact of the work on audiences.
  • Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell’s and Ryan Trecartin use moving images and television screens to comment on the role of mass media in an increasingly connected consumerist world. Compare the work of these artists.
  • Tattoos have been an important ritual practice for many cultures. Investigate the place of ta moko in Maori culture, considering the rites and meanings of the markings, and the response to these traditions by early Europeans. Contemporary Australian artist eX de Medici includes tattooing as part of her body of work. Compare the purpose of ta moko with that of de Medici’s whole-body work on Geoff Ostling.
  • Compare street artist Mayonaize and photographer Shirin Neshat’s use of text. How does their lived experience transfer into their art practice?
  • Consider and compare the impact of the work on audiences by investigating artists from different periods of time who explore similar themes in their work. Investigate an significant event or issue in society and its impact on the audience.
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Detailed example

Consider and compare the work of two artists and the impact of their work on audiences

Use the Interpretive Lenses Comparison Template (in the Assessment section) to compare the practices of Francisco Goya and Abdul Abdullah. From this table, write an extended report.

Potential themes:

  • Monsters
  • War
  • Conflict
  • Humanity
  • Suffering
  • Culture

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Goya) (1746–1828) Spanish

Selected works:

  • Yard with Lunatics, 1793, oil on tin plate
  • Hasta la Muerte, 1799, etching with drypoint and aquatint
  • Charles IV of Spain and His Family, 1801, oil on canvas
  • Saturn Devouring His Son, 1820–23, mixed method on mural, transferred to canvas

Personal:

  • 1746–1828, Spanish
  • Worked all his life as an artist
  • Married, had seven children but only one survived to adulthood
  • Extended period of illness rendered him deaf in middle age
  • Was awarded a Royal Order of Spain in 1811
  • Was distressed by the occupation of Spain by France, particularly the brutal treatment of citizens by soldiers
  • Proponent of the Enlightenment
  • In older age Goya retreated to a quiet house outside of Madrid, where he painted his Black Paintings, reflecting psychological distress
  • Died in France

Structural:

  • Painter and printmaker, designer of tapestries
  • Early works resembled the Rococo style (exuberant, ornamental, curvaceous). Subject matter is wealthy families and royals, often commissioned.
  • Processes included oil painting, tapestries, etching, fresco.
  • Later works considered to belong to the Romantic style (individualism, emotional, expressive); reflective of Goya’s distress with the violence of government, the cruelty of which man is capable.

Cultural:

  • During his lifetime Spain was predominantly a Catholic (Christian) country.
  • Was employed as a court painter by a progression of Spanish and French rulers.
  • In 1793 France declared war on Spain and Napoleon’s armies invaded.
  • Painters who influenced Goya include Tiepolo, Meng and Velasquez and his work built on and developed their traditions.
  • Spain in the 18th century was under absolute monarchy. The spirit of reform that marked the early part of the century was lost when Charles IV came to power.
  • Poor leadership saw great poverty and suffering, which Goya observed in his work Yard with Lunatics and the etching series Los Caprichos.

Abdul Abdullah (1986– ) Australian

Selected works:

  • You See Monsters, 2014, C Type print
  • Bride I, 2015, C Type print
  • Through You, 2017 oil on canvas
  • The Wedding (Conspiracy to Commit), 2015 C Type print
  • For We Are Young And Free, 2017, Manual embroidery

Personal:

  • 1986, Perth, Australia
  • Muslim
  • Anglo-Australian father was descended from early Australian convicts and converted to Islam as an adult; mother is Malay Muslim.
  • His work addresses ideas about racism, violence and the experience of the ‘other’. Family experience of prejudice and stereotypes informs his work.
  • Has describes himself as an ‘outsider among outsiders’.

Structural:

  • Works in a range of media including photography, film-making, sculpture, painting and embroidery.
  • Collaborates with artisans when the project requires it.
  • Photographs are carefully staged, composed as thoughtfully as a studio painting, and often employ dramatic lighting.
  • Oil paintings often superimpose an emoji-like face over an expressively and realistically painted background image to create a discussion.

Cultural:

  • The ‘war on terror’ is a central provocation for his work.
  • His work asks the viewer to consider their preconceptions about ‘the other’. Why are we afraid of women in veils? Why are we suspicious of people with ‘Muslim’ names?
  • Contemporary social media allows the dissemination of ideas quicker than ever before.

Sample response:

Though two hundred years and half a world apart, Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746–1828) and Australian artist Abdul Abdullah (1986– ) both consider the idea of the monster in their work. Goya was a court painter for much of his life, and witnessed the atrocities delivered to his countrymen through neglect, maltreatment and war. Abdullah is a contemporary Australian artist, a Muslim of English-Malaysian heritage whose work deals with the complexity of race and religion in modern Australian culture.

Goya painted the work known as Saturn Devouring his Children late in his life. Found on the wall of his home after his death, one wonders what can have inspired him to make such a large and gruesome painting. Looming out of a dark background, we see a monstrous figure apparently devouring a smaller figure. The location of this painting suggests that Goya never intended it to been seen by others. Considering his experience of the Peninsula War, the roughly rendered painting may be an expression of his horror at the cruelty with which man can treat his fellows. Perhaps the fear in the monster’s eyes is a metaphor for the isolation and loneliness that Goya experienced through his loss of hearing? Or perhaps it is simply a painting by an old man, retelling the myths of the past for his own entertainment?

Personally, I find the painting surprisingly shocking. Despite being made 200 years ago, there is a rawness that makes me shiver. I am reminded of the times in my life when I have witnessed cruelty or domination of the weak by the strong, and I am afraid for that quality in mankind.

Abdullah’s You See Monsters is a large C-type photograph. It features the artist dressed in traditional Muslim garb wearing a monkey mask from the film Planet of the Apes. This references societal attitudes that conflate Muslims with ‘the other’ as a ‘sub-human’ species. With the title of the work Abdullah confronts us: do WE see monsters? Are we guilty of discrimination? The work intentionally makes us uncomfortable. Abdullah’s work requires an audience: he seeks to engage in dialogue, to challenge current societal attitudes. In this way it differs enormously from Goya’s Saturn. The monster on the Spanish wall was made only for the expression and perhaps catharsis of the artist. Ironically, after his death the mural was moved to a public gallery, and now Goya’s horror at man’s capacity for cruelty speaks to a huge audience.