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AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia

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This education resource highlights six artists who feature in Tarnanthi 2023. It can be used as a starting point in the classroom for students to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures or as a companion to your Gallery visit.

Tarnanthi at AGSA presents dozens of individual works and collaborative projects from around the country, forming a nationwide survey of up-to-the-minute contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. These are works of artistic excellence, creative daring and ground-breaking innovation.

These making and responding suggestions have been created as a starting point for teachers to develop units of work. The activities link to the key themes within each artist's work and provide ideas that relate to the world of your students. Through this, students are invited to explore and compare cultural knowledge, beliefs and practices and develop multiple perspectives.

The Tarnanthi Teacher Briefing was held on Wednesday 25 October, the recording of this event will be available soon. In the meantime watch the 'Tarnanthi for Teacher" recording or artist portrait videos in the 'watch and listen' tab.

This session includes information about:

What Tarnanthi is

What is on offer for schools and teachers and how to make a school booking

Artists featured in the exhibition at AGSA and partner exhibitions, presented by Nici Cumpston, Artistic Director of Tarnanthi

The Studio, a free art making space for all visitors

The survey exhibition of Western Aranda painter Vincent Namatjira, presented by Gloria Strzelecki, Associate Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Education resource highlights with tips and suggestions for responding to First Nations works of art in a culturally appropriate way

The Tarnanthi Art Fair - buying art ethically presented by Jade Turner, Tarnanthi Art Fair Coordinator

This session is ideal for teachers of all year levels and disciplines.

In collaboration with Tarnanthi and AGSA, ABC Kids Listen have released a series of Little Yarns podcasts featuring artist exhibiting in Tarnanthi 2023.

Explore the Tarnanthi Children's Trails which includes a curated selection of activities from the education resources which you can facilitate in the Gallery with your students, no preparation required. You will need a sketchbook and pencil which you can collect for free from The Studio.

Artist and curator talks will continue throughout the duration of the exhibition and as such this page will be updated regularly.

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Over 40 making and responding activities for students of all ages

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exhibition space, public program

October 20, 2023 - January 19, 2024

Exhibition opening: Friday, October 27, 5:30-7:30pm

The Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Free entry, all welcome

The Mill is excited to present Gulayí [Woven Vessel], a new exhibition by Quandamooka and Mununjali artist Chantal Henley as part of Tarnanthi 2023. Working with textiles, Chantal explores body adornment through garments, sculpture, dance and film, embedding her connection to her Grandmother's country and her own experience as a mother.

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Exhibition: Chantal Henley, Gulayí [Woven Vessel] - The Mill Adelaide

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Resources

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Resources

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AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

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Incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art into your classroom

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https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/education/educators/workshops-and-special-events/what-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-art-classroom-program/publication-teachers/

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The Essential Introductionto Aboriginal Art (25 Facts)

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The Essential Introductionto Aboriginal Art (25 Facts)

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Thursday 19 October, 6pm

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AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia

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20-22 October

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AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia

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Art Centres

Anindilyakwa Arts, APY Art Centre Collective, Arts Ceduna, Bábbarra Women's Centre, Badu Art Centre, Baluk Arts, Barkly Regional Arts, Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists, Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Bula'Bula Arts, Bush Balm by Purple House, Durrmu Arts, Gapuwiyak Culture & Arts, Girringun Art Centre, Hermannsburg Potters, Ikuntji Artists, Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre, Injalak Arts Centre, Iwiri Art, Jilamara Arts & Crafts, Juluwarlu Art Group, Ku Arts, Magpie Goose, Maningrida Arts & Culture, Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency, Marrawuddi Arts & Culture, Martumili Artists, Maruku Arts, Merrepen Arts, Milingimbi Art & Culture, Minyma Kutjara Arts Project, Mirndiyan Gununa - MIART, Moa Arts, Mowanjum Aboriginal Art & Culture Centre, Munupi Arts & Crafts Association, Nagula Jarndu Designs, Ninuku Arts, Ngukurr Arts, Numbulwar Numburindi Arts, Papunya Tjupi Arts, Pormpuraaw Art & Culture Centre, Spinifex Hill Studio, Tangentyere Artists and Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Tjarlirli & Kaltukatjara Art, Utopia Art Centre, Walkatjara Art, Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, Warlayirti Artists, Warlukurlangu Artists, Warnayaka Art & Culture, Wik & Kugu Arts Centre, Yarrabah Arts and Cultural Precinct, Yinjaa-Barni Art

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AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia

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7 November, 12-3pm
https://www.experienceadelaide.com.au/whats-on/weaving-workshop-with-chantal-henley/

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AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia

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Since the late 1980s, Maree Clarke (b. 1961) has been instrumental to the revival of southeast Australian Aboriginal material cultural practices. An artist, curator, cultural facilitator and educator, Clarke is a Yorta Yorta, Wamba Wamba, Mutti Mutti and Boonwurrung woman. She grew up in Mildura in northwest Victoria, along the Murray River, but today lives in Yarraville, Melbourne, where her backyard studio is dedicated to producing and passing on cultural knowledge.

Clarke was first prompted to make jewellery in 1987 when asked by the Mildura Aboriginal Corporation to establish an outlet for local and national Aboriginal art.[1] Backgrounded by the Australian bicentenary, when a burgeoning national interest in Aboriginal crafts and cultural practices took hold, Clarke produced necklaces and earrings from seeds and echidna quills; "...basically, I haven't stopped making jewellery since."[2] Clarke's research into south-eastern Aboriginal material culture has since been exhaustive. Her close examination of anthropological texts and ethnographic collections, here in Australia and internationally, has played a significant role in reprising the histories and designs of cultural artefacts of the southeast, including ceremonial body adornments like necklaces and headbands, possum-skin cloaks, shields and kopi - gypsum head caps traditionally worn by women in mourning.

[1]"Fran Edmonds with Maree Clarke", Indigenous Story, accessed 15 September, 2021

...I love to think of new ways to tell story, through art. Whether that is a three-metre glass eel trap or 3D-printed kangaroo tooth necklace, everything is based on traditional practice.
Maree Clarke in "Maree Clarke's | Ritual and Ceremony", National Gallery of Australia, 19 July, 2021

Articles and Books

Clark, Maddee. " Artist Maree Clarke's extraordinary practice celebrated in first solo show by a living Victorian Aboriginal artist at the NGV." Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 July, 2021.

Clarke, Maree. " Linear Artist: Maree Clarke." Powerhouse Museum. 15 November, 2019.

Edgar, Ray. "Cutting-edge technology keeps the tradition of Indigenous jewellery alive."Sydney Morning Herald. 6 March, 2018.

"Fran Edmonds with Maree Clarke." Indigenous Story. Accessed 15 September, 2021.

"Maree Clarke." Australian Design Centre. Accessed 15 September, 2021.

"Maree Clarke".Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre. Museums Victoria. Accessed 15 September, 2021.

"Maree Clarke."National Gallery of Australia. Defying Empire: 3rdNational Indigenous Art Triennial. 26 May - 10 September 2017.

O'Sullivan, Jane. "Maree Clarke on connecting with culture and history." Art Guide. 25 June, 2021.

Websites

"Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories." National Gallery of Victoria. Learning Resource. Accessed 15 September, 2021.

"Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories."National Gallery of Victoria. 25 June 2021 - 6 February 2022.
"Maree Clarke."Vivien Anderson Gallery.
Videos and Podcasts

"Maree Clarke."Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. The New National: New Australian Art, 26 March - 22 August, 2021.

" Maree Clarke introduces Ancestral Memories." National Gallery of Victoria. 10 August, 2021.

Maree Clarke's, Ritual and Ceremony, National Gallery of Victoria. 1 October, 2021

Maree Clarke's | What is a possum-skin cloak, National Gallery of Victoria. 1 October, 2021

Unboxing the museum: River reed necklace| Museums Victoria, 1 October, 2021

River reed necklaces have been made and worn by Aboriginal people across many nations. Remember Mefeatures an oversized river reed necklace and comes from a long tradition of ritual and ceremony. Investigate the tradition of river reed necklaces. How has this tradition changed over time? How does Clarke combine the cultural practise of the 1800s and her own contemporary practice? What is the same and what is different? Watch Unboxing the museum: River reed necklaces

Compare Clarke's work to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists who create body adornment such as Lola Greeno, Jeannette James and Grace Lillian Lee. Find where these artists are from on a map and compare what their environment would be like. What materials do each of the artists use? What is similar or different conceptually about their work?

Clarke often invites family members into the process of producing her work, from sourcing materials to preparing and finishing. Kangaroo teeth necklace (2020), for example, involves gathering roadkill from trips on Country, removing the sinew and teeth, preparing the leather, mixing ochre and wattle resin, and binding the kangaroo teeth with sinew string - a time-intensive and laborious process.[1] Every stage of making is an occasion to share these traditional techniques; "...at its core, my practice is about building community and passing cultural knowledge to the next generation."[2]

Clarke however, is also interested in the translation of traditional practices into contemporary mediums. For Black glass necklace with red and green feathers and seed pods (2021), Clarke worked with Canberra Glass Works to fabricate black glass river reeds and seed pods filled with ochre, gathered on Country, to produce a trio of large-scale necklaces. Based on a talisman given to people passing through Country as an emblem of safe passage and friendship, Clarke says '...the glass river reed necklaces are just as valid as the traditional ones."[3] Between thirty to forty metres in length, each necklace speaks to the scale of loss due to colonisation - loss of land, language and cultural knowledge - but is equally a powerful assertion of presence. Clarke's nearby photographic portraits of her nephews Jacob and Aaron galvanise this idea. As sitters, they enact her jewellery; they transform the sculptural objects into body adornment once more, revived with purpose and primacy for the twenty-first century.

[1]"Maree Clarke." Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. The New National: New Australian Art, 26 March - 22 August, 2021.

[2]Maree Clarke, "Linear Artist: Maree Clarke", Powerhouse Museum, 15 November, 2019,

[3]"Maree Clarke." Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

The river reed neckpiece that is featured in Remember me is an enlarged version of one that was traditionally worn on the body. Why do you think Clarke decided to create an oversized version of this neckpiece?

Compare Clarke's oversized neckpiece to Malahide by Trawlwoolway artist Julie Gough. Why do you think both artists chose to increase the scale of their neckpieces? Write a response to the following statement: Clarke and Gough communicate similar ideas about the ways in which the past continues to shape the present.

Clarke's River reed necklace revives a past practice but also embraces a new way of working with materials. Talk to older members in your family and ask them to recall some old skills or traditions which have been lost over time. Research this skill or technique. In small groups discuss why this skill or technique should be reinstated. Or could this old skill be enhanced with a contemporary practice? Present your argument to the class.

Clarke often invites family members into the process of producing her work. She also says that she likes to think of new ways to tell a story through art. Talk to family members about a well-known story in your family or culture. It could be something funny that happened on a holiday or a cultural tradition that your family has known for generations. Create a work of art that tells this story in a new way.

River-reed necklaces were given to people as a sign of safe passage and friendship. Make a talisman for a friend or loved one that will bring them good luck.

Create a mind map about a place that is special to you. Using these words, write a poem which captures the essence of this place. Create a sculpture or necklace using natural materials that tell the story of where you live.

Create a repeated pattern neckpiece that communicates something about who you are, your family or traditions you may have. Use materials that connect to your identity in some way. It could be recycled materials from around the home or shapes cut out from cardboard.

Clarke has used moulted feathers from native Australian birds. Investigate plants and wildlife that are local or endemic to your environment. Research the impact introduced plants have had on Australian flora and fauna and examine the effects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Select an example of an extinct Australian flora or fauna and create a work of art as a tribute to this extinct plant, flower or species.

Tarnanthi is presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia with Principal Partner BHP and support from the Government of South Australia
The Gallery's Learning programs are supported by the Department for Education. This education resource has been developed and written in collaboration Dr. Belinda Howden, Kylie Neagle and Dr. Lisa Slade.

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AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia

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A renowned expert in Ngarrindjeri basket weaving, Yvonne Koolmatrie was born in 1944 at Wudinna on the land of her father's people, near the far west coast of South Australia. Her father was a Kokatha man and her mother a Ngarrindjeri/Ramindjeri woman from the Coorong. In 1982 Koolmatrie learnt traditional Ngarrindjeri weaving from the Elder, Dorothy Kartinyeri, who at that time was one of the last people practising using the labour-intensive coiled-bundle technique. Furthering her knowledge through research in the South Australian Museum's collection of Ngarrindjeri woven objects, Koolmatrie has been instrumental in resurrecting this craft, as well as inventing her own techniques to create unique forms.

Much of Koolmatrie's adult life has been spent along the Murray River. The material for her weaving, such as the sedge of her early vessel, Large sedge bowl, grows along the banks of the river. She harvests the materials in a sustainable way by removing the plants one by one; she also knows when and where to find the plants and acknowledges the rhythm of the seasons and life of the river.

Koolmatrie makes both customary utilitarian objects, such as the Eel traps, as well as figurative contemporary sculptures such as fish, turtles, lizards, echidnas, and even a biplane and hot-air balloon. Through these woven sculptural works, Koolmatrie draws on her Ngarrindjeri cultural knowledge and responds to contemporary life.

These traditional Eel traps and Sister baskets are made using the spiny-headed sedge (Cyperus gymnocaulos), which grows along the banks of the Coorong and the Murray River in Ngarrindjeri country. Siste r baskets are two identical sides or 'sisters' stitched together with a handle added. Woven baskets used for carrying personal items, 'Sister baskets' pass on a cultural tradition that has been refined by past generations and which continues to have meaning and value today.

Australian Curriculum Connections - Year 4 History

The diversity of Australia's first peoples and the long and continuous connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to Country/Place (land, sea, waterways and skies) (ACHASSK083)

The Gallery's Learning programs are supported by the Department for Education.
This education resource has been developed and written in collaboration with Nici Cumpston, Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts, Kylie Neagle, Education Coordinator and Gloria Strzelecki, Associate Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art.

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Eel traps and Sister baskets by Yvonne Koolmatrie

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Eel traps and Sister baskets by Yvonne Koolmatrie