# data[].attributes.body
Aos 1, Outcome 1
Analysing and interpreting the meaning of artworks

# data[].attributes.body
Where you come from influences what you know.
"Positionality" & "Epistemology" (Takacs, 2003)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.body
Designed for Y9-10

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.body
"recognition and expression of emotions" (VCAA, 2018)

# data[].attributes.body
What are the “capacities and limits” of painting? (Beavan, 2011).  Why do we still persist with this antiquated medium in a Postmodern/post human world (Duncum, 2009)?  Is it because it maintains a sensual somatic connection between thinking and creation (Eisner, 2001)? Or is it merely a utilitarian means to deliver the curriculum in an efficient way?  Perhaps it is part of a fluid discourse, just a tool in a repertoire that includes the digital and the virtual.  It might be a strand that we hold on to, to keep us from losing our physicality.  Teaching and doing painting poses many questions.  The following schema aims to address some of these and provide an overview of what it might look like in the 7-10 classroom en route to the VCE.

The schema consists of chunks that progress in a chronological fashion that allow students to acquire skills, safe practice and disciplinary knowledge in an in-depth way.  If we are asking our students to improvise in VCE, we should ground them in a variety of approaches and expose them to diverse perspectives and styles of painting.  From my own experience and observations of students I appreciate the paralysis that can set in if asked to improvise without establishing some familiarity or fluency with a medium.   I see this grounding in discipline as a way for students to become more versed in visual language (including the elements and principles) and hence better positioned to discover their own style as they progress towards the end of the VCE.

The acquisition of technique in this schema sits in parallel to learning about contemporary and historical art, and learning about oneself and others. We thus see painting as a means to address the Personal and social and Intercultural capabilities (VCAA, 2018) and a way to engage with the atemporal, cyclic and global nature of artistic discourse.

Through my own experience of studying and practising painting, I have gained transferrable skills that traverse and enhance my engagement with other disciplines.  It sounds trite, but there is a conceptual link between the physical layering of paint and the layers in Photoshop, an understanding of pictorial space and numerous other skills that have their foundation in studying painting.

Reference List

Beavan, K. (2011). Tate debate: What's next for painting? Retrieved from https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/tate-debate-whats-next-painting

Duncum, P. (2009). Visual Culture in Art Education, Circa 2009. Visual Arts Research, 1(64), 64-75. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/stable/pdf/20715488.pdf

Eisner, E. W. (2001). Should we create new aims for art education? Art Education, 54(5), 6-10. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/docview/199393896/fulltextPDF/449047DDA3CE4DB1PQ/1?accountid=12372

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kwementyay Kngwarreye's Big yam Dreaming | NGV

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kwementyay Kngwarreye's Big yam Dreaming demands to be considered among the great contemporary masterpieces of our time. This central icon of the Gallery's collection, measuring three by nine metres, is painted entirely in bold white lines on black. It celebrates the natural increase of anooralya (the finger yam) at Alhalkere, country sacred to the artist.

# data[].attributes.body
Learning opportunity

# data[].attributes.body
Vanitas subject matter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ricky Swallow's sculptures address fundamental issues that lie at the core of who we are. Things have lives. We are our things. We are things. When all is said and done it is our things-our material possessions-that outlive us.

# data[].attributes.body
Artmaking and Meaning

Techniques gained in the 7-10 schema will assist in students' required "techniques, materials and processes" exploration.

# data[].attributes.body
Select and curate an exhibition from the year's body of work (VCAVAP044).

# data[].attributes.body
Technical considerations:
Use digital technology to edit and enhance source imagery as a tool to aid in the painting process.  For example students can enhance photographs to create chiaroscuro-like effects or 'wash out' a tonal range to create Tuymans-like paintings. Areas of emphasis can also be created in this way (VCAVAV042).

Painting skills:
Underpainting - imprimatura (strategy for unity).
Modelling - describing form with tone
Grisaille - mixing a greyscale to modulate tone and create lighting effects using contrast and emphasis.
Blending - skills with brushwork. Use of drying retarder medium with acrylic or water based oils if available.
Scumbling and glazing techniques refining skills introduced in Y8.  Glazing is also a device used to unify a painting.

OH&S review, safety, sustainable practice and care for the environment (VCAVAV042).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kara Walker: Starting Out | Art21 "Extended Play"

# data[].attributes.body
The Aesthetic of the Pathetic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brook Andrew Benjamin Armstrong Peter Atkins Martin Bell Andrew Browne Nicholas Folland Amos Gebhardt Douglas Lance Gibson Brent Harris Louise Hearman Peter Hennessey Bill Henson Brendan Huntley Tim Johnson Anastasia Klose Rosemary Laing Christopher Langton Tim Maguire Danie Mellor Dan Moynihan Patricia Piccinini Ben Quilty Caroline Rothwell Judy Watson Elizabeth Willing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Richard Lewer bags the final Basil Sellers Art Prize. - Art Guide Australia

# data[].attributes.body
Play from 1.09

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Death is one of the few things that we as humans are guaranteed in life, and this is a reality that unites us all - however, the way one acknowledges this fact is unique to the individual. In medieval times, the theory and practice of reflecting on the transient nature of earthly life was known as "memento mori": a Latin phrase translating to "remember that you must die". This theory is an important aspect of ascetic disciplines - particularly Christianity - providing inspiration to turn ones attention away from the distractions of earthly concerns and desires; bringing the focus instead on the prospect of the afterlife. Artists have explored the concepts of memento mori in a number of unique ways throughout history, developing a universal language of rich visual symbolism over time. Common elements of this genre include skulls, flowers, or a candle to imply the persistence of time. This exhibition will investigate the many ways in which artists have interpreted human mortality, and how the tradition of the memento mori continues to inspire contemporary artists to this day. By creating a dialogue investigating the ephemeral nature of life, the awareness impermanence heightens appreciation of the present.

This user gallery has been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Art of dying: Memento mori through the ages - Google Arts & Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Death is one of the few things that we as humans are guaranteed in life, and this is a reality that unites us all - however, the way one acknowledges this fact is unique to the individual.

# data[].attributes.body
The Ambassadors

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This picture memorialises two wealthy, educated and powerful young men. On the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, bishop of Lavaur, who acted on several occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic and the Holy See.

The picture is in a tradition showing learned men with books and instruments. The objects on the upper shelf include a celestial globe, a portable sundial and various other instruments used for understanding the heavens and measuring time. Among the objects on the lower shelf is a lute, a case of flutes, a hymn book, a book of arithmetic and a terrestrial globe.

Certain details could be interpreted as references to contemporary religious divisions. The broken lute string, for example, may signify religious discord, while the Lutheran hymn book may be a plea for Christian harmony.

In the foreground is the distorted image of a skull, a symbol of mortality. When seen from a point to the right of the picture the distortion is corrected.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Ambassadors - Hans Holbein the Younger - Google Arts & Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This picture memorialises two wealthy, educated and powerful young men. On the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, bishop of Lavaur, who acted on several occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic and the Holy See.

# data[].attributes.body
Students will undertake traditional modelling studies beginning with basic geometric forms and then moving on to plaster busts/models. Students will be taught how to make a greyscale with black and white (or ultramarine blue, burnt umber and titanium white if available).  The rationale is that by focusing on a narrow range of paints, students can concentrate on tone and form.

Students will explore still lifes through the themes of memento mori and vanitas as they relate to the self and mortality expressed through objects and symbolism.  They will use baroque paintings from the Dutch still life genre to the paintings of Carravaggio as reference, examining the artists' influences and how they transfer to their "personal style" (VCAA, 2018).  Students will be encouraged to use objects of their own in their composition to create a dialogue with these artworks and conventions across time (VCAVAE040), (VCAVAV042).

Artists using tone to great effect:
Gerhardt RIchter
Luc Tuymans
Carravaggio

# data[].attributes.body
Further examples here

# data[].attributes.headline
Respond and interpret - Ideas and viewpoints

# data[].attributes.subject
Respond and interpret - Ideas and viewpoints

# data[].attributes.body
Students will examine colonial narratives that link Walker and Namatjira's work and how they influence the style and nature of the artists' works (VCAVAE040)(VCAVAR045)
(Intercultural capability)

# data[].attributes.body
“Explore the visual arts practices and styles as inspiration to develop a personal style, explore, express ideas, concepts and themes in art works" (VCAVAE040).  Students will explore the works of various artists that interrogate the idea of the artist as humble, awkward, fallible, as holy fool.  Artists will include Kippenberger, Lewer, Namatjira and Klose.  In contrast to the aggrandized portrait and the ubiquitous 'selfie', this approach hopes to examine the awkwardness that unifies us all.  From a formal standpoint, students will examine how these artists manipulate proportion as part of their style.

Students will analyse the work of these artists and examine "the influences on the artists' personal style" and create an image using materials and techniques that emulate their choice of artist (VCAA, 2018).

Learning through Amanda Marburg. Students will make a plasticine model of themselves, photograph the model, edit the image and then recreate it in paint VCAVAV042).

Students will examine the work of Kara Walker and enlarge small cutouts of themselves into a collaborative painted mural.  Students will explore shape, the silhouette and apply their knowledge from (VCAVAV042).

# data[].attributes.body
Technical considerations:

Students will experiment with how texture can evoke different moods and effects using the smooth treatment of Marburg and impasto of Coppersmith's self portraits as reference.

Explore how digital technologies can "resolve design and planning problems" (VCAA. 2018). Students will learn to use technology such as Photoshop to create digital collages as the basis for paintings and use projectors to enlarge/trace images inspired by the work of Kara Walker (VCAVAV042).

Reiterate safe and sustainable practices as students will explore a wider use of mediums and potential use of aerosols (VCAVAV042).

# data[].attributes.headline
Lesson Ideas, Artists, Artworks and other resources 

# data[].attributes.subject
Lesson Ideas, Artists, Artworks and other resources 

# data[].attributes.headline
Technical Skills, Disciplinary Knowledge and Material Experiences 

# data[].attributes.subject
Technical Skills, Disciplinary Knowledge and Material Experiences 

# data[].attributes.body
Evaluating and refining approaches

# data[].attributes.body
Broadening stylistic and conceptual approaches

# data[].attributes.body
Building from the Y7 exploration of pictorial space, Y8 will explore the metaphysical concerns of a psychological space and the interplay/interface between an individual and their environment.
Colour will be examined as it relates to expressing emotion, "a visual sensation" (VCAA, 2018). Students will begin to explore ways  to manipulate colour in order to influence the 'reading' of an artwork.

Students will explore abstraction, as it relates to Abstract Expressionism's New York epicentre and also its enduring legacy transferred to contemporary art that includes Indigenous Australian artists's paintings. These paintings will be explored as a parallel entity that on the surface, share formal qualities with Abstract Expressionism though contain complex nuances that describe a dialogue between traditional techniques and symbolism intersecting with our current time.

From a technical perspective, students will learn about layering techniques and colour as foundation for building paintings.

# data[].attributes.headline
Respond and interpret - Ideas and viewpoints

# data[].attributes.subject
Respond and interpret - Ideas and viewpoints

# data[].attributes.body
Students will write about how "artists express cultural identity" through artworks, through "concepts of place and country" (VCAVAR038).  Example/s of works that could be discussed:

"Who's Afraid of Colour". Indiginous Australian perspectives on landscape.

Diebenkorn's Californian perspective in his "Berkeley" series.

# data[].attributes.body
Contemporary application

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Edwina Corlette Gallery - Contemporary Art Brisbane

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Miranda Skoczek | Edwina Corlette Gallery - Contemporary Art Brisbane

# data[].attributes.headline
T&L experiences - Colour, balance and emotion

# data[].attributes.subject
T&L experiences - Colour, balance and emotion

# data[].attributes.body
Students will analyse the work of artists that have use colour to express  emotion.  They will examine the use of "stylistic qualities" that express meaning (VCAVAE033).  Artists to study could include Yves Klein and his characteristic blue, Anish Kapoor's antithesis to colour with his light absorbing works and the luminous paintings of Mark Rothko.

Students will create works of their own inspired by these artists beginning to synthesise and appropriate the visual language of others for their own work (VCAVAE033).

# data[].attributes.body
Students will begin to learn 'through' the practice of artists  who have used paint and particularly colour, to express emotion (VCAVAE033).

Colour theory, including "hue, value and intensity" and colour harmony and will be introduced through art making exercises.  Students will learn how to manipulate colour to convey ideas and express emotions (VCAA, 2018) and as a strategy to create balance in an artwork.

Students will learn about the nature of layering in creating a painting, introducing the techniques of:

underpainting

scumbling

'blocking out' areas

glazes (optical mixing of colour through transparent layers).

OH&S & sustainable practice review (VCAVAV035).

# data[].attributes.headline
Lesson Ideas, Artists, Artworks and other resources 

# data[].attributes.subject
Lesson Ideas, Artists, Artworks and other resources 

# data[].attributes.headline
Technical Skills, Disciplinary Knowledge and Material Experiences 

# data[].attributes.subject
Technical Skills, Disciplinary Knowledge and Material Experiences 

# data[].attributes.headline
Lesson Ideas, Artists, Artworks and other resources 

# data[].attributes.subject
Lesson Ideas, Artists, Artworks and other resources 

# data[].attributes.headline
Technical Skills, Disciplinary Knowledge and Material Experiences 

# data[].attributes.subject
Technical Skills, Disciplinary Knowledge and Material Experiences 

# data[].attributes.body
Prominent indigenous Australian women artists' vibrant use of colour

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV, said, 'Since coming into prominence in the late 1980s, Indigenous women have transformed Australian contemporary art, experimenting boldly across artistic mediums and challenging popular notions about how Indigenous art should be created and interpreted. Who's Afraid of Colour? celebrates the diversity and daring of their work.'

# data[].attributes.body
Scumbling. Layers of paint interacting with each other

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Painting - classifications - Richard Diebenkorn Foundation

# data[].attributes.body
Layering

# data[].attributes.body
Line
Pictorial space

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Art Gallery of WA presents Desert River Sea: A growing online resource that celebrates and shares art by Indigenous artists of the Kimberley. Supported by Rio Tinto.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Steffen Seeger shows his incredible "one-line" technique | Berlin 2012

# data[].attributes.headline
Interplay of shallow and deep depth of field

# data[].attributes.subject
Interplay of shallow and deep depth of field

# data[].attributes.body
(Caution re swear words!)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Friedrich Kunath - Artist - Andrea Rosen Gallery

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Inextricably entwining the experience of the ordinary with the sublime, Friedrich Kunath's work explores interior sensation, recontextualization and abstraction, and oppositional relationships that propel emotional experience. Within his painting, installation, and sculpture, images and objects build upon themselves in a layered stream of consciousness driven by the autobiographical, the conceptual, and the emotional.

# data[].attributes.body
Explore the concept that painting the Daruma in Zen traditions reflects aspects of the artist.  A video (here) explains the work of Hakuin, a Zen painter.  Students paint themselves in this immediate way to link drawing and painting, to practise line and observe the ideosyncrasies in our marks that express who we are.

Looking at Steffen Seeger,
students will make continuous line paintings to describe form and experiment with washes of ink to create soft and receding backgrounds.

Students will use digital editing software such as Photoshop to experiment with pictorial space and how varying qualities of line describe space.  Inspired by Friedrich Kunath, student will then make a resolved painting that creates a receding background with a superimposed linear design.

# data[].attributes.body
(VCAVAV035)

"spatial expressions of the world" (VCAA, 2018).

Introduce students to the idea of pictorial space with some eastern traditional art forms favouring a flattened or shallow depth of field.  This could be set in contrast to the trompe- l'oeil and influence of photography on painting in the Western canon.

Students will also explore how symbolism in artwork can express and convey cultural meaning
(VCAVAE034) for example  Wompi's work whose linear marks describe the sand hills of her country and Kngwarreye's depiction of the finger yam, sacred to her country.

Students will document their use of techniques in order to reflect and strengthen the ideas their work might be conveying
(VCAVAE034).

# data[].attributes.headline
Archibald prize - excursion opportunity 

# data[].attributes.subject
Archibald prize - excursion opportunity 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
whos who; portriat; prize; students; archibald prize; geelong; geelong gallery; archibald geelong;  geelong art gallery;

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
For students-2018 Archibald Prize | Geelong Gallery

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bookings are suggested for a 30-minute visit for primary students and 45 minutes for secondary students. A Geelong Gallery Educator will provide a welcome to your students upon arrival and a short overview of both the Archibald Prize and the concurrent exhibition, Elizabeth Gower .

# data[].attributes.body
Artworks and Meaning

Structural and Personal Framework

# data[].attributes.body
Cross disciplinary opportunity with English learning area discussing Harper Lee's, "To Kill a Mockingbird" VCELA457 as a provocation to make a Kara Walker inspired collaborative piece/performance.  With guidance students will create a mural/recital in a site in the school and examine the effect of the context, audience and artists' intention
(VCAVAP044).

# data[].attributes.body
Safety:
OH&S considerations such as avoiding eating and drinking and hand washing.

Care of equipment and  cleaning procedure. Importance of looking after brushes and to avoid excessive paint going down sinks.

Links to "safe and sustainable practice"
(VCAVAV035).

Technical skills:
Use of acrylic ink to explore how of varying line weight and marks can be created through the modulation of pressure and mark making. Explore the variety of marks afforded by a single brush.

# data[].attributes.body
Year 10 will see students continuing the exploration of identity though looking outside of themselves by beginning to use objects and symbolism from historical traditions.

From a technical perspectives students will have to opportunity to refine their painting skills, synthesising what they have learnt in previous years to assist them painting in a more realistic way. By the end of Year 10, the goal would be for students to be versed in diverse approaches to painting.

Looking forward to VCE, students will have the opportunity to apply the range of techniques and approaches gained from the 7-10 painting schema when developing their own personal style.

# data[].attributes.body
Years 9 and 10 will see students exploring identity as this topic is a fertile space for them to interrogate their own constructed identities and the diverse perspectives of others.

Year 9 will expand on Year 8's dialogue between the psychological and physical space.  Students will  examine identity as an interplay of what is inside us/our perception of self and others with how we assume others perceive us. The personal style of various artists will be emulated to build a wider repertoire of conceptual and technical painting approaches.

From a technical standpoint, Year 9 will see students returning to figuration and manipulating texture, proportion and shape whilst integrating skills developed in Y7 & 8.

# data[].attributes.headline
Lesson Ideas, Artists, Artworks and other resources 

# data[].attributes.subject
Lesson Ideas, Artists, Artworks and other resources 

# data[].attributes.headline
Technical Skills, Disciplinary Knowledge and Material Experiences 

# data[].attributes.subject
Technical Skills, Disciplinary Knowledge and Material Experiences 

# data[].attributes.body
Students will use a brush to explore line and mark making with the rationale of linking and transitioning from drawing and writing text. Students will examining how line can describe pictorial space.

Students will
analyse meaning through cultural symbolism using pictorial space as a backdrop to compare eastern/western/ATSI  painting traditions.

Students will be introduced to safe and sustainable painting practices.

# data[].attributes.body
Reference Units 1-4

# data[].attributes.body
Reference 7-10

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Visual Arts - Curriculum - Victorian Curriculum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In Level A, students are exposed to visual arts to assist them to attend to and explore the world around them with as much independence as possible. They experience visual representations of their...