What’s on Lecture / symposiumFor teachers

Learning symposium 2013

The Gallery’s annual visual arts conference for teachers

Presentations and discussions are designed for K–12 Visual Arts teachers, tertiary lecturers and students, and national and regional gallery educators.

Telling stories: the many narratives of the artwork

One of the most fundamental functions of artworks is to tell stories.

Most works of art contain multiple stories. Even the most straightforward painting of an historical subject also carries the tale of its own creation, the artist’s biography, the history of the painting as an object, an insight into the culture in which it was created, differing interpretations of the work throughout time, and personal stories we bring to it. An artwork might merely suggest a fragment of a story, from which we can build. When critics write a text or curators construct an exhibition, they often aim to tell a story by placing artworks in new contexts or in a certain sequence.

With the advent of modernism (and particularly abstract art), many Western artists tried to suppress this narrative capacity, but the impulse to tell stories is stronger than ever in our digital age, as media such as film, animation and performance provide artists with new ways to tell complex stories that develop through time.

How can we access the stories that artworks tell, and what can we learn from them? How can we create our own stories using the artwork as a starting point, and history or our imaginations as fuel? Is the artist essentially a storyteller? These are the questions we’ll explore in our 2013 Learning Symposium.

Program

Day 1: Thursday 7 March
Galleries and audiences

Talks are held in the Centenary Auditorium, lower level 1

1pm
Registration, Centenary Auditorium, lower level 1

1.30pm
Telling stories: the many narratives of the artwork
Victoria Collings, senior coordinator, education programs, AGNSW

2pm
Triggering memory and creating stories: AGNSW art and dementia program
Danielle Gullotta, coordinator, access programs, AGNSW

2.40pm
William Blake: poetry and art
Josephine Touma, acting senior coordinator, Public Programs, AGNSW

3.20pm
We used to talk about love: Balnaves: contemporary photomedia
Exhibition preview
Alexandra Gregg, coordinator, contemporary programs, AGNSW

4pm
We used to talk about love: Balnaves: contemporary photomedia
Exhibition viewing, contemporary galleries, lower level 2

Day 2: Friday 8 March
ARTEXPRESS

Talks are held in the Domain Theatre, lower level 3

8.30am
Registration
ARTEXPRESS 2013, temporary exhibitions gallery, upper level

9.30am
Welcome and introduction
Louise Halpin, coordinator, outreach programs, AGNSW

9.45am
Inside ARTEXPRESS at the Art Gallery of NSW
Leeanne Carr, coordinator, secondary programs, AGNSW

10.30am
ARTEXPRESS: the background story
Susanne Jones, ARTEXPRESS coordinator, Arts Unit, NSW DEC

11am
Morning tea, Domain Theatre foyer, lower level 3

11.30am
Working together: teacher and student
Erskine Park High School

12pm
Inside the museum: the life of artworks after acquisition
Carolyn Murphy, acting head, conservation, AGNSW

12.40pm
Lunch, function space, ground floor

1.40pm
Continuity and connection: an exploration of female experiences and responses to colonisation
Emily McDaniel, assistant curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, AGNSW

2.20pm
Artist presentation
Phaptawan Suwannakudt

3pm
Close

Day 3: Saturday 9 March
Artists and the art world

Talks are held in the Centenary Auditorium, lower level 1

8.30am
Registration, vestibule, ground level

9am
Welcome and introduction
Victoria Collings, senior coordinator, education programs, AGNSW

9.15am
Sydney Moderns
Exhibition preview
Leeanne Carr, coordinator, secondary programs, AGNSW

10am
Artist presentation
Tim Silver, featured in We used to talk about love

10.40am
Morning tea

11am
Letters in portraits
Michael Hill, coordinator, art history and theory, National Art School

11.45am
Archibald and portraiture
Victoria Collings, senior coordinator, education programs, AGNSW, and Danielle Gullotta, coordinator, access programs, AGNSW

12.30pm
Lunch, function space, ground floor

1.30pm
Contemporary art at the junction of history and storytelling
Anneke Jaspers, assistant curator, contemporary art, AGNSW

2pm
Artist presentation
Anne Zahalka

3pm
Close

NSW Institute of Teachers’ endorsed provider of Institute-registered professional development for the maintenance of accreditation at Professional Competence. Scope of Endorsement: All elements of Professional Teaching Standards 1,2,3,4 and 6 at Professional Competence for Visual Arts related professional development.