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Art Sets.

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By the Art Gallery of NSW

Designed for students, this education resource presents ideas for thinking about and making art inspired by selected Aboriginal artists from New South Wales

Roy Kennedy

Looking and responding

Look at How soon they forget 2001 by Roy Kennedy and describe the people, animals, objects and activities you can see. Find the church and the police station with bars on the windows and a police car outside. Notice the houses.

Focus on one area of activity in How soon they forget 2001 or Mission boy dreams 2006 and describe the participants and the different activities you can see. Choose one character and write a story about one day in their life. Think about where they live, their family and the events of their day. Use clues from the artwork to help you.

born 1934
Wiradjuri, Southern Riverine region, Sydney, South-east region

Making

Think about a place that is important to you. Close your eyes and picture it, in detail, focusing on significant objects, people and events that have happened there. Draw this place as you pictured it. Transfer this image onto scratch foam and create an edition of prints in black and white. Experiment with different coloured ink and paper. Exhibit your editions in class and discuss the results.

Elaine Russell

1941–2017
Kamilaroi, Northern Riverine region, Sydney, South-east region

Looking and responding

Look at Lachlan River, our childhood dreams 1994 by Elaine Russell and describe what you see. Notice colour, shape and pattern. What are the people doing? Describe how you think they are feeling. Imagine walking along this river and the physical sensations you would experience such as sounds, smells and touch.

Compare Lachlan River, our childhood dreams with Inspection day 1994, also by Russell. How are they similar or different? Think about the title of Inspection day. What does it tell you about the situation depicted? Which person is the mission manager’s wife? How can you tell? Describe her facial expression. How do the other people feel about her?

Making

Notice the compositional structure of Lachlan River, our childhood dreams 1994 by Elaine Russell . Identify foreground, middle ground and background. Picture a harmonious place and create a collage to represent this vision. Glue strips of coloured paper for sections of foreground, middle ground and background onto paper. Glue torn or cut shapes to represent trees, grasses, river and other landscape features. Decorate the surface of the image with patterning which suits the mood.

Why have both Roy Kennedy and Elaine Russell made images of a river? Locate the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan Rivers on a map. Choose a local river and identify the Aboriginal nations through which it passes. Discover the geographical features of and cultural information about these places. Create a map to represent your findings.

Mervyn Bishop

born 1945
Kamilaroi, Dubbo, Southern Riverine region

Looking and responding

Look at Pool game, Burnt Bridge 1988/2008 and Girl pours tea, Burnt Bridge 1988/91 by Mervyn Bishop. Choose one photo and list words to describe the subject and their environment. These photos were taken in 1988, a year of celebration for Australia as a nation. Talk about the message they communicate about this country.

Making

Explore the properties of light and how it is essential to photography. Select objects to represent yourself and your environment and arrange them on light-sensitive paper to create a series of photograms.

Title your work and write a descriptive statement outlining your ideas about how this images reflects your identity and place.

Collect pictures from the media that represent Aboriginal people or other communities. Describe the different kinds of images you find. Do you notice any recurring themes? How are they similar or different from the photographs by Mervyn Bishop?