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1 Teacher Resource Get the latest news and updates. Subscribe to Engage at ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 1

2 Imagine stepping inside an artwork. Imagine stepping inside a camera. Imagine seeing your world turned upside-down. Welcome to Museum of Brisbane s photographic exhibition, Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land. EXHIBITION OVERVIEW Robyn Stacey s new body of work commissioned by Museum of Brisbane reveals some of our city s most familiar places, buildings and landmarks in a completely new way. Her work turns entire rooms into the surface of a photograph, offering a bold and surprising interpretation of one of the oldest photographic techniques, the camera obscura. Her dreamlike works capture a moment in time, exploring both the history of the location and the personal stories of the subjects featured within these unique landscapes, offering an intimate and provocative look at our city. Watch Robyn Stacey introduce the exhibition and outline her process in the video below. WHAT S IN THE EXHIBITION The exhibition contains 22 large scale photographs capturing Brisbane people, landmarks, buildings and sites and an interactive experience that simulates the camera obscura technique used by Robyn Stacey. The camera obscura experience demonstrates how light travels and how the camera obscura operates, allowing visitors to witness the technique themselves, as it unfolds in a darkened room. This resource provides teachers with the tools to link the exhibition to classroom learning as well as information on related tours and workshops held at the Museum. These learning opportunities aim to provide teachers with meaningful and engaging activities all linked to the Australian National Curriculum and Queensland syllabus. In this teacher resource you will find Curriculum physics 3 Camera obscura method 4 Curriculum literacy 5 Short story competition 6 Curriculum - visual art 7 Artist s process 8 Artist biography 9 Education offerings at Museum of Brisbane 10 Information and contacts 10 ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 2

3 WHY THIS EXHIBITION IS AN EXCELLENT RESOURCE FOR STUDENTS CURRICULUM PHYSICS Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land allows students from primary to tertiary across various subject areas to experience well-known Brisbane landmarks and places through a different lens. The exhibition explores perspective, the development of Brisbane and migration through one of the oldest photographic techniques, the camera obscura. It links directly with senior physics by displaying and demonstrating a light phenomenon and provides stimulus for creative writing and visual arts. With the rise of digital photography, there is a growing interest among artists to explore early photographic techniques. Through Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land students can experience a historical form of image making within a modern context as Stacey elaborately decorates rooms by wallpapering them with the world outside their windows. Like pinhole photography, the camera obscura allows light in through a tiny hole in order to project a scene from outside onto inside surfaces. Stacey recreates this process with ambitious scale and in unexpected settings, transforming interiors into dark rooms for dramatically projected landscape vistas. Students can witness the camera obscura technique in a simulated experience built into the exhibition. The experience introduces how light travels and how the camera obscura method works. SENIOR SECONDARY PHYSICS UNIT 2 ACSPH075 A ray model of light may be used to describe reflection, refraction and image formation from lenses and mirrors ACSPH076 A wave model explains a wide range of light-related phenomena including reflection, refraction, total internal reflection, dispersion, diffraction and interference; a transverse wave model is required to explain polarisation ACSPH077 The speed of light is finite and many orders of magnitude greater than the speed of mechanical waves (for example, sound and water waves); its intensity decreases in an inverse square relationship with distance from a point source ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 3

4 WHAT IS A CAMERA OBSCURA? Dark room Blacked out window Object Light rays Light rays Image of object Tiny hole to let light in The camera obscura is a historical form of image making, which Caravaggio and Vermeer are said to have used to create their impressive 17 th century Baroque paintings. Like pinhole photography, the camera obscura works by allowing light in through a tiny hole in order to project a scene from outside onto inside surfaces. In Robyn Stacey: Cloud land this process is recreated with ambitious scale and in unexpected settings, transforming the interiors of high-rise hotel rooms, offices and institutional spaces. Every image created by the camera obscura only exists for a couple of hours because it is dependent on the position of the sun in relation to the room. As light travels in a straight line it creates upside-down, reversed and distorted visual effects. ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 4

CURRICULUM Room 1412 Mercure, Courtney s shoes 2014 LITERACY YEAR 7 Students are invited to explore the theme of perspectives and use photographs within the exhibition as stimulus to create

5 CURRICULUM Room 1412 Mercure, Courtney s shoes 2014 LITERACY YEAR 7 Students are invited to explore the theme of perspectives and use photographs within the exhibition as stimulus to create imaginative texts. Like stills from the sets of movies, Stacey s images offer us fragments of untold narratives. Intimate and enigmatic moments glimpse the plethora of stories we can only imagine might play out within the rooms four walls. Students are asked to explore these photographs and delve into the idea of if these walls could talk by writing short stories. The possibilities are endless when you see Brisbane from this completely new, unique perspective. Secondary students are invited to enter Museum of Brisbane s short story competition (see page 6). For a more in depth experience, short story writing workshops with local author Kathleen Noud are also available (see page 7). CREATING TEXTS YEAR 5 ACELY1704 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience YEAR 6 ACELY1714 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience ACELY1725 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, selecting aspects of subject matter and particular language, visual, and audio features to convey information and ideas YEAR 8 ACELY1736 Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that raise issues, report events and advance opinions, using deliberate language and textual choices, and including digital elements as appropriate YEAR 9 ACELY1746 Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features YEAR 10 ACELT1814 Create literary texts that reflect an emerging sense of personal style and evaluate the effectiveness of these texts ACELT1815 Create literary texts with a sustained voice, selecting and adapting appropriate text structures, literary devices, language, auditory and visual structures and features for a specific purpose and intended audience ACELT1644 Create imaginative texts that make relevant thematic and intertextual connections with other texts ACELY1756 Create sustained texts, including texts that combine specific digital or media content, for imaginative, informative, or persuasive purposes that reflect upon challenging and complex issues ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 5

SHORT STORY COMPETITION Room 13 Cartwright, Michael and Katherine 2014 Secondary students are invited to enter Museum of Brisbane s Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land short story competition, running from 18

6 SHORT STORY COMPETITION Room 13 Cartwright, Michael and Katherine 2014 Secondary students are invited to enter Museum of Brisbane s Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land short story competition, running from 18 September March Students are asked to use one of the works from the exhibition as inspiration for their short story. If you would like your class to participate, additional information can be found at competition SHORT STORY WRITING WORKSHOP Give your students a head start by booking in for a short story writing workshops with local award-winning author Kathleen Noud. For further information on our workshops and bookings please visit Creative writing workshop: $16.50 per student (full day) Short story author Kathleen Noud (suitable for students aged 12-17) Take a personalised tour with a curator of the exhibition and then be inspired as local author Kathleen Noud shares tips on how to transform your initial idea into a fantastic short story. Explore character, setting, dialogue and theme. ABOUT KATHLEEN NOUD Kathleen s passion for storytelling grew from after-school drama classes and developed in to a desire to write fiction. She is drawn to capture a sense of the extraordinary happening to ordinary people and has most recently focused on writing for young adults. Kathleen s stories range from contemporary to speculative fiction and have been recognised in national competitions. She has also been published in short story anthologies, Award-Winning Australian Writing 2010 and One Book Many Brisbanes 6. Her writing has also received encouragement as a Qantas Spirit of Youth Award finalist, an Australian Society of Authors mentorship and short-listing for a Varuna Publisher fellowship. KATHLEENS S TOP WRITING TIPS 1. Start in the middle of things (in medias res). There s no time for snooze buttons and teeth brushing in a short story. Have your character running away from home or hiding the stash of money straight up. Entice the reader from the first paragraph. 2. Think of your character s goal and their obstacle in the story. What does your character want? What is in their way? These answers will help you form a story arc from beginning to end. 3. Interesting characters make for interested readers. Think of your favourite characters and list what makes them special to you. Or write a character profile to help make them real. 4. Use the five senses to create mood and show emotion. Sight is an easy one, but what does your main character smell, taste, hear or touch in the story to build the mood? Think of horror or thriller genres for obvious examples of this. 5. Don t be disheartened by your first draft. Good stories become riveting tales in the editing and re-writing process. Keep revising until it s ready for a reader. ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 6

CURRICULUM VISUAL ART Room 930 Royal on the Park, Maroochy Barambah Song woman and Law-woman Turrbal people 2015 Students can use the exhibition to evaluate connections between visual conventions,

7 CURRICULUM VISUAL ART Room 930 Royal on the Park, Maroochy Barambah Song woman and Law-woman Turrbal people 2015 Students can use the exhibition to evaluate connections between visual conventions, practices and viewpoints. The contemporary use of the camera obscura engages a range of visual techniques and photographic processes; including experimentation, in depth investigation of the site, testing and problem-solving to transform each site into a camera obscura. After setting up the camera obscura, Stacey photographs the projected imagery using a long exposure time, capturing the vast possibilities of this method. Students are invited to explore how Robyn Stacey has represented a wide cross-section of ideas, subject matter and techniques within this body of work. QUEENSLAND SYLLABUS ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS BY THE END OF YEAR 7 Respond by analysing and evaluating arts works in social, cultural, historical and spiritual contexts, using arts elements and languages. ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS BY THE END OF YEAR 9 Make decisions about arts elements, languages and cultural protocols in relation to specific style, function, audience and purpose of arts works. Respond by deconstructing arts works in relation to social, cultural, historical, spiritual, political, technological and economic contexts, using arts elements and languages SENIOR SYLLABUS VISUAL ART (2007) Global aims Years 11 & 12 Affirm and value the contributions of visual artists, designers and craftspeople, and engage with Australian art including Indigenous Australian, Asian and international references. Examine and affirm personal community perspectives relating to past and present, social, cultural, spiritual, economic, political, environmental and vocational contexts Be inclusive and appreciative of multiple perspectives and philosophies and the meanings of artworks Explore, appreciate and embrace contemporary visual art practices and emerging technologies. Create informed, active and sustained engagement with, and enjoyment of, the visual arts. GENERAL OBJECTIVES 1. Visual Literacy 2. Appraising 3. Affective ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 7

THE ARTIST PROCESS (CAMERA OBSCURA) SELECTING A ROOM When selecting a room to use as a camera obscura, the following must be considered: Does the room have a window to the outside with an interesting

8 THE ARTIST PROCESS (CAMERA OBSCURA) SELECTING A ROOM When selecting a room to use as a camera obscura, the following must be considered: Does the room have a window to the outside with an interesting view? Is the room too large or too small? (6-10m deep is preferable) Is the room able to be blocked out and made completely dark? Is there a light-coloured wall opposite the window for the view to fall on? Are there any objects (bookcases, paintings, televisions) that will prevent the image from reading clearly? Does the sun fall on the view at some point during the day, or is it permanently in shadow? Does the window have blinds that cannot be removed, a dark tint, or a balcony that obscures the view? SETTING UP THE ROOM Once the ideal room is found, Stacey does a test. She does this by blocking out all light in the room with thick black plastic, masking tape and gaffer tape. She cuts a small hole into the plastic for the light to enter and adds a lens to focus the light. She then photographs the room on a long exposure. By relocating the hole and the lens, Stacey is able to control where buildings appear on the walls, and how much sky is visible. WORKING WITH THE SUBJECT Once Stacey is satisfied with the projected images, she returns to take the final photograph, sometimes including a person, or chosen objects in the room. If a person is included, they must remain still for the long exposure, usually one to three minutes. The amount of time depends on the weather, with dull days requiring a longer exposure time. Stacey briefly lights the participant with a torch so they become prominent in the photograph. INFLUENCING FACTORS The time of day and weather are both very important to the final quality of the photograph. A strong and recognisable image only appears when the view is in sunlight, and not obscured by rain or clouds. The sun must not be hitting the window as this creates a bright spot on the floor (similar to a magnifying glass in the sun), obscuring the image. In some cases, there is as little as one hour when the camera obscura will work successfully enough to photograph. The photographs seen in Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land are the final artworks after a lengthy process that was repeated several times around sites with significant views of Brisbane. ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 8

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Robyn Stacey is one of Australia s most acclaimed photographers, creating spectacular and sumptuous images since the mid-1980 s.

9 ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Robyn Stacey is one of Australia s most acclaimed photographers, creating spectacular and sumptuous images since the mid-1980 s. Whether breathing new life into the historical collections of Australian museums, or bringing our gaze to contemporary society, Stacey s work broadens our personal perspectives by allowing us to imagine other people s private worlds. Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land continues a series first explored in Melbourne and Sydney using basic camera obscura technology to capture portraits of people in hotel rooms. Through Stacey s process and the theatrical and distorted view of the camera obscura; a roving, fragmented and homogenised portrait of contemporary life in Brisbane is brought to life. ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 9

Room 1818 Hilton, Ronald Van Weezel 2015 EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES CONTACT At Museum of Brisbane we endeavour to maximise students time by offering engaging and informative experiences that compliment

10 Room 1818 Hilton, Ronald Van Weezel 2015 EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES CONTACT At Museum of Brisbane we endeavour to maximise students time by offering engaging and informative experiences that compliment classroom learning. Experiences being offered relating to Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land: Curator tour $9.90 per student (1 hour) Students can gain a greater understanding of Stacey s work and her methods with a curator tour. Creative writing workshop $16.50 per student (full day) Short story author Kathleen Noud (suitable for students aged 12-17) Take a tour of the exhibition and then be inspired as local author Kathleen Noud shares tips on how to transform your initial idea into a fantastic short story. Explore character, setting, dialogue and theme. For more information on Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land visit Museum of Brisbane s website: For more information and bookings, please visit or contact David West Visitor Experience Coordinator T: E: education@museumofbrisbane.com.au ROBYN STACEY: CLOUD LAND TEACHER RESOURCE 10

Explore Cloud Land with

Explore Cloud Land with Activity booklet for CHILDREN Explore Cloud Land LITTLE LENS Activity booklet for CHILDREN Explore Cloud Land LITTLE LENS Activity booklet for CHILDREN Imagine stepping inside an