CREDIT: PAGE 10 SUPPORTED BY Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach Education Programme for Levels 1 4 based on unique artworks by: Ani O Neill and Lonnie Hutchinson Copyright Copyright of this document is held by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, a part of Regional Facilities Auckland. No content from this document may be reproduced, transmitted or copied without our permission except for the purposes of private study and research, criticism and review, or education consistent with the provisions of Sections 40 to 44 of the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994. Failure to comply may be an infringement of the Act and could contravene obligations which the Gallery has to donors, lenders, artists and descendants with respect to the copying of works of art. Māori Images Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is grateful to all the descendants who have given permission for images of their ancestors to be included in our database, some of which are reproduced in this document. These images have a special significance for Māori and we ask you to treat these images with respect. Please view and store these images in study areas only. The presence of food and drink or their display in inappropriate ways will denigrate their spiritual significance.
This guide provides all the information you need to prepare for your visit to the Gallery. Please read it thoroughly. Contents Before Your Visit............................. 3 Introduction................................ 4 Vision and Purpose........................... 5 Pre-visit Activities............................ 6 Post-visit Activities........................... 7 Curriculum links........................... 8-9 Resource Images........................ 10-11 Glossary.................................. 12 Some Common Symbols..................... 13 Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 2
Before your visit Before you come to the Gallery, please complete the following: Checklist for a Successful Visit (emailed separately) Please complete the Checklist for a Successful Visit. This includes information about what to do before we visit, during our visit and after our visit. Pre-visit Activities Do any discussion/activity work listed below as pre-visit requirements. This will help make your students visit a far richer learning experience. Timetable Please carefully check your timetable for when your class will take part in the programme. Classroom plan There must be space in the middle for students to sit (a mat area). A whiteboard must be available at the front for use. Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 3
Introduction Art Suitcase Outreach This Outreach Education Programme explores a unique group of artworks that the Gallery commissioned artworks made in suitcases! These artworks, by artists Ani O Neill and Lonnie Hutchinson, were created with the purpose of being able to be taken out to schools and (gently) interacted with. In this Level 1 4 programme, educators will help students explore and respond to two of these works, which deal with themes of identity, culture, travel, migration and displacement, using as a core, the theme of identity. Students will use critical thinking, discussion and observation while exploring the artworks. They will consider the purpose of the Art Suitcases, the meaning of identity and symbols within the artworks that become representative of this key theme. Students will have the opportunity to respond to the Art Suitcases through their own art making. Each will create a symbol representing their own identity, focusing the elements of shape and space while doing so. Senior students will engage with incorporating principles such as harmony, tension and balance to create a more elaborate depiction of their own, and their classroom identity. Students will use critical thinking, discussion and observation while exploring the artworks. They will consider the purpose of the Art Suitcases, the meaning of identity and symbols within the artworks that become representative of this key theme. Students will have the opportunity to respond to the Art Suitcases through their own art making. Each will create a symbol representing their own identity, focusing the elements of shape, colour and space while doing so. Senior students will engage with incorporating principles such as harmony, tension and balance to create a more elaborate depiction of their own, and their classroom identity. Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 4
Vision and Purpose This learning programme will assist you in achieving your goals of delivering educational programmes to a standard of excellence. It has been developed with the following inputs: A community of people who think like artists pursuing understandings of who we are and who we could be through meaningful engagement with art V I S I O N A U C K OPEN L E S I P L A N D EMPATHETIC A R T G A L L E R Y I T U D E S A T T A N D V A L U E S RESILIENT CREATIVE THINKING PROCESSES R E F I N E E X P E R I M E N T E X P L O R E E V A L U A T E I N T E R P R E T D E S C R I B E CRITICAL THINKING PROCESSES CURIOUS RISK TAKERS A N D V A L U E S A T T P R I N C I T U D E S L E R Y A R T G A L P R I N C I P L E S REFLECTIVE COOPERATIVE A U C K L A N D P U R P O S E To help young people develop thinking processes, attitudes and values necessary to think like artists. Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 5
Pre-visit Activities Activity 1: Discuss: What is Identity? Brainstorm the concept of identity. Make sure to discuss and extend ideas from this afterwards. See the glossary for understanding around the term. Use the accompanying questions to draw out ideas: What does identity mean? What things define our identity? What things do not? Do we only have one identity, or can we have more than one? How would you describe your identity? What made you decide on these things? If you had to create a symbol of your identity, what could you use and why? Activity 2: Discuss: What are Symbols? Brainstorm what symbols are and how they commonly appear. A supplied group of commonly seen symbols are included on the last page of this pack for use. See the Glossary for understanding around the term. Use the accompanying questions to draw out ideas: What are symbols? What sorts of things might these represent? What other things can symbols represent? How do we use them? Why are they important? If you had to create a symbol of your identity, what could you use and why? Explore the physical qualities observable in the supplied symbols. What do you notice about these symbols? How would you describe them? (eg describe the shapes, colours, composition etc) What are some observable similarities between them? (eg simplification forms, colours etc) What are some differences? Pre-visit Activities Activity 3: Discuss the questions: What is an art gallery? How might the experience we will have today be different from going to an art gallery? How could this change the way we think about the artworks? How might this change the way we interact with the artworks? Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 6
Optional Post-Visit Activities Levels 1 4 Visual Arts In the Visual Arts students could Brainstorm a variety of things that could represent their identity create an individualised symbol, by combining, repeating adding or subtracting different symbols together. Create a suitcase which contains a variety of different symbols representing the individual person making it. Look at other examples of artworks, identify and discuss different symbols within them. Consider looking at particular types of artworks, eg religious artworks, abstract art. Investigate symbolism through particular elements, eg colour or line. Explore this by looking at artworks (Art Suitcases or other) then making an artwork in a similar way. For example, look at colour as a means to symbolise mood. Drama In Drama students could Collect a variety of objects and imagine they belong to one character. Piece together what their personality may be like through the objects symbolising them. Hot seat the character. Visual Language In English students could Investigate symbolism through particular devices, eg symbolism in colour, line or layout. Reading Read about some of the artists who were part of the art suitcase project, or other artists, and look at the variety of ways they have used symbolism in their artworks. Compare and contrast different ways artists have used symbols in their works. Writing List nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs that could be used to describe one of the Art Suitcases seen by the class. Students could write a diamante poem describing the artwork, using these words as a starting point. Write a description of what one of the art suitcase artists would be like, based on what was discussed and observed when looking at the artwork. Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 7
Curriculum Links Composite of Levels 1 4 Visual Arts Students will: Explore and describe ways in which meanings can be communicated interpreted in their own and others work (CI). Explore and use art-making conventions, applying knowledge of how the elements such as colour, composition and shape can express identity (PK). English Students will: Share, discuss and debate ideas in response to artworks. Make connections and inferences whilst exploring artworks. Seek and provide visual evidence for some of the key ideas that the artwork expresses. Social Sciences Identity, Culture and Organisation Students will: Learn about society, communities and individuals through the examination of artworks and their makers. Place and Environment Students will: Learn about how people perceive, represent, and interpret. Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 8
Curriculum Links Composite of Levels 1 4 Key competencies Thinking Use creative and critical thinking to make sense of the information, experiences and ideas explored in the programme. Foster intellectual curiosity by asking and answering questions. Challenge the basis of assumptions and perceptions. Relating to Others Interact and share ideas about their own and others artworks. Listen to others and their ideas. Participating and contributing Participate and contribute to the learning experience by sharing responses to artworks. Managing self Reflect on their own identity and environment through varied responses to artworks. Act appropriately in the classroom environment in this unique situation. Using Language, Symbols and Text Draw out meaning from artworks and use spoken, visual and written language to respond to these visual texts. Become familiar with some of the specialised terminology of the art world. Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 9
Artwork used in Art Suitcase: Outreach Ani O Neil Above Ani O Neill (born 1971), New Zealand, Mu u Mu u, 2008, suitcase, fabric, plastic-coated wire coat hangers, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, commissioned 2008 Ani O Neill was born in Auckland and is of Cook Islands descent. She made her stunning work in Rarotonga, while visiting her grandmother and teaching and studying. It was sent to Auckland by air, as her friend s luggage, so arrived with baggage tags attached as well as the brightly coloured material tied around the handle to identify it. The larger case has an exactly similar, smaller one fitted snugly inside, reminding us of a baby within the protective body of its mother. Both appear to be lined with brightly coloured pareu fabric and there are two brightly coloured coat hangers. When we raise the hangers up, two life-size mu u mu u dresses appear as if mother and daughter have taken shape before our eyes. Many of Ani s works use the handicraft skills which were passed down to her mother, grandmother and aunties, along with stories and cultural values. This work celebrates the importance of these women in the artist s life and in society. Ani s work subversively explores identity politics and a postcolonial condition, but they are also are infused with a playfulness and vitality. These dresses came to the Pacific with the missionaries but they, and the material that they are made from have become synonymous with Pasifika cultures. The works speaks of a people who live between cultures, who travel, to New Zealand and beyond, and who return home. Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 10
Artwork used in Art Suitcase: Outreach Lonnie Hutchinson Above Lonnie Hutchinson On Route to Hokitika 2008 suitcase, black builders paper, wallpaper, pins Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki commissioned 2008 Lonnie Hutchinson s work is informed by the rich cultural resources of her Polynesian heritage, both Māori (Ngāi Tahu) and Samoan. She is a multi-media, installation and performance artist. On Rroute to Hoitika is a narrative about her ancestor s arduous journeys across the breadth of Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island) to recover precious pounamu (jade). She identifies very strongly with the land and stories of her tupuna (ancestors). Her suitcase work begins on the outside of the case with images that draw on her signature cut-out shapes. Here, the cut-out forms have become stencils and are rendered in spray paint in earthy colours and gold. If we lay the suitcase down flat to open it, we realise that what we see is in fact a landscape in contrast to the outside it seems to be full of light and has a river running through it. We see symbolic campsites and representations, borrowed from map-making, of grasses that mark wetlands and swamps the mahinga kai abundant in bird and aquatic life and places of rest and replenishment on their long journey. Lonnie uses black builders paper and wallpaper, folded and cut to create a delicate interplay of space, light and shadow. She explains that the space between the object and the shadow te wa in te reo Māori or te vaa in Samoan, is, for her, not an absence but an energised space representing the life force of the object its wairoa. Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 11
Glossary Balance Contrast Harmony Identity Pattern Rhythm Shape Space Symbol Tension Viewpoint A principle of the visual arts balance is created when the scale, shape, and proportion of the forms within an artwork are organised and evenly placed. A principle of the visual arts a dramatic change from one element to another creates contrast in an artwork. A principle of the visual arts usually a term that describes music, harmony is suggested in visual art when the arrangement of elements is particularly pleasing. The set of behavioural or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognisable as unique. These same characteristics can establish their membership to a like group. Adapted Yahoo Kids A principle of the visual arts pattern is the organised repetition of shapes, lines, colours, and/or other elements in a work of art. A principle of the visual arts rhythm is created when an element of sound, writing, or visual form is repeated in a way that suggests regular movement. A basic element of art, a shape is a two-dimensional area, defined by boundaries such as lines or colours. An element of the visual arts space is an area occupied by or between shapes, words, or lines. Space can be two- or three-dimensional; positive or negative; shallow or deep. Term used to describe certain types of signs that are designed to extend the realm of representation, particularly so as to incorporate abstract ideas. Oxford Art Online A principle of the visual arts tension is created when elements of the visual arts work somewhat in opposition to each other. to each other. A compositional device used in depicting space and objects in space (eg high and low viewpoints, side-on views, close-ups, distant viewpoints). The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 12
Some Common Symbols Teachers Pack Art Suitcase Outreach 13