Download - Museum of Contemporary Art

PRIMARY
Thinking about it
(K-2)
Take a close look at Badger’s picture of Iron Pole bend, Darling River,
Wilcannia. How many animals can you see Can you name all of the
animals Out of these animals, which ones need water in order to
survive
(3-6)
What effects can drought and erosion have on the landscape How
does this affect the animals that live on the land and in the lakes
and rivers Badger tells a story of an Irish friend and neighbour from
Wilcannia who likes goats. Badger has hidden an image of a goat in his
linocut print Mission Mob and Bend Mob, Wilcannia 1950s. Can you find
it (Hint: you may have to turn your head sideways!)
Making it
Using white pencils on black paper, draw a picture of your street or
school from an aerial or ‘bird’s eye’ view. Try using different kinds
of lines – wavy, straight, thick, thin, dotted or dashed – to represent
different things like roads, nearby water or tracks that you might walk or
ride along. You might also like to include a key or legend to identify the
patterns or symbols you use.
Two of Badger’s prints tell the sky story of the Kaalthi (Emu) in the Milky
Way. The Barkindji people know whether the emu is laying eggs just by
reading the constellations in the stars – ‘when the emu’s head sticks
straight up, that means it’s not laying, but when the emu’s head drops
down, that means it’s trying to hide itself when it sits on the nest’. 6
Create a short story based on the emu in the work Emu Sky (2008).
What happens when the emu eggs hatch
SECONDARY
Thinking about it
(7-9)
The main road depicted in Mission Mob and Bend Mob, Wilcannia 1950s
(2009) ‘represents the road that many Aboriginal children were taken
away on by the Aboriginal Protection Board, which some returned on
years later, and symbolically, the path for those still trying to find their
way home’. 7 Research the history of Australia’s Stolen Generation. How
does this affect the way you interpret Badger’s visual depiction of his
childhood memories
(10-12)
Think about the different methods and tools that are required for
carving into stone, wood, linoleum and emu eggs. How does this affect
your understanding of Badger’s practice
The practice of printmaking revolves around the design of positive and
negative space. How do you think Badger’s childhood knowledge of
carving and his subsequent sculptural practice as an artist might have
influenced his development into printmaking
Making it
Use your knowledge of your local environment as the basis for a body
of work in lino. Collect photos and maps as both a visual reference and
source of material. Use a computer-editing program, such as Adobe
Photoshop, Gimp or Google SketchUp or to adjust the contrast on your
design before transferring it to lino.
Badger utilises lino printing in his practice which is primarily the removal
of negative space from the lino tile and a print of the positive space that
remains. Explore other forms of printmaking to document your personal
history. Experiment with the process of monoprinting and collography,
which is the opposite process to lino, where you build up the printed
surface, rather than remove it as a relief process. How will your choice
of materials and process reflect your conceptual ideas
6 Author’s interview with the Artist, July 2010
7 Keith Munro, ‘Badger Bates’, In the Balance: Art for a Changing World, exhibition
catalogue, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2010, p.26
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