EDUCATION RESOURCE - Department of Arts and Museums

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009EDUCATIONRESOURCEMuseum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 08201

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009ONLINEEDUCATIONRESOURCEIntroductionThere are many intersecting themes running throughout this exhibition and the artworks can beappreciated and discussed around a variety of selected works.This resource supports the Northern Territory Curriculum Framework with suggested activities forThe Arts Learning Area.The 26th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) EducationResource focuses on four themes to stimulate thought and discussion:1. Art Awards and their Role2. Desert Painting / Arnhem Land Painting3. Looking Out – The Cosmos4. Animals in ArtThe aims of the education resource are to:• Stimulate thought and discussion by both teachers and students,• encourage engagement and response using selected artworks,• introduce broad examples and perceptions of Indigenous art practices, and• link themes and ideas in Australian Indigenous culture and art with those in mainstreamAustralia.Please visit the 26th Telstra NATSIAA Online Exhibition, www.magnt.nt.gov.au/natsiaaPrevious Online Education Resources are also available from the Learn and Discover section ofour website. These resources can provide other thematic areas for teachers and studentsto explore.Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 08202

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009ART AWARDSAND THEIR ROLEThere has been a major shift in the way Indigenous Australian art has been viewed overrecent decades. The art, while sustaining cultural values for communities, now has worldwideappreciation and commercial value.Museums, such as the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, through exhibitions,awards, collection and conservation provide provenance, context and safe - keeping forartworks. The Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) provides vitalconduits that link artists and the public through exhibitions where artworks can be viewed andappreciatedTelstra NATSIAA, now in its 26th year, is one of Australia’s most celebrated art awards and attractshundreds of entries from all over Australia. A selection of these works are short-listed for theexhibition from which the prize-winners are chosen. Selection for inclusion in the Art Award canbe pivotal in launching an artist’s career.The prize categories, sponsored by Telstra, are:• Telstra Award ($40,000)• General Painting Award ($4,000)• Bark Painting Award ($4,000)• Work on Paper Award ($4,000)• Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award ($4,000)The three artists in this section are all past winners of Telstra NATSIAA prizes. This section exploresthe role of the exhibition in providing context for the artworks.• Makinti Napanangka, Untitled, synthetic polymer paint on linenMakinti Napanangka is a senior artist from Kintore in the western desert of the NorthernTerritory. Napanangka works within the Papunya Tula artistic tradition. She has beenexhibiting since the mid-1990s and her work can be found in major collections throughoutAustralia. The designs in her paintings are associated with Dreamtime travels around herhomeland Kintore. Makinti previously won the Telstra Award, 25th Telstra NATSIAA 2008.• Dorothy Napangardi, Salt on Mina Mina, synthetic polymer paint on linenNapangardi’s work is concerned with a sacred site in the Tanami Desert that consists oflarge soaks associated with women’s ceremony. Napangardi has been exhibiting sincethe early 1990s. Her works exemplify an innovative approach to depicting landscape andare pivotal in showcasing the diversity of Western Desert painting. Napangardi previouslywon the Telstra Award,18th Telstra NATSIAA 2001.• Ian W. Abdulla, Picking Grapes in My Younger Years, synthetic polymer paint on canvasIan Abdulla paints stories from his life living along the Murray River in South Australia. Bornin 1947, Abdulla’s works have been collected by major museums around Australia andshown throughout Australia and overseas. Abdulla previously won the Telstra GeneralPainting Award, 13th Telstra NATSIAA 1996.Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 08203

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009IMAGESMakinti Napanangka, Untitled, synthetic polymer paint on linenDorothy Napangardi, Salt on Mina Mina, synthetic polymer paint on linenIan W. Abdulla, Picking Grapes in My Younger Years, synthetic polymer paint on canvasMuseum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 08204

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009Primary YearsAt the exhibition: Art Responses & Analysis• Find the artwork that won the major award. Do you agree with the Judges’ choice? If not,who do you think should have won?• Notice how each artwork has an accompanying object label that provides information onthe artwork. What type of information is provided?• Read the story on Ian Abdulla’s painting. What job did Ian have in his younger years? Arethere any other paintings similar in a style to his work?At school or at home: Creating Art IdeasArts Skills & Processes• Create your own art exhibition at school with object labels for your artworks; you mayeven want to award some prizes.• Create a wall display of pictures from magazines etc of artworks and group themaccording to theme, style, country of origin or period.• Exhibitions are put together by a curator. What type of things do you think the curatorhas to do?• Construct a model of a museum using cardboard. Attach artworks to the gallery walls.Curators use models to help them plan exhibitions.Middle YearsAt the exhibition: Art Responses & AnalysisArts in Context• There are many different types of art in the exhibition; how many can you find? You mayfind photography, painting, drawing, sculpture and weaving, as well as others.• There are five prize categories in the exhibition. Identify all the winning works. Make up anew prize category and choose a winner.• Why is it important not to touch the artworks and why do you think you shouldn’tphotograph the artworks?• After visiting the 26th Telstra NATSIAA exhibition visit the Indigenous Art gallery. Can youfind artists that have works in both the 26th Telstra NATSIAA and the Indigenous Art gallery?At school or at home: Creating Art IdeasArts Skills & Processes• Search the internet to find artists from the Art Award. Look for their CVs (CurriculumVitaes). What information can you find out about the artists from their CV. Create yourown CV. What would you include that will tell your story?• Collect and analyse articles on the 26th Telstra NATSIAA. The Museum has informationonline about the award. You can also source articles from newspapers, art magazines, theinternet etc. Create a list of key words or phrases that are used to describe the Award inthese articles. Write your own review of the Art Award.Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 08205

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009• Visit the Museum’s website at www.magnt.nt.gov.au/natsiaa and identify the major awardwinners going back to 2003.• Extend your knowledge on Indigenous artists by researching and writing an essay orcreating a poster on one of the winning artists. The Museum’s website is a goodstarting point.DESERT PAINTING /ARNHEM LAND PAINTINGThere is great diversity in the painting styles of Indigenous Australians in both technical andpictorial approaches. In this section we will focus on some of the differences between desert andArnhem Land painting.Contemporary desert painting is generally made from acrylic paint on canvas while ArnhemLand artists paint with ochre on bark. Desert painting evolved from body and sand painting whilein Arnhem Land painting was traditionally done on rocks as well as the body. The use of ochrepaint has been sustained in Arnhem Land, (although now on portable barks instead of on rocks).In the desert a shift from paints made from natural pigment to acrylic paints on canvashas occurred.Both groups of artists predominantly depict Dreamtime stories in their painting. In the desert thereare generally more recognisable forms of topographical elements, while in Arnhem Land artistshave shifted from central iconography to symbolic geometric designs. Both groups of paintershave an abstract and symbolic quality to their work. The dot designs in desert painting can belinked to the marks made by fingers pushing into the sand. Crosshatching, also known as rarrk inbark painting, has its origins in rock art and is applied with reed brushes.• Lydia Balbal, MartakuluLydia Balbal makes paintings with intense colours and dense dot-markings that depicther country and the journeys her ancestors made through it. This painting tells aDreamtime story relating to the creation of a soak. As a child Lydia and her family weresome of the last people to make contact with European Australians in the 1960s.• Angelina Pwerle, Bush PlumAngelina Pwerle paints expansive fields of dots with a limited palette of reds. Her worklinks vast spiritual elements including country, the cosmos, Dreamtime and the body.The influence of Indonesian batik on Utopia’s artists can be seen in the patterns in herpainting.• Emmanuel Wurrkidj, DilebangEmmanuel Wurrkidj geometric designs are painted with detailed crosshatching technique.His work exemplifies the contemporary shift from iconic X-ray images to nonfigurativegeometric fields of crosshatching. The artist paints on prepared bark with ochre paintsapplied with reed-brushes. The painting expresses the power of dangerous sacred sitesnear escarpment country in Arnhem Land.Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 08206

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009• John Bulunbulun - BakarraJohn Bulunbulun has been painting classic barks since the early 1970s. His approachto bark painting is more traditional than other central Arnhem Land painters as hestill maintains central iconography. In this painting Bakarra he represents sacredstone country. Bulunbulun previously won the Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award(sponsored by Telstra),18th Telstra NATSIAA 2001.Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 08207

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009IMAGESLydia Balbal, Martakulu, syntheticpolymer paint on linenAngelina Pwerle, Bush Plum, syntheticpolymer paintEmmanuel Wurrkidj, Dilebang,natural pigments on barkJohn Bulunbulun, Bakarra, naturalpigments on barkMuseum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 08208

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009Primary YearsAt the exhibition: Art Responses & Analysis• Identify and discuss the differences between what Balbal and Wurrkidj have made theirpaintings on. Do you have a preference?• Can you see the bush plum flowers blooming in the desert in Pwerle’s painting? Trysquinting your eyes.• Balbal has painted a soak in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. Look at theshapes and colours in her painting: what features of the desert can you see? You may finda soak, sand-dunes, spinifex, rocks or a road.• Read the object label for Bulunbulun’s bark, what do the dots in the black lines represent?You will find another John Bulunbulun painting in the Gallery of Indigenous Art.At school or at home: Creating Art IdeasArts Skills & Processes• Experiment with painting by using grass, reeds or similar implements as paintbrushes. Youmay extend this to explore bark as a surface to paint on (remember not to damage anytrees). You could also grind your own pigments and mix them with a binder such as glue tomake paint.• Create a painting using your fingers to make dot patterning; you could also make adesign in the sand (the beach would be a good place). In doing so you will be exploringthe beginning of the techniques used by many desert painters.• Much of the work in the 26th Telstra NATSIAA is concerned with landscape and people’srelationship to it. Create an artwork about your relationship to a landscape.• Bark painting has a strong emphasis on geometric design. Think about Wurrkidj’s paintingof sacred country. Use shapes, patterns and other geometric elements to create anartwork depicting a landscape. Look at the isobars on weather maps or thetopographical lines on a geographical map for inspiration.Middle YearsAt the exhibition: Art Responses & AnalysisArts in Context• Analyse the materials used by Wurrkidj and Bulunbulun. How do these reflect theenvironments they come from? Which of these two paintings best reflect an X-ray styleof art?• Respond to one of the desert canvases that you like. Why do you like it and what makesit an effective painting from your view point? Stand in front of your favourite and shareyour opinion.• Interpret Pwerle’s painting Bush Plum. Why would bush plums be important to the artist?How does this painting change if you view it close up compared with far away? Whatdoes the painting make you think of? Identify the colours and types of mark making. If youwere to paint an important food what would it be?• The four artworks in this section depict landscape. Compare and discuss the differentapproaches between desert and Arnhem Land painters.Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 08209

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009At school or at home: Creating Art IdeasArts Skills & ProcessesArt Responses & Analysis• On a map of the Northern Territory or Australia identify both Arnhem Land and the desertregions; try to locate the artists’ homelands.• Many Indigenous Australian painters represent landscape and stories in an abstractmanner. Look at some of the famous Western painters for comparison; Jackson Pollack’sBlue Poles is a good example. Create your own abstract painting. Analyse your artwork.What were you responding to and how do you articulate your response in this work.• Examine the role of female artists in desert painting. Why does there appear to be morefemale painters in the desert than in Arnhem Land?• Research the impact of Indonesian Batik on Utopian artists. How have the designsassociated with batik influenced artists form Utopia?LOOKING OUT –THE COSMOSLooking out into the night’s sky and finding meaning in the wonderment of the cosmos haspreoccupied cultures throughout the world and has been the genesis of much art and manystories throughout the world.Indigenous Australian artists engage with their environment both physically and spiritually. Theirview of the land is often expansive and transcends time, merging creation myths and legends.The influence of the cosmos for Australian Indigenous mythology is substantial and many artworksdepict associated stories and beliefs.• Gulumbu Yunupingu, GarakGulumbu paints the stars of the universe. She was introduced, through her father, toa Western view of the universe by a scientist working at a satellite tracking stationin western Arnhem Land. Gulumbu merges a Western and Yolngu view of the universe inher painting and sculpture. Yunupingu won the Telstra Award, 21st Telstra NATSIAA 2004• Gali Yalkarriwuy, BanumbirrBanumbirr is the brightest star that crosses the sky each night from east to west, crossingthe artist’s country. The star signifies the cycle of life and is represented by white featureson top of the poles. The colours represent clan designs.• Dennis Nona, Baidam Aw KuikNona’s art narrates the ancient legends of the Torres Strait Islands. Baidam in Torres Straitmeans shark and refers to the shark constellation used by Torres Strait Islander traders tonavigate. The ornamented human skull, once a prized trading item, has been engravedwith the shark constellation. Nona won the Telstra Award, 24th Telstra NATSIAA 2007Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 082010

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009IMAGESGulumbu Yunupingu, Garak,natural pigments on barkGali Yalkarriwuy, Banumbirr, natural pigments,feathers, woodDennis Nona, Baidam Aw Kuik, cast bronze, pearl shell, fibreMuseum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 082011

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009Primary YearsAt the exhibition:Art Responses & Analysis• Describe the markings on Gulumbu’s painting. Do her marks look like the stars in thenight sky?• Find the white feathers on top of Yalkarriwuy’s morning-star poles. Why do you think thereare nine poles? What type of birds do you think the feathers came from?• Use simple art language to tell how you feel about Nona’s skull Baidam. Can you find anyother skulls in artworks near by?• Find other artworks in the exhibition that look like the cosmos to you.At school or at home: Creating Art IdeasArts Skills & Processes• Use paint or another suitable medium to create a painting of our solar system.• Thinking about Nona’s skull and the star constellation on it, draw the constellation of yourzodiac sign on a 3D object.• Create sculptural poles that incorporate social issue symbols from recycled materials. Lookat Yalkarriwuy’s poles for inspiration.• Create a dot-to-dot activity using stars instead of numbers to form a picture of yourfavourite animal.Middle YearsAt the exhibition: Art Responses & AnalysisArts in Context• Prepare flash cards with the names of the three artists in this section prior to visiting theexhibition. Using the cards, find the works of these artists.• Read the object label for Yalkarriwuy’s Banumbirr. What star or planet do you thinkBanumbirr is?• Identify the various materials in Yalkarriwuy’s poles. You will find another three morning starpoles in the Gallery of Indigenous Art.• The traditional trading item in the Torres Strait Islands was human skulls. What items todaymight be traded instead of human skulls? What purpose today do these sculptured skullshave, now that real skulls are no longer traded?Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 082012

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009At school or at home: Creating Art IdeasArts Skills & Processes• Yalkarriwuy creates sculptural poles that tell stories about his community. He incorporatesobjects and designs into the poles to signify and narrate important elements of his familyand community. Using found sticks apply paint and other found natural objects to makeyour own morning star pole.• Explore and research ways other cultures represent the cosmos. Find a pop song that hassomething from the cosmos in its lyrics. How does the songwriter describe the cosmos. Ifyou read the lyrics rather than listen to them how does that change your perception ofthe song.• Design and produce a collective class display of the stars with each student contributinga model of their zodiac symbol. Suspend all of them from the ceiling.• Make sketches of the night sky. Use these sketches to create a story.ANIMALSIN ARTThe incorporation of animals into artworks is practiced by all cultures. Some of the earliestcave art ever made by Paleolithic people depict scenes of animals being hunted. IndigenousAustralians include animals in their art and stories for a number of reasons. Animals in human formare the protagonists in Dreamtime creation stories, a major food source and a constant in theenvironment.• Owen Yalandja, Yawkyawk Spirit FigureYawkyawks are important female water spirits that can be compared to mermaids.In the Dreamtime animals were humans and they created all the animals, plants andlandscapes we see today. Yalandja carves yawkyawks from wood and paints designson them.• Graham Badari, Namarlpe (Pandanus Spirit) & Kuluban (Fruit bats)Badari’s bark painting uses classic X-ray style to illustrate the story of a bad pandanus spiritand a group of sleeping fruit bats that are considered good eating.• Marina Murdilnga, ButterflyMurdilnga’s woven butterfly is made in classic style using natural dyes and pandanus.There is an ongoing tradition, primarily by women, of weaving useful objects such as fishtraps,baskets and mats from natural materials. In this instance the artist has produced asecular object merging the beauty of woven form with that of a butterfly form.Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 082013

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009IMAGESGraham Badari, Namarlpe, (Pandanus Spirit) &Kuluban (Fruit bats), natural pigment on barkOwen Yalandja, Yawkyawk SpiritFigure, natural pigment on woodMarina Murdilnga, Butterfly,pandanus, natural dyesMuseum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 082014

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009Primary YearsAt the exhibition: Art Responses & Analysis• Can you find the mermaid sculptures? How do the marks on these sculptures comparewith those of the bark paintings?• When exploring the exhibition you will be able to find many different animals. Whatanimals can you find?• In Badari’s bark painting you will notice a group of sleeping fruit bats. How many fruit batscan you count? Would you like to eat a delicious fruit bat for dinner?• Describe the shapes in Murdilnga’s Butterfly. Identify the parts of the butterfly i.e. wings,body, antennae etc. What material has the artist used to make Butterfly? Is it a sculptureor a painting?At school or at home: Creating Art IdeasArts Skills & Processes• Draw how you think a mermaid looks. Draw other animals that have similar features toa mermaid.• Create a collage of your favourite animal or pet.• Learn about X-ray style art by drawing the outline of an animal and filling in its organs,bones etc. Can you find some real X-rays to look at?• Use an old metal coat hanger to form the outline of an animal and then wind string andother materials around it. Display in your class.Middle YearsAt the exhibition: Art Responses & AnalysisArts in Context• Describe the physical features of a mermaid. How do you say ‘mermaid’ in the artist’slanguage? Look on the object label.• Interpret Badari’s painting. Use your own ideas to tell what story is being told, read theobject label to see if you and the artist had the same story.• After viewing Murdilnga’s Butterfly visit the Gallery of Indigenous Art and identify otherwoven objects. Which ones have a practical use and which ones are purely aesthetic?• Take time to visit Transformations, the Museum’s gallery of natural history, where youwill find on display many of Northern Territory’s animals. Find and match animals inTransformations that feature in the artworks in the 26th Telstra NATSIAA.Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 082015

26th NATSIAA Online Education Resource 2009At school or at home: Creating Art IdeasArts Skills & Processes• What animals do you think look like mermaids? Using recycled materials make your ownsculpture of a mermaid.• Represent the animals in your school or backyard in an artwork.• Research and learn weaving techniques used in the Top End and create artworks andutilitarian objects. Select a native animal. How would you depict this animal in a 3dartwork? Would this artwork have a utilitarian purpose?• What important idea did Charles Darwin have about the creation of animals? Whatis similar and what is different about Charles Darwin’s ideas and those of IndigenousAustralians? You could extend this to compare other beliefs about creation.Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory www.magnt.nt.gov.au Conacher Street, Fannie Bay NT 082016