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Conrad Martens: 'View from Rose Bank' 1840

Many early artists romanticised the Australian colonial landscape and did not always strictly paint what they saw. In this example Martens has given the landscape a decidedly Italian atmosphere, softening the colour palate and creating a more ‘civilised' view. Can you think of why the artist may be interested in changing ...

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John Lewin: 'Reed warbler' 1805

Natural history illustrator John Lewin was the first professional artist to come to Australia as a free settler. His collected illustrations of native birds became the first non-government book published in the colony. How difficult do you think it was to identify and illustrate so many different birds?

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The Sydney Bird Painter: 'The white gallinule' c. 1791-92

Can you imagine what it would have been like to arrive in Australia and see its unique flora and fauna for the first time? Scientific drawings of Australia's flora and fauna emerged with the arrival of the first European settlers who were fascinated by how unusual they were. Sadly, even as they documented these extraordinary ...

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Create: What is abstract art?

Traditionally artworks were representations of real life objects and environments. When you looked at these works you could usually identify what the artist was representing. How is abstract art different from this? Watch this video to see an example of an abstract painting, then have a go at creating one yourself!

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ARTEXPRESS virtual

50 exemplary works from the 2019 HSC Visual Arts practical examination, across the twelve expressive forms, have been captured using 3D imagery. Visitors to the website can explore the curated Bodies of Work in incredible detail, including virtual reality if you have a VR headset or viewer. The exhibition includes marker’s ...

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Creating art and meaning from waste

Welcome to Marina DeBris's exhibition, "Beach Couture: A Haute Mess". How would you describe Marina's art? What are the ideas she communicates through her artworks? How do the processes, materials and techniques Marina works with contribute to the creation of meaning in her art? Do you agree with Marina's belief that art ...

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Finding beauty in the everyday

Lin Martin is passionate about the connections between science, nature, humanity and Buddhism, all of which come together in her art. Her photographs explore the beauty all around us, in our everyday natural surroundings. It is in these small moments captured by her work, where she draws attention to tiny details in nature, ...

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The Conversation: arts explainers

This is a collection of short articles (explainers) about arts movements (modernism, cubism), visual arts (film lighting), artistic method (Feldenkrais Method), music (classical, indi), institutions (the Oscars) and more. The articles are written in plain language and are authored by experts from universities in Australia ...

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'The Rajah quilt' 1841

The Rajah quilt was made by female convicts on route from England to the colony of Tasmania in 1841. It consists of 2815 pieces of fabric and was presented to the Governor's wife upon arrival as a testament to the women's industry. The women learned these skills on the long journey to Australia on board their convict ship ...

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Dreaming about Country

Discover the rich and beautiful world of Edwin Lee Mulligan's dreams, recorded in paintings and stories. In this clip on his work 'Ngarlimbah - it's about us', he tells one of his dreams of Country - his country, his mother's country and his father's country - the places, trees, mountains, rivers and creatures that connect ...

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Emma Boyd: 'The quail shooter' 1884

In this work Emma Boyd depicts the landscape near her home, ‘The Grange', in Victoria. See how the landscape dominates the single human figure? What do you think this suggests? What is the artists trying to say by creating this sense of scale?

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The power of science photography

Visual art and science are often considered to be separate fields. Watch as Phred Petersen talks about the way he combines his passions of photography and science. What is the role of technology in enabling this crossover? What kinds of scientific discoveries can be assisted by high-speed photography? And how can scientific ...

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Fun with flowers

Students discover the creative and scientific art of botanical illustration and respond to the drawing through poetry and music.

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Your Public Art Project

What is public art? How can it transform our local environment? Primary and secondary students from across NSW worked with Kaldor Public Art Projects to reimagine public spaces within their local communities. This eResource explores the school’s work using innovative technology to bring site specific works alive through ...

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Contemporary: Art Gallery of NSW - iTunes app

Explore a selection of artists and artworks from the contemporary collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, including the John Kaldor Family collection. Contains images, background information on the artists and their art, and some audio curator insights and video interviews. Artworks are from 1960s to 2010s. Free ...

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

This lesson plan (PDF) examines the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art contained within the National Gallery of Australia collection. Links to artworks are provided to support students' critical analysis of the forms of each work of art and to understand the rich diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ...

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Stories without words

Learn how Australian story-teller, artist and academy award winner, Shaun Tan uses emotive illustrations to tell a story. You will also create your own character and tell a story using illustration.

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Patricia Piccinini

This is a PDF resource that focuses on the artworks of artist Patricia Piccinini, based on the exhibition 'Patricia Piccinini: Once upon a time ...' at the Art Gallery of South Australia (2011), and explores themes such as biodiversity and biotechnology. It comprises 28 pages and includes background information on the artist, ...

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Zhang Xiaogang, 'Bloodline (Two comrades with red baby)', 1995

This is a painting by Chinese artist Zhang Xiaogang (b1958) depicting two parents and a child. The painting is shown as an enlargeable image. Text onscreen gives information about the context and intention of the work of art, critical of the one-child policy in China, as well as a comprehensive visual analysis explaining ...

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James Cant: 'Objects in the landscape', 1936

This resource includes an enlargeable image, with corresponding catalogue information, of the surrealist painting 'Objects in the landscape' by James Cant (1911-82). There is also a video with audio commentary, onscreen text on the artist's career and an interpretation of the painting. Cant was influenced by Surrealism, ...