Summer Learning Festival for Educators

Faced with accelerating climate change and ecological decline as a consequence of human activity, artists and designers can act as researchers, storytellers and activists, drawing our attention to issues and inviting us to imagine a future where our relationships with the natural world are recalibrated. The focus of this days’ program is on artists and designers that address issues of conservation and sustainability, exploring ways in which their work and ideas might inspire teaching and learning.

9.30am-10.30am
Welcome and program overview | Introduction to Triennial

The NGV Triennial presents projects from over 100 artists and designers from around the world that challenge our perception and offer new insights. This introduction will offer an overview of Triennial works with a look at ideas, programs and resources to enrich your teaching.

11.00am-12.00pm
Connected Curriculum: Exploring sustainability through NGV Triennial

From Indonesian jellyfish to the politics of fruit, from salt as a building material to the broader effects of climate change and human industry, examine the work of NGV Triennial artists who respond to issues of sustainability and the environment. Join NGV Educator Jenny Isaac to discover ways in which these projects can inspire deep engagement and rich learning in the classroom and beyond.

12.30pm-2.00pm
Studio Practice and Process: Tromarama
Solaris explores the notion of hyperreality in the digital age as the artists reflect on the interrelationship between the virtual and the physical world. Join Febie, Herbert and Ruddy to learn about their work and engage in some activities designed to inspire learners of all ages.

The theme of Reflection offers multiple perspectives on the human condition today and allows us to consider identity at both the individual and community level. It celebrates the dynamism and beauty of life, while also questioning what it means to live in changing times, where preconceived ideas of race, gender, representation and power are increasingly challenged.  

9.30am-10.30am
Artist Talk: Tony Albert
Tony Albert is a contemporary artist working in a wide range of mediums including painting, photography and mixed media. His practice interrogates contemporary legacies of colonialism in a way that prompts the audience to contemplate their own perceptions on First Nation Peoples. Albert’s technique and imagery is distinctly contemporary, displacing traditional Australian Aboriginal aesthetics with ‘Aboriginalia’. Hear from Tony Albert about his work and consider new ways to include First Nation perspectives in your curriculum.

11.00am-12.00pm
Connected Curriculum: Exploring the capabilities through NGV  Triennial
NGV Triennial artists reveal a diversity of personal and cultural experiences and ideas that invite discussion about who we are and how we could or should live. Join NGV educators Lily Feiner and Jenny Isaac to learn more about the artists and innovative approaches to generating rich content and responses to their work in the primary/ secondary classroom.

12.30pm–2.00pm
Studio Practice and Process: Colour workshop with Clare Milledge
Clare Milledge completed a Doctorate of Philosophy titled ‘The Artist – Shaman and the Gift of Sight’ at Sydney College of the Arts in 2013. She spent part of her candidacy at the Universität der Künste, Berlin in 2008 and has studied at the Statens Kunst Akademi in Oslo in 2006. Milledge’s works for the NGV Triennial are drawn from her 2018 ‘Sacks of Wind; a Rock Harder than Rock’ series, which are made using the hinterglasmalerei technique – or reverse glass painting, and explore shamanic traditions, nature magic, environment and an invented pre-history.

In this workshop Milledge will introduce her work and studio practice providing insight into her inspiration, ideas, techniques and processes. Utilising ideas and theories that have influenced her practice, she will guide us through a series of activities that explore colour theory, colour relationships and the power of symbols and storytelling.

The theme of Speculation suggests inspirational, and at times challenging, investigations into the future where natural, synthetic and technological worlds are interwoven. Through creative approaches, we are transported into new spaces where science, nature and technology meet and new imagined worlds emerge shaped in collaboration with, rather than in opposition to, nature.

9.30am-10.30am
Artist talk: Dale Hardiman and Stephen Royce
Dale Hardiman is a Melbourne-based contemporary designer, the co-founder of furniture and object design studio Dowel Jones and co-founder of Melbourne based design collective Friends & Associates. Stephen Royce is a Melbourne-based industrial designer who has specialised in product and systems design for the past 15 years, overseeing the design and development of consumer and commercial products. Royce and Hardiman have collaborated since 2018. Their work Open Garden: Digital Mirror 2020 is an interactive lighting design that reflects multiple images of its viewer in the repurposed screens of smart phones.

Join Dale and Stephen to learn about Open Garden: Digital Mirror 2020 and discuss the changing role of design and designers in current times.

11.00am-12.00pm
Connected Curriculum: Augmented reality and digital tools for classroom projects
Daniel Garcia – Latrobe Bendigo Tech School

Digital technologies present new opportunities for students and teachers to engage, create and present. Join Daniel Garcia for this practical workshop on using AR augmented reality in the primary and secondary classroom.

12.30pm-2.00pm
Studio practice and process: Jonathan Ben Tovim
Industrial designer Jonathan Ben-Tovim produces experimental lighting and furniture designs, which explore the intricacies of the global industrial economy. His designs seek to question the materials, processes and supply chains implicated in the delivery of commercially mass-produced goods to uncover counter narratives. Join Jonathan to hear about his work and studio practice and flex your own design muscles with some creative ideas and challenges.

2.00pm-2.15pm
Summer school wrap up