Sensations of Art Making: Triumphs, Torments and Risk-taking
Exhibition
Exhibition curated by Purnima Ruanglertbutr at the Frater & McCubbin Galleries, Victorian Artists Society, October 2013
Overview
About the exhibition
Professional artist-teachers explore the shared sensations that drive both their art production and that of their students – the enthused moments of inspiration, battles, frustrations, joys, risk-taking, experimentation, and construction of meaning. Thirty-one graduates of the Melbourne University Master of Teaching (Secondary Art), in the early stages of their teaching careers, imaginatively and critically examine how their own creative output enhances their capacity to mentor, inspire, and comprehend their students.
Sensations of Art-making: Triumphs, Torments, and Risk-taking is the second annual exhibition following the inaugural The Teacher as Art-maker Project (TAP) exhibition held in November 2012 at the George Paton Gallery, titled Crossing Boundaries: The Journey from Teacher to Teaching Artist. The initial exhibition delved into the transition from being an artist to becoming a teacher, with artists addressing issues related to their professional identity as either an artist, a teacher, or both. This theme led to the display of over seventy diverse works of art encompassing various styles, mediums, and techniques. In contrast, Sensations of Art-making takes a different conceptual approach, urging professional artist-teachers to develop and promote their professional art practice.
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
Explore the coverage surrounding this exhibition, including the media release and review featured in The Age newspaper.
Curator's statement
Concept
I invited the artists to delve into the challenges and risks associated with their art-making and to critically comment on how this influences their classroom practice. In doing so, they exposed themselves to similar sensations and processes encountered by their students, unique to the realm of creativity – encompassing frustrations, anxieties, joys, experimentation, and the construction of meaning, among others. The outcome is an eclectic collection of over one-hundred works of art created by thirty-one artist-teachers working in secondary schools or other educational contexts across Victoria.
Our research has demonstrated that novice teachers encounter a myriad of challenges in the classroom – adapting to school life, managing behaviour, and building on skills developed at university, among others. However, for art teachers, there’s often the additional challenge of maintaining a personal art practice. The TAP exhibitions offer professional art teachers goals, motivation, and a supportive community to sustain an active art practice during the early years of their teaching careers.
Please continue reading the curator’s comprehensive introduction in the exhibition catalogue.
Exhibition Display
Exhibition Catalogue
This catalogue, edited by Purnima, accompanies the exhibition at the Victorian Artists Society Galleries in Melbourne. It features the work of early-career visual art educators and insightful commentaries by the artist-teachers themselves, created during those critical first years after teacher training
Curatorial Enquiries
If you are interested in engaging Purnima as a curator, writer, or editor for your exhibition, collaborating on a project, or seeking more information, please feel free to contact us.