A:CP U1 AOS/Outcome 1

Artists, artworks and audiences

Area of Study Overview:

• In this area of study you will be introduced to the Structural and the Personal Lenses through researching and analysing three artists, their practices and their artworks.

• You will analyse one artwork by each artist and interpret meanings and messages using the Structural and Personal Lenses.

• You will aim to discover how the Structural and Personal Lenses can enhance ones understanding of artworks and the way they reflect the artist’s interests, experiences and thinking.

• You will also work towards developing an understanding of how the interpretation of meanings and messages is influenced by the personal experiences of the viewer or audience and the context of the artwork.

• You will learn how to use evidence from artworks and a range of sources to support their personal interpretation and point of view.

Task Specifications:

• You will study the practices of at least three artists to examine historical and contemporary artworks and practices. The artists may be selected from a range of societies and cultures, including artworks by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

• In Area of Study 1, the three artists selected for study must be from different periods of time and cultures and include at least one contemporary artist and at least one Australian artist.

Historical Artist = Pre-2000s

Contemporary Artist = post 2000s

Option 1: ‘Inner Dialogue’

Key Knowledge:

• the practices of artists from different periods of time and cultures

• the use of the Structural Lens and the Personal Lens to analyse and interpret artworks

• the use of personal opinions and points of view about artworks

• the ways artists use visual language to communicate ideas and meaning in their artworks

• terminology used in discussion of artists and their artworks

You are required to:

• analyse and discuss the practices of artists from different periods of time and cultures

• apply relevant aspects of the Structural Lens and the Personal Lens to analyse and interpret artworks

• formulate and justify personal opinions with reference to artworks and related sources

• analyse and discuss how artists use visual language to communicate ideas and meaning in their artworks

• use appropriate art terminology and references to a range of sources in the discussion of artists and their artworks

‘Discuss the practices of three artists, and apply the Structural Lens and the Personal Lens to analyse and interpret one artwork by each artist’.

Self-portraiture has been described as an artist’s ‘inner dialogue’. Like writing or speech, creating art can be used as a language of self-expression, conveying our thoughts, feelings, and values while generating relationships between the art elements and principles we use to communicate meanings and messages. Discuss this concept by analysing and interpreting the portraiture work of 3 of the following artists:

• Rembrandt van Rijn

• Romaine Brooks 

• Cindy Sherman

• Francis Bacon

• Del Kathryn Barton

• Tracey Moffatt

•  Vincent Namatjira

The response should use the Structural and Personal Lenses and draw on at least three art sources per artist.

Option 2: ‘Country and Culture’

The relationship between Country and Indigenous culture remains a fundamental component of the identity and way of life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. To Indigenous communities, Country or land is not owned or used, “but rather a place of belonging as well as way of connecting to one’s Culture, Spirit, [and] People” (Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council, 2024). Acknowledging Country is a way for us all to demonstrate respect for the traditional owners of the land we occupy, although alternatively, it is a way for us to acknowledge how colonisation, discrimination, and persecution have impacted the ‘health’ of Country and affected Indigenous cultures and lifeways (Evolve Communities, 2024).

Using the Structural and Personal Lenses, examine this concept by analysing and interpreting one work and its connection to Country and Indigenous cultures by 3 of the following artists:

• Marlene Gilson

• Badger Bates

• Vincent Namatjira

• Rusty Peters

• Alison Munti Riley

• Daniel Boyd

• George Tjungurrayi

• Ricky Maynard

Option 3: ‘History, Contemporary and Collaboration’

Using the Structural and Personal Lenses, analyse and interpret one work from a historical period (HIS), a Contemporary period (CON), and a collaborative work (COLL) from 3 different artists and compare their practices, meanings and messages. You must include 1 Australian artist (FNA). Artists to choose from:

• Hilma af Klint HIST, COLL

• Edward Burra HIST

• Marlene Gilson FNA, CON

• Badger Bates CON, FNA

• Grayson Perry CON

• Laith McGregor CON

• Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Raphael) HIST, COLL

• Tracey Moffatt CON, COLL

• Vik Muniz  COLL CON

• Tracey Emin CON

• Jules de Balincourt CON

• Vincent Namatjira  CON, FNA

Resources

Class:

Examine and interpret the featured work through the Structural and Personal lense - Utilise prompt questions to kickstart discussion and familiarise yourself with the lenses.

Warhol:

Using the Structural and the Personal Lenses, discuss the ways in which Warhol has responded to the theme of death, dying and grief as a central theme in their artwork.

(VCAA, 2023)

Presentation Options:

- (VCAA, 2024)

Download

Outcome Introduction PowerPoint - Structural and Personal Lens

Analysing through the Structural and Personal Lenses

(British GQ, 2017)

Research and Analysis starting prompts

Progressional class Tasks

Overview Page

Supportive questions to kickstart your exploration

(Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, n.d.)

(Serpant, 2023, as cited in Caudullo and Kelly, 2020)

What is Contemporary Art?

(Russo Scherr, 2024)

If you need a starting point, you can use these headings and questioning prompts to kickstart your art analysis.

*You should use these prompts alongside the Interpretive Lens page questioning support

Research

Ensure you choose artists for whom there is sufficient background information so that the inquiry can be deep and broad. The sources should be many, varied and reliable. Acknowledge and record all sources.

Describe

• Use the Interpretive Lenses; refer to the elements and principles.

• What do you see and / or hear? Include both the physical object and the visual and/or aural elements and principles. Imagine you’re describing it for someone who can’t see it. Start with a general overview and then become detailed.

Analyse

• How did the artist make the work? Examine and discuss the materials, techniques and processes.

• What aesthetic (visual) decisions did they make?

• Does the origin, location or presentation of the work influence the audience interpretation? This considers the context of the work.

Interpret

• What message is the artist trying to communicate to the audience? 

• How and why did they do that?

• How do the art elements / principles help to communicate meaning?

• How has the artist used symbolism? 

• Who was the intended audience at the time the work was made?

• How would an audience from a different time react?

Opinion

• Formulate and justify an opinion. What do I think or feel?

• What do I think of the artwork? Why? 

• What evidence supports your response?

(VCAA, 2024)

(Salsjö, 2021)

(Smart History, 2018)

Elements and Principles Supportive Adjectives

(Art Education Victoria, 2018)

(Art Gallery of South Australia, n.d.)

Structural Lens art annotation example

(HITS - 5. Collaborative Learning, 7. Questioning)

Romaine Brooks, 1874-1970, Italy

Le Duc Uberto Strozzi, 1961, oil on canvas, 45 3⁄8 x 39 1⁄4 in. (115.2 x 99.8 cm), Historical

Christine Ay Tjoe, 1973-present, Indonesia 

Always Floating In A Constant Distance 1, 2018, Lithographic crayon on aluminum, H. 17 1/2 x W. 23 1/8 in. (44.4 x 58.7 cm), Contemporary

Assessment Rubric

Sofonisba Anguissola, 1532-1625, Italy

Portrait of the Artist's Sisters Playing Chess, 1555, Oil on canvas, Historical

(Caudullo and Kelly, 2020)

(HITS - 6. Multiple exposures, 3. Explicit teaching, 5. Collaborative learning, 7. Questioning)