Art news

The Audience is the Art 

This term in Miss Brewer's Year 10 'Art in Action' class, students tested their instruction-based artworks. The 'Art of Instruction' is a modern artform where the audience is asked to co-create an artwork based upon instructions given to them by the artist. 

If you have been to the NGV lately, you may have seen an example of instruction-based art by Yoko Ono. The work is called "My Mommy is Beautiful". It is a participatory art project where visitors enter a large white room and are instructed to write their reflections about their mothers on paper and stick them to the walls. The result is artwork that is larger than one person. It is artwork that crosses social boundaries. But above all, it is art that treats the 'meaning' as the most important aspect of the work. 

STUDENT FEATURE ARTIST # 1: 'Granted' by Genevieve P 

Genevieve's artwork is called 'Granted'. She invited participants to think of one thing in their life they take for granted. Then participants were instructed to write this onto a wooden chair before being invited to sit on the chair. The result was an uncomfortable chair! 

Nobody wanted to sit down or laze about on something that represented things for which they wished to pay homage. It brought a sense of consciousness to important things we usually take for granted. It reminded us to not get lazy. To give thanks and to acknowledge our privilege. It was a moving piece of art. Thank you Genevieve.  

STUDENT FEATURE ARTIST # 2: 'My World' by Johnny C 

Johnny is a student with ASD who often seeks to express himself through non-verbal and visual language. Johnny's main way of communicating in the art classroom is through repetitive shapes, time stamps and hand-drawn mathematical equations. With the help of his support teacher, Johnny wrote down a set of instructions that invited us into his world. 

If you like, you can do his artwork at home yourself. 

Step 1: On an A4 paper, write your favourite subject three times. 

Step 2: Write the number that represents happiness to you. 

Step 3: Write an important date and what it means to you. 

Step 4: Write your favourite time of the day. 

Step 5: Draw your favourite shape as many times as you can. 

Using Johnny's instructions,  our students produced 20 hand-drawn works that came directly from Johnny's inner landscape. The artwork prompted powerful experiences of empathy and insight and provided an important bridge between the students in our class and a lived experience of another person. After all, isn't that what art is truly about? Thank you, Johnny. Your world is beautiful.  

The 'Art is You" Book 

To showcase all of our wonderful student work, Miss Brewer will be printing a 20-page book. Each page will have a set of instructions from each of our 10AIA students that you can enact at home. 

Please email Miss Brewer at: nathalie.brewer@education.vic.gov.au if you would like a PDF copy. The book will also be on display at the BHHS Art Exhibition in the hall during mid-year. 

by Mr James Taylor and theArt Team