1
SPONSORS
The exhibiting artists and project team acknowledge and thank all of the
sponsors who provided support and assistance to this project:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We greatly appreciate the support provided by family, friends & colleagues
We acknowledge the project team:
Tim Pike- Bathurst Regional Council
Donna Mathewson Mitchell- Charles Sturt University (CSU)
Janelle Middleton- Bathurst Regional Council
We thank the following people for their expertise and assistance:
Alison Armstrong -Bathurst Regional Council
Sue Cady - Bathurst Regional Council
Nathan Inwood- Bathurst Regional Council
Grant Weatherstone- Bathurst Regional Council
Emily Horton- Bathurst Regional Council
Exhibition opening:
Professor Tara Brabazon (Head, School of Teacher Education CSU)
Emeritus Professor Bill Green, (Faculty of Education. RIPPLE, CSU)
Deputy Mayor, Councillor Ian North, (Bathurst Regional Council)
CREDITS
Design of promotional material: Linda Jerkin & Lauren McConnell
Website development: Nathan Inwood
Catalogue development: Donna Mathewson Mitchell
Catalogue cover: Linda Jerkin & Lauren McConnell
Text editing: Jennifer Tagg
Printing: CSU Print
2
FOREWORD
What makes a teacher? How do teachers become what they are, at their best, in
working with students and learners – teaching for learning? How do they
manage the art of the impossible each and every day, imagining the Other in the
multitude they meet in their classrooms, across their careers?
This Exhibition celebrates the bringing together of the art of pedagogy and the
pedagogy of art. These are, at their best, two highly creative and socially
significant activities: teaching (and teacher education) on the one hand, and on
the other, art-work (or art-making).
In both senses we recognise a remarkable achievement on the part of the Class of
2014 in the secondary Visual Arts program in the School of Teacher Education at
Charles Sturt University. This is an achievement both of the students themselves,
studying a highly practical subject by distance education, and of their teacher
and mentor, Donna Mathewson Mitchell, who is herself not just a committed and
clearly innovative teacher-educator but an arts practitioner as well. This
Exhibition is the demonstration and culmination of their work and learning
together.
The formation of teachers has long been a fascination for me – their being and
becoming. This is why I respond so strongly to this Exhibition (and also last
year’s – ‘Distant Connections’). These art-works range across media: they are
threads in and through time, linking us all with Ben Chifley, his wife Elizabeth,
their home and local community, here in Bathurst, as well as with his larger,
public life that is so implicated in the real-and-imagined community that is
Australia.
All this, beautifully realised, is what I have described earlier as the pedagogy of
art: what it is to teach art, in our various classrooms, and to teach others to teach
art, in all its varied forms of expression and possibility. These are teachers and
art-workers who are deeply involved in learning, and learning together, in
making meaning matter, in teaching for learning, and who have in this fashion
connected across space, literal and metaphorical, thereby tracing their
memorable threads in the fabric of time and space, memory and imagination.
Emeritus Professor Bill Green
3
CHIFLEY HOME AND EDUCATION CENTRE
Chifley Home at 10 Busby Street in Bathurst was the only marital home of Prime
Minister Ben Chifley and his wife Elizabeth. They occupied the house from 1914 until
their respective deaths, Ben in 1951 and Elizabeth in 1962. Today, this modest semidetached terrace still contains its original collection of household furnishings and
personal effects dating back to when the Chifleys first occupied the house in 1914.
Following a public appeal for funds, the then Bathurst City Council purchased the house
and its contents in 1972 as a community memorial to Prime Minister Chifley. Opened by
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on 24 March 1973, the property has been maintained as
a house museum since then and remains one of - only two Prime Ministerial homes to be
regularly open to the public in Australia.
In 2008 Bathurst Regional Council acquired the adjoining property and commenced a
transformation to what can now be seen as the Education Centre. Australia’s 27th Prime
Minister, Julia Gillard, officially opened the Education Centre on 18 September 2010.
With a replica sitting room from the 1940s, visitors to the Education Centre are
provided with a unique hands-on experience that is reflected by the ambience of the
wireless recounting the local news of the day, family sing-a-longs around the pianola, or
one relaxing quietly with a detective novel or newspaper from the period.
The Centre also boasts a modern exhibition area that hosts temporary exhibitions to
enhance the Chifley collection or aspects of Australia's political and cultural history.
The Chifley Home remains a unique and iconic museum. The Home together with its
Education Centre will continue to be devoted to sharing the story of a home, a lifestyle
and a community of an Australian Prime Minister. Importantly it will also provide a
basis for research, innovation, exploration and evolution for the community and its
visitors.
4
THREADS OF TIME:
SHARING ACHIEVEMENTS AND INSPIRING FUTURE GENERATIONS
Dr. Donna Mathewson Mitchell, Faculty of Education, Charles Sturt University
Introduction
Art education is too important to be left to any one group, even
that group designated as ‘art educators’. Rather, art education
needs to be a cooperative enterprise involving artists, teachers,
administrators, researchers and the students themselves
(Gardner, 1993, p.143)
In the spirit of Gardner’s thinking, I propose that art education is greatly enhanced
through involvement with museums, galleries and the broader community. Such
connections are epitomised in the exhibition, Threads of Time and in the project
that led to this outcome.
The exhibition has developed as a result of an extended and ongoing collaboration
between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Bathurst Regional Council (BRC). The
collaboration began in 2011 with the sharing of an idea, a vision and a common
commitment to making a difference to the lives of people through education. The
collaboration led to the renewal of curriculum in two teacher education subjects at
CSU, evolved into an innovative approach to online subject delivery and a yearly
student project culminating in a community-based student exhibition. In 2013, the
first student exhibition, titled Distant Connections, was held at the Chifley Home
and Education Centre. Threads of Time is the second exhibition held at this venue.
In this catalogue essay, I will provide some background information about the
collaboration between BRC and CSU before focusing on the project itself and the
exhibition. I will also explore the significance of the initiative and its future
directions. The aim of this discussion is to capture the complexity of the thinking
that underpins and informs the work that you see in the exhibition.
Background- The context and its challenges
Initial teacher education has a long tradition at CSU and in Bathurst. The Mitchell
College of Advanced Education opened in 1970 and in 1989 it was amalgamated
into what is now known as CSU. Throughout this time connections between initial
teacher education and the local community have been forged in formal and often,
informal ways. That link has been extended to encompass communities aligned
with the location of other CSU campuses and the location of a large number of
distance education students. CSU is a leading provider of distance education (DE)
in Australia. Every year, more than 20,000 students around the world study
undergraduate and postgraduate courses or single subjects. In the Faculty of
Education alone, around 6,000 students are currently studying teacher education
by distance.
In recent times, concerns have been raised that the knowledge-based approaches
of initial teacher education have been too focused on theoretical aspects of
5
teaching and effectively disconnected from the skill-based practice of teaching
(Reid, 2011). In acknowledgement of this concern, there is growing advocacy in
teacher education for a shift from a focus on knowledge to a focus on practice
(Grossman & MacDonald 2008; Grossman, Hammerness & MacDonald, 2009; Ball
and Forzani, 2009; Reid, 2011). This effectively advocates a shift in focus to make
what teachers do the core of the curriculum. At CSU, the Faculty of Education has
been pursuing this line of thinking at the level of course design, subject
development and through collaborative research projects (Daniel, Auhl & Hastings,
2011; Mathewson Mitchell, Hoare & Reid, 2012; Pietsch, Mathewson Mitchell,
Stoneman & Reid, 2011; Reid & Mathewson Mitchell, 2015). We have been
particularly looking at how understandings of practice and theory can be
integrated in ways that enable pre-service teachers to understand and engage in
the practice of teaching in purposeful and informed ways. As distance education is
a major part of what we do, and as it has emerged as one of the significant
developments in education over the past 25 years (Moore, 2013), finding ways to
engage with practice in the mode of distance education provides a particular
challenge.
The initiative that led to this exhibition is embedded in two teacher education
subjects offered at CSU by distance. Both subjects are focused on secondary visual
arts curriculum as a specialist curriculum area in teacher education. In addressing
the practice of teaching secondary visual arts, it is acknowledged that while there
are core practices of teaching that are common across curriculum areas, teaching
visual arts also involves a quite distinctive set of teaching practices related to
learning environments, curriculum content and the materiality of engagement and
outcomes (Mathewson Mitchell 2013a; 2013b; 2014, Reid & Mathewson Mitchell,
2014). Illustrating and engaging with those practices in ways that prepare preservice teachers who are studying by distance for classroom contexts requires
consideration of how those practices might form the basis of teaching and learning
in the distinctive distance education mode.
A further challenge for teacher education is to authentically connect pre-service
teachers with community. While teaching is largely centred on work in the school
and the classroom, teacher education needs to prepare teachers to extend their
practice beyond the classroom to incorporate the use of public spaces as sites of
learning and as resources for teaching. In art education, which has a focus on art
and its relationship to the world, the use of sites such as museums and art galleries
is particularly important in enabling a contextualised understanding of the field
(Lemon & Garvis, 2013; Mathewson, 2006; Stone 1996). Museums and galleries
provide important learning opportunities that potentially bridge the gap between
the classroom and the world beyond, enabling education to fulfill its aim of
preparing students for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult
life. Studies that illustrate the social basis of museum visiting recognize the
acquired nature of the capacities required to take advantage of cultural provisions
and acknowledge the importance of school-based education in laying the
foundation for the development of these capacities. Bourdieu identified the
potential role schooling has in “…producing competent individuals endowed with
the schemes of perception, thought and expression which are the condition for the
appropriation of cultural goods…” (Bourdieu & Darbel, 1991, p.67).
6
The development of the approach
With this context in mind, in 2011 I began a process of subject revision with the
aim of developing a teacher education curriculum that meaningfully integrated
theory and practice to prepare secondary visual arts teachers for the practice of
teaching. A further aim was to enable pre-service teachers to engage with sites of
learning beyond the classroom in ways that would encourage and facilitate future
use. It was opportune that as I started to think about how to achieve this, I was
approached to be part of an Office of Learning and Teaching Innovation and
Development project, Learning through Public Spaces. This project was focused on
using museums in higher education. It investigated the potential of practice-based
learning exchanges (Casey, 2011; Battistoni, 1997; Rhoads, 2003; Swaner, 2007)
between museum and higher education to foster the acquisition of cross
disciplinary skills through civic engagement. My role in this project involved
adaptation of the model to the particular context of a regional university and
museum, to distance education and to students located in a range of locations
including, rural, regional and remote areas.. The project enabled me to develop a
partnership with BRC and Chifley Home for the purpose of engaging university
students with this particular historical site and using it as a means of modeling
visual arts practice to pre-service distance education student teachers by
developing an exhibition. Doing this took my thinking on an alternate journey,
which encompassed cross-curriculum links and a material outcome. Partnership
with BRC evolved into a collaboration that was integral to the revision of the two
subjects and the development of a project to engage students with museums with a
focus on teaching practice.
The Chifley Home and Education Centre in Busby Street, Bathurst is a small but
highly significant house museum. It remains one of only two Prime Ministerial
homes to be regularly open to the public in Australia. The home itself was the only
marital dwelling of Prime Minister Ben Chifley and his wife Elizabeth. They
occupied the house from 1914 until their respective deaths, Ben in 1951 and
Elizabeth in 1962. Today, the home still contains its original collection of
household furnishings and personal effects dating back to when the Chifleys first
occupied the house in 1914. The Education Centre that is located in the property
adjoining provides a unique interpretive experience to complement this
experience. The centre includes a replica sitting room from the 1940s and an
exhibition area that hosts temporary exhibitions to enhance the Chifley collection
or aspects of Australia's political and cultural history. Together, the home and the
Education Centre shares the story of a family, a lifestyle and the community of an
Australian Prime Minister. It aims to provide a basis for research, innovation,
exploration and evolution for the community and its visitors (Bathurst Regional
Council, 2013).
The aims of the Chifley Home and Education Centre were realised in this
innovation. The conceptual design of the two subjects was informed by
understandings of museums and sites for learning beyond the classroom (see for
example, Somerville, 2007; Hooper-Greenhill, 1999; Hein 1998), but also drew on
the more localised example of the Chifley Home. It was grounded in the idea of a
local project that would culminate in a community-based exhibition with multiple
outcomes related to the application of curriculum knowledge, engagement with
7
teaching practice and engagement with cultural practice. In doing this it drew on
local expertise and knowledge. It also drew on developing understandings of
practice-based teacher education and engaged with theoretical resources related
to practice theory. As noted above, it was informed by the work of international
scholars working in teacher education along with the work being conducted at CSU
in the Faculty of Education. Having set the scene, in the remainder of this essay I
will focus on the project itself.
Implementation in 2013 and 2014
The project occurs in the second of the two curriculum subjects. It is a 10 week
project in which pre-service teachers create a body of work (artworks), share their
body of work and respond and facilitate each other’s work as co-teachers in a
virtual classroom space. The work focuses on the Chifley home as a site and
resource, and pre-service teachers engage with this site through a range of virtual
means. The bodies of work then form the basis of a public exhibition.
In developing a body of work, pre-service teachers effectively take on the role of
secondary school students, gaining an understanding of the perspective of learners
across the period of a school term. In sharing their body of work in a virtual online
space, they utilise technology to communicate and effectively present their
progress. Sharing occurs through a series of four digital diaries. Each digital diary
is uploaded at a particular point in the artmaking process, allowing for specific
focus and specific feedback. In providing feedback to each submission, the lecturer
models and explains generative and responsive teaching practice over time. Preservice teachers also take on the role of co-teachers in this virtual online space,
responding to each other’s work and facilitating one another’s progress.
Many aspects of this project are authentically and intentionally aligned with
curriculum and teaching practice in visual arts in NSW with some necessary
adaptations. The term ‘body of work’ is taken directly from the NSW Year 12 Visual
Arts HSC course. In this course, students in Year 12 autonomously create a major
artwork or series of artworks. The body of work has to sustain a concept and
demonstrate technical resolution and conceptual depth. It is internally assessed
and externally examined. While ordinarily, Year 12 students will generate and
develop their own concept, in this case the process was adapted for the purposes
of teacher education, and the pre-service teachers were provided with a starting
point. The starting point for the creation of the body of work was an accessible
object that related to the period of 1930s-1950s and the themes of the Chifley
Home. The use of an object provided a concrete starting point, while also
facilitating the exploration of cross-curriculum perspectives, as students
researched the objects they chose from different perspectives. In doing this, the
project moved beyond the traditional compartmentalisation of visual arts as a
subject (Efland, 2002) to show the connections that can be made across curriculum
areas.
What is significant as teacher education practice, is that the body of work was
created under similar conditions as those experienced by HSC students in Visual
Arts in NSW, although the constraints of the university teaching session meant that
time was much more limited. The authentic nature of the simulation included the
students engaging in art making with the support of a visual process diary to
8
document the artmaking process. To address the challenge of distance, the
development of the body of work was then shared through the series of four digital
diaries. In those diaries, pre-service teachers demonstrate the application of their
understandings of curriculum and are able to rehearse their skills in using ICT to
present information in concise ways. For the purposes of exhibition the pre-service
teachers package and send their artworks to Bathurst in the same way (and at
roughly the same time) as visual arts teachers package and send artworks to the
marking centre for external examination. They then extend this process beyond
the exhibition by linking their learning to the development of curriculum resources
for art criticism and art history and engaging in collaborative assessment.
As this process unfolds, and with an exhibition in mind, the collaborative group of
pre-service teachers and the CSU-BRC project team design the physical and online
exhibition, the opening and a public program. Pre-service teachers are given
opportunities for leadership and initiative, with spaces left open for new ideas and
contributions. It is at this point that the expertise of BRC comes to the fore and
provides the opportunity to learn about the exhibition process. The exhibition is
professionally installed and supported in ways that are coherent with the practices
of the Chifley Home. The exhibition itself is the culmination of the project and an
opportunity to celebrate the many achievements.
Questions, achievements and outcomes
After an initial two years of design and development and now two years of
implementation, many questions remain at the forefront of our consciousness as
we progress this project. These questions relate to the role of the project in teacher
education, the role of the exhibition and how the program impacts on the preservice teachers in terms of their future teaching. The questions related to teacher
education include: Does this approach provide for the development of an
understanding of teaching practice in secondary visual arts education? Can preservice teachers transfer their learning about teaching to participation in teaching,
to facilitate the work of their peers? Can the virtual classroom provide an authentic
and productive environment for teaching and learning? And in relation to the
exhibition: Does virtual engagement provide a strong enough connection to the
site to enable an informed and meaningful response? Are bodies of work
professional enough to be exhibited in a professional space? Does the exhibition
have coherence? Does the exhibition acknowledge current audiences and attract
new audiences? Is this approach sustainable? And finally, we wonder how this
experience might inform future teaching and thereby impact on how future
generations of secondary school students might engage with cultural and
community sites.
In the case of many of the questions we have posed, results and evidence to date
suggest that the answers are positive. In both 2013 and 2014, pre-service teachers
have engaged with teaching practice in the virtual classroom with enthusiasm. The
creation of bodies of work provides concrete examples of artmaking practice such
as those encountered in a senior classroom, while also allowing members of each
cohort to share their significant skills and expertise in artmaking. Across the ten
weeks, changes in focus and different teaching strategies are implemented and
related to stages of the artmaking process and the differing approaches to
9
artmaking. In response to the development of artmaking, teaching practice is
modeled and at the same time explained in relation to theory. Questions are asked
and links are made as teaching occurs, ensuring relevance to classroom practice. At
the same time, through engaging as co-teachers in the virtual classroom, preservice teachers are able to approximate teaching practice in a ‘safe’ space, with
support. In particular, digital diaries evidence skill in using ICT and in developing
concise and engaging presentations. The threads of discussion in response to
digital diaries are extensive and evidence significant attention to giving supportive
and constructive feedback and providing technical and conceptual advice.
Teaching and learning
It is clear that pre-service teachers can use what they are learning about teaching
as they participate in the virtual teaching space to facilitate the work of their peers.
While the lecturer may lead the way in modeling practice in the initial stages, that
involvement lessens throughout the 10 weeks as pre-service teachers take up the
teaching challenge. They provide feedback to one another in careful and
considered ways, share points of view and apply curriculum content and pedagogy
to teaching and learning situations in appropriate and productive ways.
Understandings of the principles and theories of art education are evident in the
informed documentation of progress, the preparation of digital diaries and
exhibition submissions and in the co-teaching that occurs in the virtual classroom.
The virtual classroom will never feel the same as the hustle and bustle of a Year 8
classroom on a Friday afternoon. However, it does provide a means of creating a
community environment in which pre-service teachers can share, collaborate and
effectively rehearse their teaching skills. With the structure of the project to guide
interaction and to provide context, the virtual classroom provides an authentic and
productive environment for teaching and learning at university level. It also
provides an environment in which activities that occur within secondary
classrooms can be effectively modeled, decomposed and approximated (Grossman,
Hammerness & McDonald, 2009). Pre-service teachers can engage with this
environment in flexible ways and with a focus and a distance that is not always
possible when they are on professional experience, and experiencing the reality of
busy and complex classrooms. Before responding or facilitating action they are
able to analyse situations, refer back to theory, think about alternatives and
discuss ideas – to practice teaching as they are learning teaching
What was not planned for, but has been evident in both years of implementation,
has been the possibility of discussion about the emotions of teaching and learning.
Through the experience of this project, what it feels like to be a learner under
pressure of expectations of autonomy and meeting deadlines has been shared,
while at the same time the emotions of teaching have been discussed. How to deal
with those emotions in productive ways has been an important focal point, not
often dealt with in teacher education, but important in terms of understanding
teaching practice.
10
The exhibition
In terms of the exhibition, the virtual engagement that occurs prior to and during
the project facilitates a strong connection to the museum site to enable informed
and meaningful responses. This engagement occurs entirely online and includes an
audio tour, a number of produced videos and the existing website. In both years of
this project we have been astounded by the depth of engagement with the Chifley
Home site and the interesting interpretations that arise. Pre-service teachers
connect with the Chifley story and relate it meaningfully to their own lives, to past
generations of their families and their local communities. We believe that this
engagement can in part be attributed to the humble nature of the Chifley home, the
focus on ordinary objects as a starting point and the open connections to
community and family that are part of the project.
As in 2013, both the artworks produced for this second exhibition and the
accompanying interpretive work is of exceptionally high standard and has been
worthy of the privilege of a professional exhibition space and a significant
audience. While each cohort started with a common connection to the Chifley site
they have developed differently over time, resulting in quite different exhibitions.
Interestingly Elizabeth Chifley has been a strong interest of both the 2013 and
2014 groups. This may be attributed to the fact that the majority of two cohorts
have been female or may be attributed to the fact that the story of Elizabeth is
compelling and has not been widely told. In each case, the diverse approaches of all
of the artists come together to form a coherent exhibition through the
development of a group vision, a highly professional approach and a clear
structure that each cohort has developed and committed to. The involvement of
BRC, the provision of a professional exhibition space and the faith that has been
placed in the artists has been integral to the quality of the works. The artists have
acknowledged high expectations and have risen to the occasion.
The exhibitions have acknowledged current audiences in very respectful ways. In
thinking about audience as an aspect of visual arts, the artists have identified the
needs of those audiences and have attempted to contribute to the telling of the
Chifley story in ways that enhance the narrative. They seek to (re)interpret the
collection and the site through art, providing a new or alternative way of seeing.
This way of seeing is grounded in the personal and at times the challenging, yet
always seeks a connection with wider audiences.
Our aim has been to provide a sustainable model. The second year has in many
ways been the testing ground. One successful year might be a fluke. Success the
second time supports the success of the idea and demonstrates how it works with
more than one cohort. We have found that the project itself has had a strong
momentum, of engagement and interest that has built toward the exhibition. As
pre-service teachers, the artists have embraced and have committed to it in ways
that we could only have wished for at the beginning. They have taken ownership of
the idea, of the work and the site and have worked together in self directed, self
sustaining and inspiring ways. Likewise, the exhibition team and the installation
crew have contributed at key points, taking leadership to create the physical and
virtual exhibition, while at the same time sharing their expertise. In this way the
partnership has developed within a climate that understands the different contexts
11
and culture and respects the integrity and distinctiveness of each contribution
(Sekules, 2003). The exhibition itself is the celebration, a material outcome that
shares the endeavour with the project team, with families and with the community.
Future practice
In the case of our final concern about the impact of this experience on the practice
of our graduates, we cannot yet know how this experience might inform future
teaching and thereby impact on how future generations of secondary school
students might engage with cultural and community sites. We hope that it will
spark a continuing interest and an understanding of how museums and other
cultural or community sites can be used in education. We hope that such use will
provide future generations with experiences that will enhance and inspire their
cultural participation, thus potentially generating social change. This will be the
focus of future research as current cohorts graduate and our pre-service teachers
and artists take their place in schools.
Concluding remarks
It is important to note that this initiative is indebted to the legacy of the Chifleys
and the custodians of the Chifley collection. The Chifley Home and Education
Centre provides a rich starting point for the project and the site for the exhibition.
It is a significant cultural resource that captures the 1940s lifestyle, exploring the
lives of Ben and Elizabeth Chifley and inspiring a connection to the history of
Australia. The materiality of the collection and its care, conservation and
documentation provides an important insight into life of the past. This connection
to history is important and, as evident in this exhibition, can provide for significant
meaning-making (Falk & Dierking, 2000; Rounds 1999; Silverman 1995) across
curriculum areas and in relation to personal histories. This exhibition draws on
meanings made of the site and its collection while also providing an example of
how it can be used in, and for, education.
As with all effective collaborations, the relationship that has formed between the
pre-service teachers and staff of EMA442 and BRC is based on shared
understandings and a focus on working together for both individual and group
success (Head, 2009; Carlisle, 2011). As noted in the 2013 catalogue (Miller, 2013),
this common focus has fulfilled both the guiding principle of local government ‘to
make a difference within our community’ and the motto of Charles Sturt
University, ‘for the public good’. Furthermore, in connecting both the professions
of teaching and local government, the ideals of this project are aligned with the
ideals of Prime Minister Ben Chifley in working for the betterment of mankind. The
idea came to fruition as a result of the commitment of a number of people to these
ideals and as a result of their vision in seeing this project and the exhibition as a
way to bring us together in our efforts. It is continuing because of the ongoing
commitment of individuals and a growing recognition of the value of the initiative
in relation to our institutional, community and personal goals. In focusing on what
we have in common, the collaboration has indeed provided a thread that is
connecting us across time and space.
It is also, and most significantly, indebted to the talent and commitment of our preservice teachers. They come to CSU Faculty of Education with many life
12
experiences, skills and expertise and with a passion to make a difference through
education. In this project they are challenged to draw all of this together and to
expose themselves in a shared and public way. Their achievements are enormous
and often in concert with many and varied concurrent activities and
responsibilities. The commitment they show to making this project a success is a
testimony to their preparedness to be teachers and to engage in the complex work
of teaching, along with commitment and expertise in the area of art education.
Their examples will inspire the next generation.
References
Ball, D. L. & Forzani, F (2009). The work of teaching and the challenge for teacher
education. Journal of Teacher Education. 60(5). 497–511.
Bathurst Regional Council (2013). Retrieved October 1, 2013 from
http://www.chifleyhome.org.au/
Battistoni, R (1997). Service learning and democratic citizenship. Theory into
Practice, 36:3, pp.150-156.
Bourdieu, P. & Darbel, A. (1991). The Love of Art: European Art Museums and their
Publics. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Carlisle, K (2011). Arts education partnerships: Informing policy through the
development of culture and creativity within a collaborative project
approach. Arts Education Policy Review, 112(3), 144-148.
Casey, D. (2001) Museums as agents of social and political change, Curator: The
Museum Journal, 44(3), pp. 230-6.
Daniel, G., Auhl, G., & Hastings, W. (2011). Preparing first-year pre-service teachers
for participation in the community of practice of teaching: collaborative
feedback and reflection of professional growth. Paper presented to the
annual conference of the Australian Teacher Education Association, ATEA:
Melbourne July 3-6.
Efland, A.D. (2002). Art and cognition: Integrating the visual arts in the curriculum.
New York: Teachers College Press.
Falk, J. & Dierking, L.D. (2000). Learning from museums. New York: Rowman and
Littlefield.
Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: the theory in practice. New York: Basic
Books.
Grossman, P & McDonald, M. (2008). Back to the future: Directions for research in
teaching and teacher education, American Educational Research Journal,
45(1), 184-205.
Grossman, P.L, Hammerness, K. & McDonald, M. (2009). Redefining teaching,
reimagining teacher education, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice,
15(2), 273-289.
Head, G. (2009). Effective collaboration: deep collaboration as an essential element
of the learning process. Journal of Educational Enquiry, 4 (2), 47-62.
Hein, G. (1998). Learning in the museum. London: Routledge.
Hooper-Greenhill, E. (1999). The educational role of the museum (2nd edition).
London, New York: Routledge.
Kemmis, S., & Smith, T. (Eds.). (2008). Enabling praxis: Challenges for education.
Amsterdam: SENSE Publishing.
13
Lemon, N., & Garvis, S. (2013). What is the Role of the Arts in a Primary School?: An
Investigation of Perceptions of Pre-Service Teachers in Australia. Australian
Journal of Teacher Education, 38(9).
Mathewson Mitchell, D. (in press-2014). Acts of discovery: using collaborative
research to mobilize and generate knowledge about visual arts teaching
practice. Arts Education Policy Review, 115 (4).
Mathewson Mitchell, D. (2013a). A rural and regional research forum for visual
arts teachers: A focus on teaching, practice and place. Australian Art
Education. 35(1), 54-67.
Mathewson Mitchell, D. (2013b) Thinking through practice: Exploring ways of
knowing, understanding and representing the complexity of teaching, Asia
Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 41 (4), 414-425.
Mathewson-Mitchell, D., Hoare, R. & Reid, J-A. (2012). Knowing is not enough:
(Re)turning to practice in teacher education. Paper presented to the
European Conference on Educational Research, Cadiz, September 18-23.
Moore, M.G. (Ed.) (2013). Handbook of Distance Education (3rd edition). New York
and London: Routledge.
Pietsch, M., Mathewson-Mitchell, D., Stoneman, L. & Reid, J. (2011). Identity and
image in initial teacher education: looks like, sounds like, feels like… Paper
presented to the conference of the Australian Teacher Education Association
ATEA, Melbourne, July 3-6.
Reid, J. -A (2011). A practice turn for teacher education?, Asia Pacific Journal of
Teacher Education, 39(4), 293-310.
Reid, J-A. & Mathewson Mitchell, D. (forthcoming 2015). Inhabiting a Teaching
Body: Portraits of Teaching. In B. Green & N. Hopwood (Eds.), Body Practice:
The Body in Professional Practice, Learning and Education, Dordrecht:
Springer.
Rhoads, R. (2003). How civic engagement in reframing liberal education, Peer
Review, Spring, pp.25-8.
Rounds, J. (1999). Meaning making in exhibits. The Exhibitionist 18(2).
Sekules, V. (2002). The celebrity performer and the creative facilitator: The artist,
the school and the art museum. (pp. 135-150). In Xanthoudaki, M., Tickle, L. &
Sekules, V. (Eds.) (2003). Researching visual arts education in museums and
galleries. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishing.
Silverman, L. (1995). Visitor meaning making in museums for a new age. Curator,
38 (3), 161-170.
Somerville, M. (2007). Postmodern emergence. International Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education, 20(2), 225-243.
Stone, D. (1996). Pre-service art education and learning in art museum. Journal of
Aesthetic
Education, 30(3), 83-96.
Swaner, L (2007). Linking engaged learning, student mental health and wellbeing,
and civic development: A review of the literature, Liberal Education, 93(1),
p.16.
14
OLIVIA DENAHY
Continuum, installation: acrylic on canvas, crocheted river rocks
Artist’s biography
My tertiary study has been long and drawn out. Nine years of study has seen me pursue
many and varied degrees and directions, but my passion for creativity and my
dedication as a wife and mother has brought me to my final year as a pre-service Visual
Arts teacher. I live and work in Sydney, Australia. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts & Visual
Culture and I am currently studying a Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary) at
Wesley Institute, with complimentary study in Visual Arts curriculum at Charles Sturt
University. I have a passion for painting and ceramics and I am interested in learning
about printmaking and photography in more depth. Once I am finished I hope to achieve
a balance of home life, teaching practice and artmaking. I truly look forward to the
future, to fulfilling my dreams and creating new ones.
Artist’s statement
The doilies spotted throughout the Chifley home and my Grandmother’s own collection
of crocheted decoration have inspired my thoughts and motivated my artistic direction.
My body of work depicts the art of crochet as a cultural activity both in the 1940s and in
today’s modern world. I wanted to show that not only has crochet been able to
withstand modernity but also that it has grown and developed with it. Crochet is a
decorative art, a visual language, and an expression of beauty, fragility, femininity and
domesticity. The example and dedication of women like Mrs Chifley and my
Grandmother are essential to ensuring that skills such as crochet are passed on from
generation to generation, taking on new meaning and form.
15
FIONA DICK
‘After Enlightenment, the Laundry’ A Zen Proverb, series of 14 photographs
Artist’s biography
Pencil, charcoal and eraser were my first adored medium for carving into facial
landscapes. My passion for playing with earth and mud drew me later to ceramics. I
have spent most of my adult life exploring the medium of ki and practicing in the
Japanese healing arts of Ki Yoga and Zen Shiatsu. My passion for creativity drew me back
to study, energized by a wish to teach visual arts to support self exploration and
expression in children and youth. During my studies, my intrigue in photography was
sparked. Canadian born, along with my beautiful children, I currently reside in Southern
NSW, Australia. My children Chloe and Chilli are often the subjects of my artwork.
Artist’s statement
The laundry wringer was the object chosen from the Chifley Home. This object evoked
an exploration of past and current ideas of masculinity and femininity. In the Chifley era
the dominant idea of femininity involved the expectation of domestic roles and
masculinity was associated with the act of fearlessness and the bravery of going to war.
The 1970’s saw the rise of feminism and currently we are witnessing the devastating
impacts of the masculinity crisis on our youth. The most recent realisations related to
gender issues embrace the fact that to truly create lasting change and transformation
within the realm of femininity and masculinity we need to work collectively and
cooperatively.
The chosen medium of photography and style of imagery attempts to weave a
connection between the sleeping subconscious dreams and the transformative concept
of the awakened conscious dreams of current day. This draws on the approach of the
Surrealists, working in the Chifley era. This dream is one of a collaborative embrace of
working together to create new concepts and ideas of alternative masculinities and
femininities. The Zen Proverb ‘After Enlightenment, the Laundry’ reflects the idea that
once we are awakened to the realisation that these traditional ideals and concepts need
to be transformed, we can work together in the simple everyday realm to create the
transformation. Intentionally non-suggestive of new ideas of femininity and
masculinity, my wish is to draw the audience into their own awakened dream of positive
alternatives.
16
SAGE FURY
Generating Australian, installation
Artist’s biography
I studied a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts. My major studio area
was glass, with a focus on object art and design. I participated in numerous group
exhibitions associated with the undergraduate degree. In 2006 I won first prize in the
glass category in the exhibition ‘Utility; tacit tactics’ held in as part of Sydney Design
Week. During this time I came to align my practice with wearable art. I spent two years
with prominent Australian jewellery company Dinosaur Designs, which complimented
my skills in working in a wearable art context. I then went on to create my own line of
‘costume jewellery’ with a focus on the body as a source of ideas. My works often
explore the relationship between the interior and exterior worlds of the physical body
using wearability as a symbol for this intersection. More recently my focus has
broadened, exploring the dichotomy of public and private, using the body as a site for
exploration. I now work in a variety of media including painting, drawing, sculpture,
installation, photography and video or combinations of these.
Artist’s statement
‘Generating Australian’ is a considered assemblage, each component chosen for its
symbolic quality. The work tells the story of my grandparents relocating to Australia
from Great Britain under the Australian Labor Party’s Assisted Migration Scheme. This
scheme was established following the Second World War as a way to boost Australia’s
economy and defence capabilities through population growth. The White Australia
Policy gave preference to migrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland, offering the
incentive of a reduced fare of ten pounds sterling for passage and processing. This
political event, which occurred during Ben Chifley’s term of service as Prime Minister of
Australia, has had an effect on my personal history; a first generation Australian
descended from ‘ten-pound-poms.’ This work seeks to describe the profound impact
that Government policy can have on the lives of ordinary people.
17
JOANNA HORVAT
Tried and tested, handmade artist’s book: mixed media on paper
Artist’s biography
I live in the Blue Mountains and also spend a lot of time in the Mid North Coast, where
much of my family resides. I am a teacher; I teach ESL and literacy to students who
struggle with reading and writing. Before embarking on my teaching qualifications, I
completed a Diploma of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts/Business). I have
practiced art for many years and was lucky enough to be chosen as part of the Blake
Prize in 2008. I work across a number of mediums including photography, drawing,
ceramics and installation.
Artist’s statement
Upon investigating the Chifley Home I realised I was being more and more drawn to the
character of Elizabeth Chifley. Although being wife of the Prime Minister, Elizabeth
Chifley sought a stable and humble life. In addition, her independence, particularly as a
woman of this era, is notable. She lived her own life and enjoyed her own interests,
separate to her husband. Through her hobbies she fostered her own special friendships,
which brought her joy and fulfillment. Although Ben Chifley spent much of his time
away, Elizabeth created a solid and rewarding life for herself.
I became intrigued by Mrs Chifley’s interests as fuel to her independence and friendship
creation. “Mrs Chifley was known for her love of cooking and collection of hand written
recipes.” This quote resonated with me as I have my own collection of handwritten
recipes, a favourite pastime of mine that has been adopted from the women in my
family. I began to think about these characters, Mrs Chifley, my mother, my
grandmothers and myself, eventually concluding that not only did we share the simple
love of collecting recipes but also the ideals of friendship, sharing, communication and
most significantly, independence. The women in my family are some of the most
independent I know and part of the way they foster this independence is through
sustaining their own interests and friendships.
18
LINDA JERKIN
Beyond Reflection, Through Reflection, photomedia
Artist’s biography
The last 20 years have been a blur, my connection to visual art has shifted, I have spent
far too long with my eyes closed. My Bachelor of Art (Visual Arts) has led me to explore
many things and supported my career in graphic art. My recent learning journey in the
Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) has reignited that passion for visual arts. It’s provided
a clarity and direction to the visual elements I encounter on a daily basis. I find myself
exploring the things I see in my everyday life, in particular light and shadow, as
compositional elements that are often disregarded.
Artist’s statement
As the doily is characterised by openwork that allows the underlying surface to show
through, we have to wonder: what is the underlying surface? what does the surface
reveal about our lives? It’s only upon reflection that we can begin to understand the
social fabric of our lives and those around us. Our lives are a culmination of the past,
present and future. Just as our lives are connected and interwoven, through its open
work, the doily has the ability to reveal and conceal aspects of human nature. Through
reflection we transition from the past into the future.
In my artwork the light becomes the focal point, an anchor from which to build our
reflective journey. If you find your mind has wandered, perhaps you are mesmerised by
the light, your reflective journey has commenced. The Chifley Home is characterised by
surfaces adorned with doilies and each has a story. Those stories contribute to the social
fabric of the Chifley’s lives, time and place; it also represents aspects of Australia, its
history and journey from the past to the present through to the future.
19
JASMIN JONES
One Man, One Thought, One Pipe, series of 3 photomedia works
Artist’s biography
I am a Music teacher who loves the Creative and Performing Arts. I have taught Music,
Visual Arts and Drama in Metropolitan Sydney schools throughout my career. My
circumstances changed recently and this gave me an opportunity to return to university
to study Visual Arts, which has always been a passion of mine. I especially enjoy digital
media. Studying Visual Arts curriculum through Charles Sturt University has given me a
deeper understanding of the syllabus and will enable me to be a more effective teacher
in this subject area.
Artist’s statement
The pipe - not just a tool used for smoking tobacco but a tool used when one is thinking,
contemplating, creating. It is the thought process one goes through whilst smoking that
has inspired my work. Ben Chifley’s pipe is considered a national treasure, but what role
did it play in the many thought processes he went through during his term as Prime
Minister? 1940s post war Australia was a time of frugality but it also presented an
opportunity for building a more prosperous Australia. Ben Chifley seized this
opportunity; he instigated many ventures to help the country. Many of the issues that
Ben Chifley chose to work with have not disappeared and are still very much a part of
modern day Australia. My work aims to explore issues that Ben Chifley would have
thought through (probably whilst smoking his pipe) and how these issues present
themselves in Australia today.
Adobe Photoshop has been used to create layered digital prints that highlight the issue
in both the 1940s and present-day Australia. The silhouette of the smoking man is used
as a unifying element between the works and represents the process of thinking, whilst
smoking. The question remains, did Ben Chifley ever imagine what his ideas would look
like in a future Australia?
20
TAMSIN KEMP
ibidem, print & handmade book
Artist’s biography
I come from a background of sculpture and installation practice as well as printmaking
and textiles. I work commonly with objects and bookmaking. Currently I am completing
my degree to teach secondary visual arts.
Artist’s statement
This work seeks to represent the patterns of everyday life and the invisible
concatenation of domestic practice through generations. The inspiration was Elizabeth
Chifley’s recipe for ginger nuts, contained in her personal compendium of favourite
recipes. I was reminded of my grandmother’s collection of recipes, along with my
mother’s and my own, and I wanted to illustrate this intuitive repeated sequence of
collecting; as well as the familiar repetition embedded in everyday life –a kind of
mapmaking. The Latin word ‘ibidem’, commonly found in reference lists, means ‘in the
same source’ or ‘from the same place’. I feel this articulates the lineages of domestic
habits I seek to describe
21
DONNA MATHEWSON MITCHELL
Absent memories, series of drawings: pencil on paper
Artist’s biography
I am a Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University, with a background in Visual Arts
education. My teaching and research is concerned with visual arts teaching, teaching
practice and teaching and learning in public spaces. I have been involved in this project
as a lecturer, co-teacher and fellow artist.
Artist’s statement
The starting point for this series of drawings was the absence of wedding photos in the
Chifley Home. This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the marriage of Ben and
Elizabeth Chifley. Inspired by this milestone, I went searching for wedding photos
showing the Chifleys on their wedding day. However, I found that there were no
wedding photos in the home or in the collection. This is a poignant absence that
connects with, and foregrounds other absences in the lives of the Chifleys. This includes
physical absences associated with living in different locations, the absence of children
and the absence of a shared religious life.
I have focused on the concept of a 1914 wedding and have investigated and represented
symbols broadly associated with marriage and domesticity but also specifically related
to the Chifley home. Pencil on paper has provided an easily accessible way to develop
compositions inspired by a range of images. The simplicity of the approach resonates
with the humble nature of the site and the lives that have inspired it.
22
LAUREN MCCONNELL
Vacant plate, series of 3 vector illustrations
Artist’s biography
After completing my Bachelor of Arts and Majoring in Photography at the Raffles College
of Design and Commerce in North Sydney, I made the move back to my home town in
the Central West of NSW to settle down with my husband and begin the rest of our lives
together on our little hobby farm. I have freelanced as a photographer for the past five
years but have a desire to teach what I love - all things visual arts. I hope to inspire,
engage, support and educate students in the near future.
Artist’s statement
After admiring Mrs Chifley’s kitchen and exploring kitchens from the 1940s, I made the
connection to a family kitchen hutch buffet which has been passed down through four
generations of my family. I also discovered a 1940s milk jug given to my grandmother
by her father - an essential item displayed on buffets, reflecting the social times of that
era. This inspired my work.
Essentially Vacant Plate is a series of three vector illustrations depicting women in their
kitchens from the 1940s, 1980s and 2014. Central to my idea is the kitchen as a cultural
site and the changes that have occurred in terms of relationships with that site, allowing
me to broadly comment on changes to the role of women and society.
23
FIONA MINTO
Social veils, series of 3 photomedia works
Artist’s biography
I completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at the Victorian College of Arts in 2005,
majoring in photography. After several years as a practicing artist in Melbourne, the
birth of my son and a move to the Mid North Coast, my focus is now on arts education. I
run various art programs both in schools and privately, and feel very blessed to work in
a field I am so passionate about.
Artist’s statement
My chosen object for this project was my beautiful Rolleiflex camera, the “must have”
camera for press photographers in the 1940s. This led me to thinking about the way in
which the Chifleys were photographed and represented in the public sphere; well
dressed and usually posed quite formally. Opposed to this, my artwork, Social Veils, is a
lighthearted exploration of the more personal and intimate aspects of daily life during
the Chifley era and from a female perspective. The images are purposefully ambiguous,
as women during this period no doubt had varying emotional responses to social
expectations of them as homemakers. For some individuals it may have felt stifling,
boring or worse. Yet for others, there was no doubt a sense of satisfaction and an
appreciation of the act of completing simple tasks and caring for the family. This is
something I think many of us have lost in the busy-ness of our modern lives.
I have used colour schemes and fabrics from the 1940s in the photographs, including the
veil like fabric placed between the camera and model in two of the images. This veil is
intended to further emphasise the idea of the public and the private spheres; our
external, socially acceptable presentation of ourselves as opposed to our complex
internal worlds.
24
NICOLE RYAN
Longing for the time…, mixed media on canvas
Artist’s biography
I am currently a student at Charles Sturt University, who discovered an artistic flare
early on in life. I decided that I would love to become a visual arts teacher in a
secondary school so that I may nurture other student’s creativity and provide guidance,
just as my own teachers did for me. I have studied and graduated in three art courses – a
Diploma and an Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts and a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts). In
my artmaking practice I enjoy exploring rural themes, creating textures and building up
surfaces.
Artist’s statement
This is a mixed media work that was originally inspired by a mantle clock found at the
Chifley Home. I chose this object as it reminded me of my own family’s revered mantle
clock, presented to my great-grandparents in 1927. I went on to use the clock as a
symbol to represent the time apart that Ben and Elizabeth Chifley had to endure when
Ben was away in Canberra and Elizabeth was in Bathurst awaiting his fortnightly return
back home. I like to think that the clock played an active role in their narrative where
Elizabeth would watch their mantle clock rather closely whenever Ben was travelling
home, anticipating the time of his arrival. The association of imagery I am exploring is
working towards a sense of loneliness, distance, the passing of time and counting down
the hours until they can be together again. The assemblage shows a collection of
drawings, paintings, items, textures, and symbols to help extend the concept well
beyond the object itself. My artwork shows the gears and hands of a clock to represent
the busy mind with the help of words and text to convey thoughts ticking over.
25
ZOE SOPHOCLEOUS
Ms.Chifley, Queen of Diamonds, mixed media on canvas
Artist’s biography
I majored in 3 Unit Visual Arts at high school and went on to study Visual Arts at Sydney
College of the Arts. After I graduated, I further developed my textural and expressive
painting style with a continuing focus on a reduction of form. I exhibited in a number of
exhibitions with the last exhibition being a solo exhibition at Shoalhaven Arts Centre
(2011). I have entered a number of art competitions and received third prize in the
Mental Health Fellowship Art Prize in 2012.
I began to feel limited by the abstract forms in my paintings and wanted to re-explore
ideas using symbolism in my work. I was excited by the artists George Raftopoulos and
gained the confidence and direction I needed. I am currently uncertain whether to
return to a purely abstract expressionist style or to continue to use symbols in my
paintings. I look forward to graduating as a Visual Arts teacher from CSU very soon.
Artist’s statement
My artwork takes a critical view regarding the perception and interpretation of different
personal and global opinions. As an artist, I focus on developing paintings that speak
both to me and to the audience about ideas of perception. In my work, I deconstruct the
assumptions and judgments of society and challenge their values and viewpoints.. I
question my own opinion and I try to analyse the biases and course that led me to a
specific conclusion. My artwork often has underlying reference to my own life and
experiences that parallel concepts in the painting. I recreate ideas and processes in a
painting and incorporate ambiguous messages and symbolism to challenge the
audience. My artwork is composed of textural layerings of mixed media and oil paint;
expressive lines and brush strokes; and objects and figures reduced to their simplest
form. This can often confront the viewer, further questioning and challenging the notion
of perception and interpretation.
26
JENNIFER TAGG
Common threads, handmade book: mixed media
Artist’s biography
I live in the beautiful town on Camden NSW. I have a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Visual
Arts & Graphic Design) under my belt and cannot wait to finish the Bachelor of Teaching
(Secondary) so I can start teaching. My strengths are painting and graphics, though as
you will see I will give anything a go as I did in this artwork for the Threads of Time
exhibition.
Artist’s statement
The object I chose to focus on was the treadle sewing machine. Mrs Chifley was given
the treadle sewing machine by her mother. This connected me to my family history as
my Grandmother was a seamstress.
Conceptually my body of work represents memories and family. I have investigated
these themes through photography and textiles, which are completely new areas for me.
The artwork was created by using photographs of my family including my grandparents,
my parents and my partner and I. The use of these photographs explores the memories
we have over generations. I then worked over the photographs to explore tactility and
layering. This represents the layers of memories we have as family and the fragility that
memories create. I wanted to show the connection to the Chifley Home in exploring how
all people have memories to share.
In creating this work I have experimented and worked in a postmodern way, challenging
myself to work beyond what I am familiar with. My body of work is subjective. The
emphasis of the artwork is for the audience to feel experience and empathise with my
memories and family so they can reflect and relate to their own experiences.
27
ANDREW TOTMAN
The Object (“You and I”), water-based screen print on mirrored perspex
Artist’s biography
I am an American born and educated artist and have been a practicing
artist/printmaking teacher for a number of years overseas and in Australia. I am in the
final stages of the Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) at CSU. My works are held in
private and public collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National
Gallery of Australia and Mosman Art Gallery, just to name a few. Throughout my life the
one thing that stays the same is my passion for art.
Artist’s statement
In many of my artworks I start with a simple idea that is just for me, a memory or an
event, and that begins as a small drawing that I might modify by adding related words
that later become part of the title. These drawings may provide a brief glimpse of the
insight of the story. The first inspirational drawing is very quick. The print process is
much slower requiring greater planning and care. This is notable in the “the object”
screen print, printed on a mirrored surface by layering fragments of the image. This
process must be planned from beginning to end with very little ability to change or alter
during the printing process.
The simple or common place HAT and human torso are an integral part of the historical
iconography chosen, helping to create an intimate image that is also universal in its
representation. This artwork allows the viewer to become part of the image. I left a large
void for the audience to reflect their face so they will become (even briefly) part of the
artwork. The mirrored surface also allows for objects and the interior walls of this
historic home to become a reflection within the work thus further connecting my
artwork to that of Chifley’s Australia and that of today’s visitors.
28
DAWN TURNBULL
Words in time, installation
Artist’s biography
Born in Hollywell, England in 1963, my parents migrated to Sydney in 1966. I currently
live and work in Sydney and have studied at the Sydney College of Arts, completing a
Bachelor of Visual Arts, majoring in Photography. I’m currently studying at Charles Sturt
University completing a Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary). My photographic work has
covered university graduations through to Parliament House, corporate brochures and
portraits. I was winner of the Glebe Art show in 2000 with a portrait of political
economist Ross Gittins.
Artist’s statement
My art work draws on the books found in Ben Chifley’s study. My motivation was a
personal connection. As a lover of books I own many old classics dated over a hundred
years old and I’m interested in the representation and interpretation of books. The
richness of books and their intended purpose to convey stories and information may be
lost as the physical book is taken over by the digital form.
Taking inspiration from Brian Dettmer’s practice of altering books, I have altered the
content of books to record the history of immigration in Ben Chifley’s time as Prime
Minister. I began with four classic books and using sharp knives cut away at the pages to
create a box. I replaced the pages with images and words to create a new story, giving
the book a new identity and recreating its existence.
29
CAROLINE WINFRY
From ink to chip, series of 4 collages
Artist’s biography
I took an interest in art from a very young age, which led me to complete a Bachelor’s
Degree in Visual Arts in 2001. I made a conscious decision to enter the workforce, travel
and complete other avenues of study prior to commencing the Bachelor of Teaching
(Secondary) course. Pursuing a career in teaching visual arts has always been a passion
of mine. I tend to relate quite well to young people and truly enjoy youthful insight. I am
currently employed as a network engineer and have worked in this sector for over 10
years. I am looking forward to making a career change and am ready for the challenges
ahead.
Artist’s statement
I chose to create my artworks based on the newspaper located in Chifley Home because
the newspaper, in this period of time, reminds me of a sense of innocence, or virtue by
which the information conveyed through media could be trusted. On a personal level,
having worked in the communications industry for many years, I have observed the
changing landscape of news and communication. There is an evident shift from
traditional news print to digital content and from listening to seeing (ear to eye/audiovisual). This change is vast and continually evolving; individuals & industry constantly
battle to keep up with the demands of technology. Along with this comes an underlying
skepticism about what is true and untrue, of what is censored and embellished, of what
is truly newsworthy. There is a question of standards in an age where news and opinion
are fed to us live and cannot be eluded. My appeal and connection to the newspaper in
Chifley Home is the nostalgia that is evoked at a time when individuals were somewhat
oblivious to the noise of the world. The artworks in this series explore several themes;
change, politics, popular culture and freedom of information - all within the context of
the evolution of the newspaper.
30
THE ‘THREADS OF TIME’ FOOTPRINT
This map shows the location of all of the Charles Sturt
University Faculty of Education pre-service teachers who
were part of Threads of Time, relative to the location of the
Chifley Home and Education Centre in Bathurst, NSW.
31
32
33