Explore new waves in teaching Indigenous art on April 26

When: 

26 April 2016

Where: 

Campbelltown Arts Centre

In search of good new teaching material and ideas for art classes and Aboriginal Studies?

Pencil in April 26 when the Campbelltown Arts Centre will hold a professional development day on Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art Case Studies for Secondary Teachers.

The seminar coincides with an exhibition commemorating an horrific massacre of Dharawal people with especially-commissioned works by Australian and Canadian artists.

The arts centre is a QTC-endorsed provider.

Speakers at the training seminar will include:

• artist, curator and writer Tess Allas
• artist and workshop educator Leeanne Hunter
• Indigenous creative and performing arts teacher Wesley Shaw of Warrawong High
• Australian Museum Pacific Collections creative producer Keren Ruki
• Career Trackers Indigenous internship co-ordinator Jessica Bulger.

The arts centre has commissioned new works for an exhibition to mark the 200th anniversary of the Appin Massacre, the colonial government-sanctioned murder, capture and displacement of Aboriginal communities in the Appin region.

The exhibition, “Secrecy and Despatch”, will begin on April 17 so that teachers attending the training day will have an opportunity to view new works by Indigenous artists Vernon Ah Kee, Tony Albert, Frances Belle Parker, Julie Gough, Genevieve Grieves and Dale Harding.

First Nations Canadian artists have also joined in the venture, including Jordan Bennett, Cheryl l’Hirondelle, Marianne Nicholson and Adrian Stimson.

The exhibition is curated by Tess Allas and Canadian David Garneau.

On April 17, 1816, following an order by Governor Macquarie to “inflict terrible and exemplary punishment” on Aborigines in the Appin area following bloody reprisal raids, soldiers raided a camp of the Dharawal people, killing and trampling with their horses the men, women and children resting there. Some were killed by being driven over a gorge into the Cataract River. Elders’ heads were cut off and taken to Sydney.

“Secrecy and Dispatch” will focus on the massacre but also explore other histories of conflict, identity and memory from Indigenous perspectives.

Email Edwina Hill at the Campbelltown Arts Centre about the professional development day. The cost of the seminar will be announced soon.