CHILDREN’S TRAIL

HAVE FUN EXPLORING & MAKE SOME ART OF YOUR OWN

Developed by Victoria Collings, Public Programs Department © Art Gallery of New South Wales 2013

front cover: Eric Wilson Abstract – the kitchen stove 1943 (detail)All works © the artists’ estates. Margaret Preston licensed by Viscopy, Sydney

Go on a journey through the exhibition

Discover the artworks

Collect a pencil

Look, draw and have fun!

Sydney moderns: art for a new world

Nearly one hundred years ago Sydney was a much quieter place with few cars, no tall buildings and no big shopping centres. Around the world things began to change – people moved to the cities, cars filled new roads, buildings got bigger and taller, and new department stores attracted shoppers. Sydney became a bustling city and the building of a bridge to join one side of the harbour with the other was celebrated around the world for its giant span of steel.

This exhibition celebrates the artists who responded to the new city with new ideas and colourful, light-filled artworks.

Anniversary partner Strategic partners

The artist Grace Cossington Smith loved the curves and shapes of the bridge’s steel girders and she painted and sketched it many times when it was being built.

Spot the following things: tiny construction workers building materials boats on the harbour buildings in the distance

At home find pictures of the Sydney Harbour Bridge being built and create your own drawings or sculpture.

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Find this painting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Discover the artworks

Add some buildings and boats to this picture of the bridge to create a busy city scene:

At home paint pictures outdoors at different times of the day to see how the light and colours change.

Walk over to this harbour view.

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916Roland Wakelin painted this view of Berry’s Bay outdoors so he

could look at the effect of light and colour in the landscape.

Look at the flecks of light on the grass. Describe the colours you can see. Are they surprising? Notice how your eyes zigzag between the different parts of the picture. What is the man doing?

Draw yourself into this landscape doing an activity you enjoy:

At home listen to different types of music and make artworks inspired by the sounds and rhythms of the music.

How does this painting make you feel?

Imagine the music that this painting might be like and move your body to sway to it.

Create a drawing of shapes and patterns to go with this music:

Explore this colourful painting.

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9Roy de Maistre painted this picture using different colours to match musical notes and to make us feel different emotions.

Twin-kle, twin-kle lit - tle star, How I won-der what you are

At home draw a still-life of objects from your kitchen. Think carefully about how you arrange the objects and light them to create strong shadows.

Find this still-life painting.

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7Margaret Preston has painted a still-life picture of cups and saucers, a jug and two glasses – what is in the glasses?

Observe how the dark shadows in the picture line up with the shapes.

Notice the colours and describe how they make you feel.

Imagine this still-life is part of a cafe scene. Extend the picture to draw the cafe around it:

At home collect magazines about interior design and create a collage or mood board of inspiration and colours that you would love to have in your home.

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Find this woodblock print.

Thea Proctor made this print for the cover of a magazine called The Home.

Imagine what the women might say to each other.

Design your own cover for The Home magazine:

Find this busy school playground.

At home draw a picture of your school playground filled with children enjoying lots of different activities.

Frank Hinder has created a bustling scene of parents with their pets collecting children from school on a wet day.

Count how many dogs you can see. Spot the umbrellas.

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Design a pattern for this umbrella using shapes and patterns in this exhibition to decorate it:

Look at this unusual scene.

At home find photos and images of Sydney and make a series of black & white drawings of the different types of buildings you find.

Max Dupain has taken this photograph of an industrial scene through the windscreen of a car.

Look at the photograph and work out what is inside the car and what is outside the car. How could you tell?

Observe how the shadows create patterns.

Draw a view of a factory or a city through this windscreen and add what is behind the car in the rear-vision mirror. Add strong shadows to your drawing:

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Find the recreation of this living room.

At home make your own room for one of your toys in a cardboard box using cardboard, containers and fabrics to make the furniture.

The designer Hera Roberts created this modern living room for a special exhibition.

Observe the shapes you can see in the patterns of the fabrics and rugs. What do the shapes of the furniture remind you of? Would you like a living room like this?

Design your own furniture for this empty room:

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At home make a cubist-style picture combining parts of one of the rooms in your home.

Find this abstract picture.

Eric Wilson has painted shapes and forms from a kitchen overlapping them in a cubist-style.

Find the following things:

pots and pans brick walls timber flooring a sign fried eggs

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Ralph Balson loved to use geometric shapes to create patterns and structures. He called them ‘constructed paintings’.

Describe the shapes you can see and how they overlap each other.

Which parts of the painting ‘jump out’ at you? Why?

Fill this shape with overlapping geometric shapes to make your own abstract picture:

Find this colourful abstract painting.

At home cut out lots of shapes in different colours and overlap them to create your own constructed collage. Add colourful circle stickers to highlight certain parts of the picture.

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