A group of boys have arrived the day before, they had already started on some of their projects. Today I would get to see the finished product of a workshop that I had seen the start of, with another group. It is called rearranging the landscape.
Rearranging the Landscape workshop Photos by J Riley with permission from the Bundanon Trust
Just like the group of ladies from Napean these boys would start out by laying down on a large mat like paper that comprised of sheets of water-colour paper that had been butted and stuck together. Again they traced and drew around each other with wax and charcoal. For this group of senior school age boys this was definitely a great bonding time, with lots of encouragement and everyone joining in and having a go.
Rearranging the landscape workshop re assembled and more work to be done on the wall. Photos by J Riley with permission from the Bundanon Trust
The difference with this workshop is that I got to see how the creative work developed and I saw the final piece after each participant had worked on it and finally reconstructed a mural out of the entire work.
A collaborative decision-making process was undertaken to reassemble the disassembled pieces in a new order was interesting with students all having a say in what went where and how.
Everyone was enjoying the process and had something special to add to the work. Photos by J Riley with permission from the Bundanon Trust
We then broke for lunch. We had warm pumpkin soup or minestrone with crusty bread and of course there is always salad if you wanted some. The students and teachers are always well looked after at Bundanon. Then it was back to business.
Special mention to the addition of staccato like strokes to the work by one of the students. Photos by J Riley with permission from the Bundanon Trust
All of the separated pieces were labelled in a row like system (eg A 1, B 1, C 1 ,B1,B2,C2 etc) and then stuck up on a large cement wall. The fun didn’t stop there. New marks and additions to the work were added to make parts of the work integrate a bit more. The result was a staggering piece of collage work. To see this workshop from start to finish was great.
Some of the students painted while others participated in a design workshop. Photos by J Riley with permission from the Bundanon Trust
The next session saw the group divided into two, some painted with acrylics with Saskia while others worked with Jim and myself on a design piece (similar to the concertina books) using the skulls and bone collection as inspiration.
Jim reflects the process with students and the decisions they have to make when undertaking a work. This translates to their current HSC studies very well. Photos by J Riley with permission from the Bundanon Trust
So far I have to say that I have loved every workshop that I have assisted in. I know that all of this great knowledge that I am accumulating about technique and practice will show up in my art practice. I can’t wait to get started on some great new ideas.
An Internship at Bundanon with Jeanette Riley 