Celebrating the artwork of Tasmania Art Teachers.

Dr Abbey MacDonald & Sarah Brooke

Congratulations Tasmanian Art teachers! We know it can be especially challenging to carve out time and energy to make art, and it is wonderful to see this remarkable collection of individual and collective creative effort on display in this beautiful space. The Tasmanian Art Teachers Association (TATA) organisation is deeply committed to supporting Tasmanian art teachers as they grapple with both developing and teaching rich arts programs to their students, while also continuing to find the space for their own arts practice. TATA believe visual arts teachers’ engagement with and attendance to their own art practice is an important aspect of their career wide professional learning (TATA, 2020).

The fact is that not many artists in Australia are able to work on and earn income exclusively from their own creative practice (Throsby & Peteskaya, 2017), and for those artists who also teach art, this is especially challenging (MacDonald, 2017). The reality for many artists working in Australia is that they need to look to other sources of employment, be they arts related or not, to either supplement their income, or finance their arts practice. This is not to say that artists go into teaching reluctantly, or simply as a measure to prop up their artistic ambitions. The fact is, Tasmania has a remarkable community of art teachers who make art; many of which are locally, nationally, and internationally renowned (Baguley et el., 2019; MacDonald, 2017). For example, we need only look at the finalist exhibitions, honour lists and winners of Tasmania and Australia’s most prestigious art prizes to see strong and consistent representation of art teachers (i.e Hadley’s Art Prize, Glover Prize). Similarly, some of the most lauded teachers and school leaders in Tasmania are art teachers, or have deep discipline groundings in the Arts (Department for Children and Young People, 2021).

These all point to the prowess, ingenuity and tenacity of Tasmanian art teachers who excel in art making and art teaching as singular and combined endeavours. This exhibition is testament to the fact that Tasmanian art teachers model a deep commitment to making art and teaching art, and are recognised locally, nationally, and internationally for their excellence.

As teachers reflect upon and recalibrate their teaching programs and planning to enact version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum, it is timely that Tasmanian art teachers take a moment to invest in one another and invigorate themselves through practice. It is important that we recognise the value of such experiences as essential for pedagogic reflection, growth, and development in, through and from art practice (Brooke & MacDonald., 2022, p. 18). This exhibition can offer a shared experience for this developing community of Tasmanian art teachers, who TATA aim to continue to help create links and opportunities for art teachers to communicate, share and redevelop teaching programs to align with Version 9.0 Australian Curriculum. Coming together within this exhibition, TATA hopes that Tasmanian art teachers feel part of community of art teachers, who can continue to support, and encourage each other through times of change and learning.

Through this exhibition, TATA hopes to encourage and inspire art teachers to engage in their own practice, and to provide Tasmanian art teachers with opportunities to publicly exhibit and celebrate their accomplishments. This exhibition and its associated community engagement events give Tasmanian art teachers opportunity to meet with other art teachers and talk about what inhibits and enables their own art practice. Importantly, it provides means for us to celebrate the creativity and cleverness that our magnificent art teachers have to offer, both in their teaching practice and their art making practice which are inextricably linked. When art teachers work in support of each other, they can raise and explore questions of practices to co-create new meanings about making and teaching art in Tasmania that can bring about growth and change. This exhibition provides a space in which we can reflect upon, share, and respond to the art practice of art teachers in Tasmania. Such opportunities for reflection on place and our purpose as artists and teachers will always be important (Brooke & MacDonald., 2022, p. 20).

Tasmanian has a thriving visual art education community, and many of the art teachers whose work is on display here have contributed to and benefited from various opportunities created and facilitated by the Tasmanian Art Teachers Association over the past 30 + years. This exhibition offers compelling evidence of Tasmanian art teachers’ strong knowledge and professional competence in and across the range of visual arts. This knowledge indicates a depth of care and proficiency that will see art teachers continue to successfully weave the pursuits of teaching and art making into a tapestry of complementary activities for years to come.

Congratulations to all involved!

References

Baguley, M., MacDonald, A., & Jackett, A. (2018). Creative leadership and the Hadley's Art Prize Hobart (HAPH). Australian Art Education, 39(2), 288-306.

Brooke, S. (2021). Contiguity: A sharing of stories (Visual Arts Exhibition), Devonport Regional Gallery, Tasmania, Devonport Regional Gallery, 1st October – 13th November. https://www.paranapleartscentre.com.au/events/contiguityexhibition/

Brooke, S., & MacDonald, A. (2022). Contiguity, collaboration and community: Becoming-literate in the intra-connected ecology of things. Climate Literacy for Art Educators, IMAG (13), 18-23.

Department for Children and Young People (2021). Together We Inspire Awards https://twiawards.education.tas.gov.au/awards.html

Harris, A., & De Bruin, L. (2018). An international study of creative pedagogies in practice in secondary schools: Toward a creative ecology. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 15(2), 215-235.

MacDonald, A. (2014). Intertwined: An investigation into becoming an artist and teacher (Doctoral dissertation, University of Tasmania)

MacDonald, A. (2017). A diptych of dilemma: Becoming an artist and a teacher. International Journal of Education Through Art, 13(2), 163-177.

MacDonald, A., & Wightman, K. (2020). Cultivating professional learning partnerships in Tasmania, in B. Shelley, K. te Riele, & N. Brown (Eds), Harnessing the transformative power of education (pp. 282 – 298). Brill.

Tasmanian Art Teachers Association (2020). Tasmanian Art Teachers Association Strategic Plan 2020-2024. https://www.tata.org.au/new-page

Tasmanian Teachers Registration Board (2021). Celebrating World Teachers Day - Contiguity: A Sharing of Stories. https://www.trb.tas.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/World-Teachers-Day-Article-Contiguity-A-Sharing-of-Stories.pdf

Throsby, D., & Petetskaya, K. (2017). Making art work. Report for the Australian Council for the Arts.