Dr Abbey MacDonald

Embraced in this intimate space, we celebrate the resurgence of life drawing practice and pedagogy

in Tasmanian schools, drawing together a body of life drawing works from Tasmanian art teachers

and TCE students. Drawn Together emerges from a space of pedagogical learning and practice that

recognises and pays respect to the complex nature of bodies and our relationship with bodies, as

situated within the historic artistic discipline of life drawing, which continues to hold as much

relevance for learning in the visual arts today and it has done so for centuries.

The art education landscape, and indeed, the education landscape more broadly, finds itself

navigating complex challenges inside and outside of our classrooms. Teachers grapple with

navigating these challenges whilst seeking to maximise and leverage the benefits that digital

technologies, space and mediums create for learning. How bodies, and perceptions and articulations

of bodies, become implicated in this fast evolving space, is posing increasingly complex challenges

for teachers and schools to negotiate. The Tasmanian Art Teachers Association recognises how these

challenges can fuel anxiety for education administration, which in turn triggers reactive responses

that can lead to constraint or avoidance. The paradox inherent to these challenges is the increasingly

unprecedented opportunities for powerful and significant learning in and through visual art that

emerge.

Cultural anxieties have been prickled in recent decades, with associated fears grounded in long

histories of efforts to ‘protect children’i. Often glossed over in moral panics about young people is

the failure to bear in mind that ultimately, the majority of young people move into adulthood as

healthy, aware and responsible citizens. Life drawing in Tasmanian schools had found itself caught

up in a complicated cross-fire of well-intended education administration that created an exclusive

situation where authentic life drawing experiences were not accessible to and for all Tasmanian

college aged students who elected to study it within the suite of TASC visual art courseworkii. The

Tasmanian Art Teachers Association recognised the importance of education as imperative to

helping education administration stakeholders understand the historical and contemporary

significance, value and place for authentic life drawing experience as inherent to a holistic visual arts

learning experience that must be made available in equitable ways for all Tasmanian college

students who elected to experience it.

In working collaboratively with state and national education stakeholders and policy makers, the

Tasmanian Art Teachers Association embarked upon a sustained campaign throughout 2015 and

2016 to highlight to policymakers the criticality of equitable opportunities for authentic life drawing

experiences in Tasmanian colleges. The precedents for successful teaching of authentic life drawing

for year 11 and 12 students (where students engage in study of both draped and nude figure

through drawing practice) in Tasmanian colleges dates back to the early 1970’s, where life drawing

had been taught as a dedicated studio area since the establishment of the senior secondary college system. Life drawing is a verified component within TASC accredited learning in visual art, whereby

students can engage in “advanced anatomical studies including the relationship between skeleton

and muscle”iii. Drawing the human figure is arguably one of the greatest challenges for an artist,

particularly in effectively representing the muscles, tendons, and ligature of a human model. Even

small errors and ambiguities in capturing the human form can result in large distortions of the

overall resulting work.

Drawn Together showcases the outstanding quality of life drawing professional practice and

pedagogy of our art teachers, and the implications this has for the emerging practice of Tasmanian

college aged students. Among the many Arts industry and education stakeholders who lent their

expertise to our deliberations over 18 months, the Tasmanian Art Teachers Association

acknowledges with gratitude, the preparedness of our Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff to

examine our evidence and hear our argument, as it was his action that effected the necessary

change to restore equitable and inclusive opportunity for all Tasmanian college aged students to

partake in authentic life drawing learning should they wish to do so.

Research tells us that students who have the opportunity to engage in authentic life drawing

experiences where they can undertake comparative studies of the nude and draped figure are

learning how to translate the complexity of the human form from three dimensions to two

dimensions, encountering the figure as a complex arrangement of abstract formsiv. This is no way a

sexualised form of perceiving and articulating the body. Art education in Tasmania finds itself drawn

together in an exciting period of energy, purposeful growth and forward vision, where art teachers

around the state are embracing the opportunity to cultivate authentic and quality life drawing

learning experiences for our young creatives.

On behalf of the Tasmanian Art Teachers Association, art teachers and students, special thanks and

acknowledgment must go to Jane Giblin for her pedagogical leadership in and for life drawing

practice in Tasmania. Drawn Together emerged directly from a series of pedagogical and practical

workshops Jane facilitated around the state to empower teachers to connect with their own

professional practice as well as rekindle or commence life drawing offerings in school for Tasmanian

college aged students.

With gratitude and in celebration, please revel in all that is Drawn Together.

Dr Abbey MacDonald (President, Tasmanian Art Teachers Association 2017)

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i Heins, M. (2001). Not in Front of the Children: ‘Indecency’, Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth. New York: Hill and

Wang.

ii Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification [TASC] (2017). Art Production Course Delivery (Life Drawing) https://www.tasc.tas.gov.au/students/courses/thearts/

art315117/

iii Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification [TASC] (2017). Art Production Course Document

http://www.tasc.tas.gov.au/4DCGI/_WWW_doc/112986/RND01/Art_Production_TQA3.pdf

iv MacDonald, A (2017). Body of Work, critical essay, Poimena Gallery, 9 June – 11 July, Launceston, Tasmania.

Exhibition artists: Tasmanian art teachers and TCE students

Exhibition dates: 14 September – 6 October

Exhibition venue: Little Space Gallery, Hobart College, 40 Olinda Grove, Mnt Nelson, Tasmania, 7007

Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday | 9AM – 5PM

Free admission

https://www.tata.org.au/drawn-together

All rights reserved. Copyright the author, artist and the Tasmanian Art Teachers Association. Except

as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication maybe reproduced by any process,

electronic or otherwise, without the permission in writing from the publisher and the author.

Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without permission.

All opinions expressed in the material contained in this publication are those of the author and not

necessarily those of the publisher.

Catalogue: DOI 10.13140/RG.2.2.10595.66086

Edition: 50

Author: Dr Abbey MacDonald