Material World: Making Meaning
Term 1 - Term 4
Material World: Making Meaning
Step into the provocative world of This Moment: Highlights from The White Rabbit Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art and discover how artists like Xu Zhen, Peng Hung-Chih, and Zhang Dali use bold visual language to challenge authority, reimagine history, and explore the complexities of identity, censorship, capitalism, and spirituality.
In this dynamic workshop, students will dive into themes of consumerism, technology, and fantasy through guided discussion and hands-on artmaking. They’ll experiment with repurposed textiles, fibre, and accessible sculptural materials—cardboard, polystyrene foam, acetate, icy pole sticks, wire, and foil—to create expressive forms that embrace metaphor, symbolism, and the absurd.
This is a chance to think critically, make boldly, and respond creatively to the shifting narratives of a rapidly evolving cultural landscape. Perfect for students ready to push boundaries and explore the power of contemporary art.
Please Note: This workshop will be open for bookings from the 18 of March 2026.
#School Bookings
#Inquiry
‣ What are the potentials and properties of materials and how do certain materials convey specific meanings?
‣ What is the role of experimentation in the creative process?
‣ How can we use the elements and principles of art to explore the possibilities of a material?
‣ What messages do artists convey by using materials in unexpected and interesting ways?
‣ Can we make commentaries about consumerism and sustainability through the types of materials we use and how we use them?
Grades: P-12
Medium: Textiles/ fibre/ cardboard / polystyrene foam / acetate / icy pole sticks/ dowel/ wire/ foil
#Links to Curriculum
Visual Arts F-10: Exploring & responding: Developing practices and skills, Creating and making, Presenting and performing
Visual Arts 11 & 12 Unit 1: Art as lens, Unit 2: Art as code, Unit 3: Art as knowledge, Unit 4: Art as alternate
Visual Arts in Practice 11 & 12: Unit Option A: Looking Inwards (Self), Unit Option B: Looking Outward (Others)
English F-10: Texts in context, Analysing, interpreting and evaluating, Interacting with others
Design & Technologies F-10: Technologies and society, Technologies context: Materials and technologies specialisations, Evaluating
Social & Community Studies 11 & 12: Unit Option F: Arts & Identity
General Capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding, Personal and Social Capability, Literacy
#Related Events
QSO SidebySide Program
HOTA Presents the Queensland Symphony Orchestra Connect Program
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