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Evaluate how Jane Gillings has developed artworks to challenge and raise awareness of plastic waste.
Evaluate how Jane Gillings has developed artworks to challenge and raise awareness of plastic waste.
In your response refer to the artist's use of materials (Artist Practice), the location of the artwork (site) and the impact on audience. (Structural Frame)
In your response refer to the artist's use of materials (Artist Practice), the location of the artwork (site) and the impact on audience. (Structural Frame)
You must refer to TWO of the artists artworks in your response as well as reference how each artwork draws attention to the social, cultural and political debate regarding single use plastics. (Subjective/Cultural Frame)
You must refer to TWO of the artists artworks in your response as well as reference how each artwork draws attention to the social, cultural and political debate regarding single use plastics. (Subjective/Cultural Frame)
TEEL Paragraphs required
TEEL Paragraphs required
500-800 words in length
500-800 words in length
Sculpture by the Sea 2012, "Midden"
Sculpture by the Sea 2012, "Midden"
A ‘midden’ (above) is an occupation site where Aboriginal people left the remains of their meals. At some sites substantial deposits grew over generations of use of the same area, and some middens are a few metres deep.
A ‘midden’ (above) is an occupation site where Aboriginal people left the remains of their meals. At some sites substantial deposits grew over generations of use of the same area, and some middens are a few metres deep.
When Aboriginal people had visited a certain area, they sometimes intentionally left the waste remains of the food they had consumed as the top layer of the midden pile so that the next people to visit could see what had just been harvested and would choose something else to eat so they didn’t over-use the resource .
Middens thus represent a blueprint for sustainable harvesting of coastal resources, but are also an archaeological treasure trove.
MIDDEN, 2012
MIDDEN, 2012
Winner: NAVA Environmental Award 2015
MEDIUM discarded plastic cutlery, discarded shade cloth and glue
DIMENSIONS Various
Another artist once posed this question to me, “Aren’t all our works just trying to say the same thing? Differently?” I realised that at least for myself, this was true. My work is always about over-consumption, waste, and being surrounded by seemingly endless stuff. I’m drawn to it, but am overwhelmed by it and its possibilities.
In response to this mass consumerism, I primarily use discarded waste for making my artwork. This could be anything, but is mostly plastic waste. I like plastic for its colour, diversity, durability and abundance. I also like the inherent politics of plastic. Our reliance and our addiction to plastic as well as its effect on our natural environment makes it a material that is heavy with metaphor.
The term midden is used by archaeologists to describe a domestic waste pile which is found in areas that have been inhabited by humans. The piles are also referred to as “kitchen middens”, as much of the waste found in them is from food and food preparation.
Most commonly, middens found in Australia contain shells from shellfish consumption by Aborigines. Sometimes middens also contain stone tools used in for harvesting and preparing food.
This midden is artificially created with discarded white plastic cutlery which references the white shells from ancient middens. White trash indeed.
Sculpture by the Sea 2010 "The Big Melt" (detail)
Sculpture by the Sea 2010 "The Big Melt" (detail)
The Big Melt, 2010
The Big Melt, 2010
Statement by the artist: "Icebergs break off and drift. Ephemeral sculptures, dripping and changing. Icicles cling to overhangs. Little swords of Damocles. Falling gradually. Returning to the sea."
The sword of Dam-o-cles is frequently used in allusion to this tale, epitomizing the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. When Damocles comments that Dionysius must be very happy to hold so much power, Dionysius offers to switch places with him. When Damocles accepts, Dionysius arranges to have a sword suspended by a hair over the throne so that Damocles might experience the constant sense of danger powerful people must endure.
Antarctica, Icicle hangs from melting iceberg near Petermann Island
Sculpture by the sea artworks will melt your heart
Sculpture by the sea artworks will melt your heart
Elizabeth Fortescue, DailyTelegraph
October 28, 2010
WHENEVER artist Jane Gillings attended exhibition openings, she was always careful to take her plastic champagne flute home.
In fact, she normally took everybody else's flutes as well.
It wasn't for her kitchen cupboard, but for her artwork, a comment on global warming, in this year's Sculpture by the Sea exhibition.
Ms Gillings recycled the flutes in her work The Big Melt - one of 109 sculptures to feature in the al fresco feast of art, which colonises the clifftop walk between South Bondi and Tamarama. The popular exhibition features work by artists from 11 countries.
Ms Gillings' The Big Melt is a series of tapering hollow shapes suspended from a rocky ledge beside the Sculpture by the Sea path, fed by naturally flowing water and open at both ends, so the effect is of dripping icicles.
"It's the icicles melting as we warm up," Ms Gillings said.
"From Little Things" Avoca Beach, Five Lands Walk Sculpture exhibition 2009
"From Little Things" Avoca Beach, Five Lands Walk Sculpture exhibition 2009
"Summer Punch" installation at Lane 4 , The Galeries Victoria, 2014
"Summer Punch" installation at Lane 4 , The Galeries Victoria, 2014
Dream home, 2009 by Jane Gillings won the Kids Choice Award at this year's exhibition.
Dream home, 2009 by Jane Gillings won the Kids Choice Award at this year's exhibition.
"A firm favourite from the start, Dream Home was constantly played with by children throughout the exhibition who were attracted by the playful small house covered in children's toys made as a response to the consumerism and consumption in our society which starts from a very young age.
"What I love about the piece is that it brings out the kid in everyone and I probably had more fun making it, than the thousands of kids had playing in the piece during the exhibit. Winning this prize is a great reward for a lot of hard work," said artist Jane Gillings.
It has a bright, colourful exterior, but the mood gets much more serious inside, with black walls and scary-looking dolls.
Gillings says the contrasting elements were inspired by the idea that the global financial crisis was sparked by people being encouraged to live beyond their means.
A brightly coloured children's playhouse covered with countless plastic toys had hordes of excited kids jostling to get inside it. The theme wasn't as apparent - at least from the outside. ''Inside I've put guns and skulls'' and other scary objects, said artist Jane Gillings.
Her Dream Home was a response to the financial crisis in that ''people took out loans they couldn't afford to pay back so they bought the dream home'' but later, when the crunch bit, ''the inside of that house, I would imagine, would become a bit of a nightmare''.
Sculpture-Glossary-2.pdf
Sculpture By The Sea 2016 "The Pearly Gates" Staff choice winner
Sculpture By The Sea 2016 "The Pearly Gates" Staff choice winner
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