Digital @ The Arts Unit Creative Classes

Examining an artist's practice

Examining the link between the artist’s world and their practice

Student visual arts resource developed by The Arts Unit

Years 11 and 12 visual art students

What will I learn?

Welcome to this Digital @ The Arts Unit Creative Class Examining an artist's practice.

You will hear from artist, Lachlan Warner, as he shares a number of his artworks and explains the relationship between his spiritual world, his artmaking practice and his most recent artworks.

You will:

  • watch the videos and record notes

  • analyse the relationship between Lachlan Warner’s artworks, artmaking practice and his view of the world

  • apply your understanding and express a point of view in short written responses

  • refine written responses by sharing them with your teacher and redrafting your writing based on teacher feedback.


Before you begin

Make sure you have a pen and your theory books on hand to make notes.

You may like to review the scaffolds and resources on the visual arts teaching resources page of the NSW Department of Education, the NESA 2019 HSC exam pack and Notes from the Marking Centre.

Watch

Watch Lachlan Warner – artist, artwork and world.

Record the answers to the following questions in your theory books as you watch:

  • List any important formative facts about the artist’s life.

  • What belief system does Lachlan Warner hold?

  • What expressive form/s does Warner work in?

  • Describe his artwork.

  • What themes or ideas is Warner interested in exploring?

  • List any important points about the world/context of his works.

  • What materials and techniques has he experimented with in his practice?

  • What response does he want from his audience?

  • What is one important quote from Warner that expresses who he is as an artist?

  • Why does Warner choose to begin with his most recent artworks when explaining his practice?

Analyse

Analyse the relationship between Warner’s personal response to the world, his artmaking practice and his artworks by answering the following questions in your visual arts process diary:

  • How was Warner’s artwork 'Shelf of 5 Pink Skulls' influenced by the time and place in which it was created?

  • Give yourself 15 minutes to write this, remember quality over quantity is the key.

Image of 5 skulls sculptures, covered in pink foil, displayed on a white shelf

Shelf of 5 Pink Skulls

2010, Conny Dietzschold Gallery
  • What materials (what the artists used to create the work), choices ( the reason for it, the meaning behind it) and actions (how it was created, including techniques, if known, and how it was displayed) are evident in Warner’s artwork below?

Image of human silhouettes burned into eight panels of cardboard covered in gold leaf.

The Forest III, 2014

Cardboard, gold leaf, shellac, 200 x 800 cm.
  • How do the 2 artworks, Smile of the Buddha and Buddha in Suburbia, Compost Buddha, represent the development of Warner’s artmaking practice? Refer to this scaffold to assist you to develop a response.

Image of 5 gold Buddha sculptures displayed against pink foil wall.

Smile of the Buddha

2007, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University
Image of Buddha sculpture dried earth, surrounded by candles.

Buddha in Suburbia, Compost Buddha

2005, Liverpool Regional Gallery

Apply and express

Apply your understanding of Lachlan Warner’s artmaking practice by responding to the following questions.

  • What can you infer about the relationship between the artwork and the audience in his artwork, 99 Buddhas?

Refer to the artist practice scaffold for some more questions to consider.

Image of multiple Buddha sculptures made from dried earth, displayed in public outdoor space

99 Buddhas

2002 Sculpture in the City

Explain how ‘The 2nd Question of Mahammad Bouazizi and Thich Quang Doc’ is a response to the artwork's world.

Image of 9 photos of a Buddha sculpture in process of burning.

The 2nd Question of Mahammad Bouazizi and Thich Quang Doc

Digital print on art paper2012, Muswellbrook Photography Award Finalists Exhibition[sic – artist's spelling]

Use the cultural frame to analyse Lachlan Warner’s artmaking practice. The frames scaffold will help you explicitly explore how to apply the cultural frame. Refer to the 3 works below in your response.

Image of numerous Buddha sculptures made from coloured foil and arranged in a commercial display case.

Blake Prize for Religious Art

In a range of festive colours, postures and mudras mixed media 188 x 150 x 62 cm 2001, S H Irwin Gallery
Image of three Buddha sculptures made from pink and blue foil, displayed against mirrors

National Sculpture Award

Carcano aluminium foil, mirror glass, MDF140 x 97 x 97 cm2005, National Gallery of Australia
Image of sculptural installation of human silhouettes made from burned cardboard and gold leaf.

The Forest IV, 2017

Cardboard, gold leaf, shellac, dimensions variable, figures are life-sized

Share and refine

Share your written responses with your teacher.

Refine your ideas by redrafting your response based on teacher feedback.

Extension

Alexis Potts visual arts process diary

Alexis Potts Visual Arts Process Diary

Watch 2018 HSC Visual arts student, Alexis Potts, explaining the concepts and processes behind her Photomedia Body of Work.

Alexis Potts interview

Duration: 07:33
  • Describe 3 choices Alexis Potts made about her artmaking practice.

  • How has Alexis Potts represented ideas through the use of colour and symbol in her artmaking practice?

  • Use the subjective frame to investigate the ways in which Alexis Potts has responded to her personal world. Refer to the 2 works below in your response. This frame scaffold will help you explore these ideas.

Student artwork by Alexis Potts with an assemblage of objects forming a post modern lounge scene with a figure.
Student artwork by Alexis Potts - series of photographic works involving post modern assemblages and costumes

Exsaturated Deutan – Alexis Potts

Compare how Warner and Potts have expressed meaning through their artmaking practices. In your response, refer to any of the images of artworks supplied in this lesson.


Congratulations!

You have completed this

Digital @ The Arts Unit Creative Class.

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