First Years at the Art Gallery

Thank you first years for being such an eager bunch, keen to understand the ways in which art can illuminate what is going on in literature. What a fabulous icon that was in the main entrance hall to the gallery “THE TRUE ARTIST HELPS THE WORLD BY REVEALING MYSTIC TRUTHS”.

That is a message which applies across the board to so much art- both literature and painting. William Blake, William Shakespeare, Judith Wright, Alex Miller, David Malouf … all are deeply concerned to lift the veil on mundane reality and help us to be more present, more in touch with the pulse of life in, around and beyond us. And I think the form of this particular flourescent art work conveys this verbal idea fabulously- incarnating it in glowing, mystic light- itself a potent metaphor exactly for what it is saying…. breathtaking!
And then… we wondered into the darker rooms of earlier colonial art…. also a revelation, but of a very different kind… And we must not forget to mention the fact that MG made every one of the 110 students genuflect in front of this man who brought the language of Australian literature into a new vibrancy- with his sink holes, his sticks of dynamite and his images of the wind howling mournfully through the tall stringybark gum trees:

And so here is a memento of the various groups who came on Wednesday… all brilliantly attired for this wonderful occasion:



And remember if you want to look more closely at any of these amazing individuals then just click thrice!
Now for more serious business…. my suggestions for YOUR LIVE JOURNAL Entries for week 4….
Year 1: what about a simple response to your art gallery visit: what did you learn, what did you love, what would you want to go and see again….. straight from the heart!
Year 2: what about a letter to Mr Marlow {you are one of those people sitting on the barge in the Thames being talked to by Marlow)… tell him what you think about this amazing story he has just told you about Kurtz at the base of a precipice… tell him what you think about his way of telling this story…..from the heart!
Year 3: in line with the topic of this week: how about a letter to Mr Blake, or to one of his contemporaries, telling him/ them what it is that you have especially appreciated from your reading of his letters. What has he helped you to see and understand in a new way? Straight from the heart….
And remember these are just suggestions… you don’t have to do any of these questions… just ideas… in case you are stuck!
MG