childrens art centre

What a stunning example of making art accessible to the community, in particular children and families. A true example of how art museums are places of learning, fun and playfulness.
Visitor comment recorded at Summer Spectacular a 15-day childrens festival presented for Kids APT, part of the fourth AsiaPacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, January 2003.

SINCE ITS INAUGURATION IN 1998, THE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERYS INNOVATIVE EXHIBITION AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING FOR CHILDREN HAS BEEN RECOGNISED NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY.

Kids APT first presented as part of the Gallerys third AsiaPacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in 1999 broke new ground by acknowledging children as a key audience for an international contemporary art event. Since then, the Gallerys philosophy of working directly with contemporary artists to develop projects for children has attracted more than one million visitors to childrens exhibitions and programs. The Queensland Art Gallerys Childrens Art Centre exhibitions and programs have become a defining part of the Gallery, essential to its core principle of connecting art and people. With the opening of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (QGMA) in November 2006, the Childrens Art Centre will have a permanent physical base, with a dedicated exhibition space, teacher resources and workshop facilities. Although based at QGMA (the Gallerys second site), the Childrens Art Centre will continue to present programs across both buildings. We gratefully acknowledge the Queensland Government for funding Childrens Art Centre pilot programs, enabling us to reach new audiences. We look forward to bringing contemporary art to even more contemporary kids at QGMA.

Children and families at Kids APT Summer Spectacular festival, January 2003. cover Yayoi Kusamas The obliteration room 2002, commissioned for Kids APT 2002.
Photograph: Matthew Kassay

inside cover The obliteration room installed for the 2005 Childrens Art Centre exhibition, Made for this World: Contemporary Art and the Places We Build.
Photograph: Natasha Harth

Wayne Goss Chair, Board of Trustees

Doug Hall Director

childrens art centre

The Gallery began programming specifically for children as a key audience in 1998. Since then the Gallery has presented nine childrens exhibitions (including a travelling exhibition), two Kids APTs, two summer festivals and hundreds of creative workshops.

The Childrens Art Centre will be based at the Gallerys second site, the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (QGMA), but will present exhibitions and programs across both buildings.

An ongoing series of commissioned artists projects for children will form the Childrens Art Centre exhibition program at QGMA. This new program will be in addition to the Gallerys annual childrens exhibition of contemporary art from the Collection.

Artist-run programs are integral to the Childrens Art Centre. Local, national and international artists work with Gallery staff to develop interactive art works and programs for kids.

The Gallerys annual childrens exhibitions are targeted towards children aged 3 to 12 years, but are also standalone museum exhibitions in their presentation of major works from the Gallerys Collection.

Key elements of childrens exhibitions include innovative exhibition designs to create child-friendly environments, interpretive labels and activity books, exhibition mascots and specially commissioned interactive art works.

The Childrens Art Centre provides valuable resources (both print and web-based) for early childhood and primary teachers, as well as professional development opportunities for educators such as exhibition previews and seminars.

The first major project for the Childrens Art Centre in QGMA will be Kids APT 2006, which will present interactive works for children by exhibiting artists and a major festival event.

key facts

CHILDRENS ART CENTRE EXHIBITIONS OPEN UP THE WORLD OF CONTEMPORARY ART FOR YOUNG VISITORS. THE OFTEN CHALLENGING AND COMPLEX IDEAS CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS ADDRESS ARE MADE ACCESSIBLE TO CHILDREN THROUGH STORYTELLING, HANDS-ON CREATING AND INTERACTION WITH ARTISTS.

The Gallerys exhibitions for children draw out young viewers instinctive attraction to contemporary art its abstractions, diversity, scale and experimentation. From colourful but relatively small-scale initial exhibitions, the response of children, parents and teachers soon made it evident that childrens exhibitions warranted space and scale of blockbuster proportions. Play, a 2001 exhibition for kids, recognised that the process of playing a mix of exploration, inquiry, problem-solving, interaction and fun is synonymous with childrens learning and social development. In 2003, Colour was the first childrens exhibition to be presented in the Gallerys single largest exhibition space, and was accompanied by a suitably colourful chameleon character as exhibition mascot. Major new acquisitions to the Gallerys contemporary and moving-image collections were unveiled in the 2004 Childrens Art Centre exhibition, The Nature Machine: Contemporary Art, Nature and Technology. In the summer of 2005, Made for this World: Contemporary Art and the Places We Build asked children to look closely at our everyday built environments, and made a timely connection to the Gallerys own construction project the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. In addition to exhibitions designed specifically for them, children are also catered for within many major exhibitions in the Gallerys general program. In 2003, Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest included interactive activities commissioned from several exhibiting artists, which were displayed in a dedicated space for children Googis Place. Interpretive labels and an activity book were also produced specifically for children.

Installation view of the childrens exhibition, Play, 2001. following pages Activities throughout The Nature Machine: Contemporary Art, Nature and Technology (200405) encouraged children to investigate the exhibitions key concepts of art, nature and technology.
Photographs: Richard Stringer

childrens exhibitions

EXHIBITING ARTISTS INTERPRET THEIR WORK FOR CHILDREN IN KIDS APT, PART OF THE GALLERYS ACCLAIMED ASIAPACIFIC TRIENNIAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART (APT).

Introduced as an integral part of the Triennial in 1999, Kids APTs have included works for children by Cai Guo-Qiang (China), Eugene Carchesio (Australia), Song Dong (China), Surasi Kusolwong (Thailand), Suh Do-Ho (South Korea) and Yayoi Kusama (Japan). One of the most successful projects was Yayoi Kusamas The obliteration room 2002 in Kids APT 2002. By the close of the exhibition, Kusamas pristine white room, created to resemble a typical Australian living room, had been transformed by many thousands of coloured dots stuck to every surface. Engaging and fun for kids, the work also remained true to the artists broader practice. After participating in The obliteration room, children were able to make connections to Kusamas other exhibited works Narcissus garden 1966/2002 and Soul under the moon 2002 which also proved immensely popular with children. In 2005 the Gallery collaborated with Kusama to produce a web-based interactive game for children based on The obliteration room. This major project is the first in a series of planned online interactives to be developed for children focused on different works in the Gallerys Collection. These interactives will form an important part of the Gallerys online educational resources for kids. www.qag.qld.gov.au/kids Kids APT will be an integral part of APT 2006, the opening exhibition at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in November 2006.

Artist Heri Dono worked with children to present a wayang (shadow) puppet performance as part of Kids APT 2002.
Photograph: Lukas Davidson

following pages As part of Kids APT 1999, children built bridges like the one constructed across the Watermall by APT artist Cai Guo-Qiang. Cai Guo-Qiang Blue dragon and bridge crossing Project for the Third AsiaPacific Triennial 1999 Collection: The artist
Photograph: Richard Stringer

Kids APT

FESTIVALS AND OTHER MAJOR PUBLIC PROGRAMS PROVIDE ANOTHER VIBRANT LAYER TO CHILDRENS EXPERIENCES AT THE GALLERY. FESTIVALS EXTEND THE EXPLORATION OF ART WORK AND EXHIBITION THEMES THROUGH PERFORMANCES, ARTIST TALKS, WORKSHOPS AND MORE.

The Gallerys first childrens festival was Kids APT Summer Spectacular, presented in January 2003 as part of the fourth AsiaPacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Summer Spectaculars multicultural program of more than 30 performances and activities attracted 50 000 people in just 15 days. A combination of art, spectacle, music, dance and storytelling, the festival was a clear example of the shifts that have taken place in the Gallery and other museums over the past two decades no longer are institutions primarily about the silent contemplation and preservation of objects; rather they are active and dynamic places for people of all ages. In January 2005 The Nature Machine Summer Festival explored the exhibitions key concepts of art, nature and technology. Attended by nearly 30 000 people, a highlight of the nine-day festival was a work by eminent international artist Olafur Eliasson that invited children to create and recreate an ever-evolving cityscape from thousands of pieces of white Lego. This work, The cubic structural evolution project 2004, will tour to regional Queensland galleries in 2007. Another of The Nature Machine festivals popular activities was inspired by Jana Sterbaks video installation From here to there 2003, in which the artist used video footage filmed by a dog with a lightweight camera on its back. For Canine-cam, visitors brought the family dog to the Gallery to record and take home their pets-eye view of the world. Research through observation, visitor surveys, and interviews with children, parents and participating artists assists the Gallery in developing each new festival or exhibition program.

Children participating in Olafur Eliassons The cubic structural evolution project 2004 during the childrens exhibition Made for this World: Contemporary Art and the Places We Build, November 2005.
Photograph: Natasha Harth

childrens festivals

ONGOING PROGRAMS SUCH AS SUNDAY AT THE GALLERY AND TODDLER TUESDAY HELP FOSTER THE CREATIVE AND LEARNING POTENTIAL OF CHILDREN.

Held twice a month on Sunday afternoons, Sunday at the Gallery workshops are presented by local and national artists, and respond to current exhibitions or Collection displays. Gallery research demonstrates that children not only respond to art work, but have a great interest in, and empathy for, the creative journey of the artist. These programs give children the opportunity to work directly with artists, and assist in making art and the art museum part of the childs world. Toddler Tuesday provides the opportunity for very young children, with a parent or carer, to join in creative activities based around art works in the Gallerys Collection. Storytellers, performers and early childhood experts work with Gallery staff to create a dynamic program. Demand for places in the sessions has seen Toddler Tuesday become a twice-weekly fixture of the Gallerys program. As we move towards the opening of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, the Childrens Art Centre will expand its services to the education sector including professional development opportunities for teachers, and printed and online curriculum resources to help facilitate the inclusion of Childrens Art Centre exhibitions and Gallery Collection works in the teaching programs of Queensland schools.

A selection of Queensland Art Gallery childrens activity books.

ongoing programming and education

Queensland . . . is about to become home to the most remarkable and innovative art museum in the southern hemisphere.
Elaine W Ng, Art AsiaPacific, Issue no.43, Winter 2005

IN NOVEMBER 2006 THE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY WILL BECOME A TWO-SITE INSTITUTION WITH THE OPENING OF ITS SECOND BUILDING, THE QUEENSLAND GALLERY OF MODERN ART.

Overlooking the Brisbane River, the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (QGMA) will be located 200 metres north of the existing Gallery, linked by a public plaza. Together, the Queensland Art Gallery and the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art will become the second-largest public art museum in Australia. QGMA will focus on the art of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, showcasing the Gallerys contemporary Australian, Indigenous Australian, Asian, Pacific and international collections. The new building will house several exciting new initiatives the Childrens Art Centre and the Australian Cinmathque, both of which will be based in QGMA while presenting programs across both buildings. Featuring 5825 square metres of exhibition space over four levels, QGMA will also house the Australian Centre of AsiaPacific Art (for research and support of the Gallerys Asian and Pacific activities), and a centre for contemporary art conservation. Following the AsiaPacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 2006 as QGMAs opening exhibition, a major retrospective exhibition of the work of Andy Warhol is planned for 2007. With the opening of QGMA, the existing Queensland Art Gallery building will be dedicated to the display of the Gallerys heritage collections, with works predominantly dating before 1970. The construction of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art is part of the Queensland Governments Millennium Arts Project. www.qag.qld.gov.au/qgma

Illustration of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art.

Image courtesy: Architectus, Sydney

Queensland Gallery of Modern Art

QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY QUEENSLAND GALLERY OF MODERN ART Doug Hall, Director CONTACTS CHILDRENS ART CENTRE Email: childrensartcentre@qag.qld.gov.au Tel: +61 (0) 7 3840 7325 Subscribe online to Artmail, the Gallerys free e-bulletin, and indicate your special interest in the Childrens Art Centre. www.qag.qld.gov.au/artmail SPONSORSHIP Email: foundation@qag.qld.gov.au Tel: +61 (0) 7 3840 7337 MEDIA Email: media@qag.qld.gov.au Tel: +61 (0) 7 3840 7162 Queensland Art Gallery, January 2006 Melbourne Street, South Brisbane, Queensland Australia PO Box 3686, South Brisbane, Queensland 4101 Australia www.qag.qld.gov.au

Objects made by children during a workshop with Australian artist Eugene Carchesio, January 2004.
Photograph: Natasha Harth

www.qag.qld.gov.au/kids

Brisbane, Australia