Distant Connections

This exhibition features artworks produced by a group of nineteen Charles Sturt University students who are studying by distance to become specialist secondary visual arts teachers.

As part of their course students have engaged with the Chifley Home and Education Centre as a historical site, as a resource for teaching and as an inspiration for the creation of artworks.

As a starting point for their artworks, each student chose a historical object from their own community but also related to the Chifley era. Individually they investigated and explored those objects to develop a range of concepts, interpretations and viewpoints that are developed in the final artworks. Each student engaged in their own practice as artists working in a variety of art forms and with a range of materials. As part of this process they communicated with one another in an online teaching and learning environment that traversed geographical distance, enabling them to share their experience, ideas and expertise while also responding and teaching one another.

The final artworks and the exhibition are the outcome of intense work, commitment and risk taking. Each submission presents a unique and informed interpretation of a historical object. In some cases, the connection to the original object is very clear. In other works, objects have been taken on more abstract or unexpected journeys. Likewise, in exploring the life of the Chifleys’ there are some familiar symbols and stories being told, while a range of different perspectives are also elaborated on.