Learning area
Which strands will it fit with?
Key Competencies
Levels of achievement
Year group
Which topics of study can it support?
How long might this take?
Where do I find it?
Why should I take my class to visit this?
What is there to do there?
What should I know about this?
Possible topics for discussion
Further information
Related objects
Learning area
The Arts - Visual Art
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Which strands will it fit with?
- Understanding the Visual Arts in Context
- Communicating and Interpreting in the Visual Arts
- Developing Ideas in the Visual Arts
Key Competencies
Using language, symbols, and texts - Students will investigate the artists choice of iconic New Zealand materials in creating the work, and what the materials symbolise in a New Zealand context.
Relating to others - Students may examine their own ideas and assumptions pertaining to the components that comprise an 'art work', and hear the opinions of others.
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Levels of achievement
Levels 1-8
Years 1-13
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Which topics of study can it support?
- New Zealand Art and Artists
- New Zealand Icons
- Innovation and Inventions
How long might this take?
Allow 5-10 minutes.
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Where do I find it?
-
Level 4, opposite Passports, near Golden Days.
-
Lost? Ask a Te Papa Host.
Why should I take my class to visit this?
- The whole class can fit comfortably around the object.
- Jeff Thomson is a popular New Zealand artist of today.
- The vehicle offers a challenge to New Zealanders’ views of what constitutes art, since it was once a fully functional station wagon.
What is there to do there?
Look and observe the iconic art and use it as a discussion point.
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What should I know about this?
- The iron comes from the Criterion Hotel in Napier, which burnt down.
- Corrugated iron is a material used often by artist Jeff Thomson (born 1957) for his artwork.
- Corrugated iron is a material used today for many different building functions in New Zealand.
- The car is a Holden HQ.
- The car was registered and driven on the roads of both New Zealand and Australia. He did, however, have trouble getting a warrant in Australia because of the rust to the body of the car (not the corrugated iron).
- He finished Fine Arts at Elam in 1981 and then attended Auckland Teachers College.
- This work is a creative connection between transport and the commonly used product of corrugated iron. Jeff Thomson has married two icons of New Zealand culture.
- He has created many other pieces of work from corrugated iron, such as cows, elephants, and penguins.
Possible topics for discussion
- What other materials have you seen in artworks? For example, canvas, wood, stone, and other metals are all used to make artworks.
- What other New Zealand icons could be put onto a car? For example, jandals, kiwifruit, rugby balls, or possum fur.
- What makes this car art? Is it because an artist made it or because it is in a museum or is it because someone has said that it is art? (These are questions that allow the students to give their own opinion.)
- Who likes this artwork? Why?
- Who does not like this artwork? Why?
- If you were to make an accessory for the car (like an aerial or a bumper sticker or something to hang from the mirror), what would you make and why?
- What constitutes an icon? Is this an icon of New Zealand? (An icon is often thought of as something that is a representative of New Zealand, for example, the kiwi is an icon of New Zealand or a bach is an icon of New Zealand’s coastline.)
- Can you think of another icon of New Zealand that could be covered in iron?
- What colour do you think the car used to be?
- Would you drive around in this car? How would you feel if you were dropped off at school from this vehicle?
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- Tai Awatea | Knowledge Net files, Te Papa’s online resource.
- Brimer, R. 1992. Jeff Thomson, Any Old Iron. Auckland: Icon Publishing.
- Millbank, B, Avery, M, Drew, P (ed). 2000. Jeff Thomson. Wellington: Bowen Galleries.
- Pisupo lua afe (Corned beef 2000). The corned beef bull in Tangata o le Moana, Level 4. (Iconic artwork of the Pacific Island cultures created by Michel Tuffery. It is another example of the innovative use of materials with corned beef being an iconic item of Pacific Island food.)
- Rongomaraeroa (Te Marae) created by Cliff Whiting, on Level 4. This is a contemporary use of non-traditional materials to create a traditional marae.
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