Art Ways of Learning at the National Gallery of Australia

This workshop shares the Art Ways of Learning principles developed by Krystal Hurst and First Nations educators at the National Gallery of Australia. These principles provide a values-based framework for shaping teaching and learning experiences that prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing; focusing on how we teach as well as what we teach. This workshop will share strategies for engaging with artworks by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and approaches to artmaking.

Krystal is a Worimi woman from Taree and Forster on NSW’s Mid North Coast with ties to the Biripi and Guringai peoples. Her kinship lines are the Russell, Leon, Dumas, Maher, Clarke, and Simon families.  She currently works as an Indigenous Arts Educator leading and delivering the Art Ways of Learning program to enrich learning about First Nations arts and cultures in the National Gallery’s collection. Krystal is lead artist and Creative Director of Gillawarra Arts, a creative venture that began on Purfleet Aboriginal Mission during the 1980s to create arts opportunities for local mob. Krystal has exhibited her work in Canberra, Sydney and Darwin and been a participant of the Honouring Cultures Project and the Indigenous Jewellery Project, where her key interests are seen in fashion and contemporary jewellery expressed through story telling.

This program was presented as part of the 2022 National Visual Arts Education Conference.