Comic Turn
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday January 16, 2004
Rolf Harris, eat your heart out: the MCA is helping nurture budding cartoonists, reports JACKIE CHOWNS.
Strange as it may seem, Australian artist Tracey Moffatt's slightly disturbing series of photographs, Scarred for Life, is the inspiration behind cartooning workshops for adults and kids at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Perhaps even more surprisingly linked to the Comic Worlds workshops is Melbourne artist Callum Morton's exhibition, More Talk About Buildings and Mood, comprising architectural models of high-minded and serious buildings, accompanied by soundtracks that undercut the buildings' self-importance.
Both it and Scarred for Life, part of the Moffatt exhibition, are on at the MCA.
So how do these disparate exhibitions tie in to the world of comic books?
"Even though they are very different media, they are both essentially about stories," says the MCA's education officer, Justine McLisky.
"Both of the exhibitions are linked to ideas about narrative. So we thought that a good fun workshop would be cartooning."
McLisky says that Morton's and Moffatt's work is also big on humour and wit, which are also on the agenda.
The basic unit of the comic book is one frame on a storyboard, so participants will receive blank pages with little boxes on them into which they will draw their stories, frame by frame. Students will be encouraged to think about making up stories from their everyday experiences.
Workshops will teach the basics of getting a point across with pictures, as well as how to put these pictures together to tell a story.
Moffatt's Scarred for Life photographs are accompanied by captions that will help students learn about how words and images can go together, says McLisky.
"It's really just opening them up to a range of techniques used in comics," she says. "Tracey Moffatt's exhibition has a series of little narrative panels. [Before the workshop] we'll take them in to the gallery and get them to look at the way Moffatt poses images, puts on snappy little captions ... and get them to start thinking about that."
The workshops will also put students through drawing exercises such as how to sketch buildings - perhaps the Opera House, on show through the workshop windows - and faces, helping them notice details such as head shapes.
"And we'll also talk about various expressions - how to draw someone who's frightened or happy, how to draw movement ..." says McLisky.
The students will also look at Morton's show, paying particular attention to his use of exaggeration, the staple of caricature, to create humour.
At the end of the day, everyone will go home with a booklet containing their masterpieces.
COMIC WORLDS
Where Museum of Contemporary Art, 140 George Street, The Rocks
When Ages 5-8: Monday, 10am-1pm. Ages 9-12: Tuesday, 10am-1pm. Family cartooning workshop: Tuesday, 2-4pm
How much $10-$20
Bookings 9250 8484
More information
Callum Morton's show runs until January 26. Tracey Moffatt's show runs until February 29
© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald