Exploring Materiality: Striking Designs
Term 4 2025 and Term 1 2026
Exploring Materiality: Striking Designs
Inspired by the dynamic works in HOTA’s Collection and the vibrant spirit of Ken Done: No Rules, this sculpture workshop invites students to explore creative expression through textiles and fibre art. Drawing on Done’s iconic use of colour and carefree design—reimagined through fashion collaborations like When Romance Was Born—students will investigate how materiality shapes artistic intention.
Through playful experimentation, students will engage with the eccentric beauty of oceanic life, using forms and textures inspired by things like deep sea creatures and nudibranchs. They’ll think critically about the potentials and limitations of materials from both scientific and design perspectives, crafting sculptural pieces that fuse artistic principles with the joyful palette of coastal Australia.
PLEASE NOTE: This workshop concludes on the 18 March 2026.
#School Bookings
#Inquiry
‣ How do contemporary artists like Ken Done communicate cultural identity and place through visual language?
‣ How do audiences respond to wearable art versus traditional artworks in gallery contexts?
‣ How do artists use exaggeration, scale, and repetition to create theatrical or whimsical aesthetics?
‣ What role does experimentation play in a successful creative practice?
‣ How can artists use unconventional materials to communicate ideas such as environmental concerns?
Grades: P-12
Medium: Textiles/ fibre/ cardboard / polystyrene foam / acetate / icy pole sticks/ dowel/ wire/ foil
#Links to Curriculum
Visual Arts F-10: Exploring & responding: Developing practices and skills, Creating and making, Presenting and performing
Visual Arts 11 & 12 Unit 1: Art as lens, Unit 2: Art as code, Unit 3: Art as knowledge, Unit 4: Art as alternate
Visual Arts in Practice 11 & 12: Unit Option A: Looking Inwards (Self), Unit Option B: Looking Outward (Others)
English F-10: Texts in context, Analysing, interpreting and evaluating, Interacting with others
Design & Technologies F-10: Technologies and society, Technologies context: Materials and technologies specialisations, Evaluating
Social & Community Studies 11 & 12: Unit Option F: Arts & Identity
General Capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding, Personal and Social Capability, Literacy
#Related Events
Subscribe now for Art in your inbox
News, special offers, events, competitions, and arts & culture updates on the Gold Coast. All the good stuff.