Jessica Murtagh (designer and maker), Modern Relic IV: All in this together, apart, 2021<br/> Lillie Thompson 2021
Jessica Murtagh (designer and maker), Modern Relic IV: All in this together, apart, 2021
Lillie Thompson 2021

Draw Me a Story

NGV Creative Studio inspired by Jessica Murtagh | Levels F–6

Mon – Fri, 10am, 12:30pm
Levels F-6
NGV International

Explore visual storytelling in an educator-led program inspired by the modern relics of contemporary artist/designer Jessica Murtagh. This educator-led program begins in the Gallery with students viewing and discussing a range of art and design works telling stories of everyday life. Then, in the studio, students will use resist techniques with wax crayons and ink-wash to draw a visual story for their own modern relic.

Cost: $22 per student
Duration: 2 hours

Format: In-Gallery discussion and studio workshop

Students will:

  • Discuss how artists from different times and places tell stories inspired by everyday life.
  • Identify and discuss the artistic practices and ideas of Jessica Murtagh and consider how these connect with other works in the NGV Collection.
  • Adapt ideas, skills and techniques from contemporary art to inform their own artmaking.

About the Artist
Jessica Murtagh is an Adelaide-based early career artist working with blown glass. Murtagh’s arts practice leans heavily on illustration, using sand carving and engraving techniques to create imagery and narratives on glass. Her work is predominantly in the form of vessels and draws inspiration from both the natural world and classical artefacts contrasted with contemporary themes. Murtagh’s Modern Relic series, 2021, references ancient Athenian ceramic amphoras, often depicting scenes of everyday life. Adapting an ancient glass technique called cameo glass, Murtagh sand carves and engraves complex illustrations to the exterior of the vessels, depicting in 360 degrees scenes relating to the social and economic fallout of COVID-19 in Australia, online dating, and domestic and everyday contemporary life.

Murtagh’s work is held in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney; and the Parliament House Collection in Canberra. She was an exhibiting artist in NGV Triennial 2023.

Booking form

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