Year 7 Terracotta Warriors
The Year 7 Humanties excursion to Melbourne was full of art and artefacts
On Monday 3rd June, Year 7 students rose bright and early to board buses bound for the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
As part of their Humanities unit on Ancient Civilisations, students took a tour of the ‘Terracotta Warriors: Guardians of Immortality’ exhibition which includes 150 treasures of historic Chinese art and design. The artefacts on display included eight life-size warriors made from terracotta during the Qin dynasty, which lay underground from 200 BCE until their discovery in 1974. Other artefacts included two full-sized horses, two bronze chariots and weapons, coins, jewellery and everyday items made from gold, jade and bronze from a range of Chinese dynasties.
Year 7 also enjoyed seeing the works of modern Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang, whose ‘Transient Landscape’ exhibit displays art on a range of traditional Chinese materials including paper, porcelain and silk. Interestingly, all these materials had been exposed to gunpowder explosions in a series of live ignitions, so students were able to not only see but also smell the results.
After a big morning of art and artefacts, the group branched out into science and geography with a visit to the Melbourne Museum in Carlton. Here, students visited the full range of the permanent collection including: spiders, ants and butterflies at ‘Bugs Alive’; a Tasmanian Tiger and many other stuffed animal species at ‘Wild’; Phar Lap, a restored Luna Park Big Dipper carriage and workers' houses from the 1890s at ‘Melbourne Story’; and a stroll through both the ‘Dinosaur Walk’ and the ‘Forest Gallery’.
A food stop on the way out of the city got everyone prepared for the long bus ride home, and students returned to Wodonga tired and full of stories for their families. We look forward to seeing them put their learning to use in their final Humanities task for the semester, where they will create advertisements promoting the exhibition to other school-aged students.
Many thanks to parents for supporting us in implementing this learning opportunity (and that very early start) and to Mr Ried, Miss Saunders, Mrs McAuliffe and CSU placement teachers Mr Harrap and Ms Antill who came along and made the day possible, smooth and enjoyable.
The Year 7 Humanities Team - Mrs Lucy Gibbs, Miss Amanda Hawkins and Mr Jason Zweck
