mirka mora: pas de deux - drawings and dolls · hard a very tiny pink panther sculpture made out of...

MIRKA MORA: PAS DE DEUX - DRAWINGS AND DOLLS Be an art detective and spell out the mystery words with this fun activity for kids and parents or carers to do together. Follow the directions and use the clues to discover the answer. Suitable for children and adults of all ages.

DIRECTION SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT CLUE ANSWER

1. Start at the big

photograph of the artist

Mirka Mora at the

entrance and turn right.

Look at the wall of

drawings to your right for

an artwork with three

crowned men in an orange

boat.

Mirka and her husband Georges

Mora arrived in Melbourne from

France in 1951. Since this time

Mirka’s art has filled the city with

joy and colour! She created

paintings, mosaics, soft

sculptures, dolls, embroidery,

murals and many drawings.

“Mirka the hard worker” liked to

draw for three hours or more

every day!

Can you see angels in the sky

playing instruments? One is

playing a pink guitar and the

others are playing green

__ __ __ __ P __ T __

Fill in the blanks in this word.

Write the fourth letter of this

word in the ANSWER box ->

This is your first clue!

2. Walk along this wall and

look for a drawing of a

person and their pet called

My Pet has a Serpent’s

Tale.

Mirka said that the serpent in her

drawings is a symbol of

knowledge or wisdom. She drew

it when she felt she understood

something.

Sometimes it represents the

serpent that tempted Adam and

Eve to eat a forbidden apple in

the Garden of Eden. Mirka’s

response to this story was always

“I have to eat that apple!”

The title of this artwork has

two meanings. This spelling of

“Tale” refers to the pet having

a “tale” (or a story) about a

serpent, but the image refers

to the pet having a “tail” like a

serpent.

What is another name for a

serpent?

__ __ __ K__ Write the third letter of this

word in the ANSWER box ->

This is your second clue!

3. Walk into the purple room

nearby and search for an

artwork comprising of 16

small square drawings.

This artwork looks like many little

windows. Did you know that

Mirka Mora painted a mural on

the sunroom windows of the

Heide I cottage in 2010?

You can still see this mural if you

visit Heide I whilst at the Heide

Museum today!

One of these drawings is of a

piece of furniture. What is this

piece of furniture called?

__ __ __ __ __

The fourth letter of this word

is your next clue.

Write it here ->


4. Leave this room and

re-enter the large room.

This time look on the wall

to your right for a drawing

of two figures with a pink

and yellow background.

Mirka Mora often made artworks

showing two figures conjoined

(attached to each other).

Sometimes these figures are

people and sometimes they are

animals or mythical creatures. To

Mirka, being conjoined

represented closeness, friendship

and love.

Look at label for this artwork.

Mirka has used two different

drawing mediums in this

artwork. Pastel and

__ __ __ R __ __ __ L The second to last letter of

this word is your next clue.

Write this letter here ->

5. Walk into the next large

room and into a world of

dolls! On your left is a wall

of soft sculptures on

shelves.

Mirka began making dolls in the

1970’s. They were three

dimensional versions of her

drawings.

Mirka loved to play with her dolls

and said they were her friends.

Two of these sculptures depict

a single-horned creature.

What do we call a mythical

horse with a horn on its

forehead?

__ __ __ C __ __ __ The fifth letter of this

creature is your next clue.

6. Turn right to see a large

purple clown sculpture

hanging on the wall and a

drawing of the same clown

with angel’s wings.

Before Mirka came to Australia

she was a student at the Jean-

Louis Barrault theatre school in

Paris where she studied drama

and mime. The famous mime

artist and actor, Marcel Marceau

was her teacher and the clown

doll was created by Mirka and

painted by Marceau when they

met up again in later life.

Read the wall text for these

two artworks to learn the

name of the clown character,

played by Marcel Marceau.

Write this below.

___ ___ ___

The middle letter of this word

is your next clue. Write this

letter here ->

7. Turn around and look for a

round table full of puppet-

like sculptures. Some of

these sculptures look like

court jesters or the joker

card from a deck of cards.

Notice that some of these

sculptures have a rolled up

newspaper or old books

for a body!

Mirka had a cheeky sense of

humour and loved laughter. One

day on her birthday she was sitting

in a restaurant with all of her

friends when the waiter presented

her with a huge decorated

birthday cake. As soon as he put it

on the table, Mirka plunged her

face right in the middle of it and

came up smiling with a face full of

chocolate and cream!

Walk around the sculptures on

the table to answer the below

question.

What is U for?

___ ___ D ___ ___ E

The repeated letter of this

girl’s name is your next clue.

Write this letter here ->

8. Odd one out game! 1. Look at the window side of this room to see some teddy bear paintings on the wall. Look

for a teddy called “Wolfy” and stand in front of this artwork.

2. Now turn around and look at the round table closest to you.

3. Can you find the sculptures below on the table in front of you?

4. One of the below sculptures is NOT on this table. The letter in the box with the sculpture you can NOT see on this table is your next clue!

ANSWER

5. Write this letter in this box here ->


9. Move two tables to

your left to find a

table full of fish-

tailed mermaid

sculptures.

To Mirka a mermaid meant

“escape”. She believed that

everyone needed to escape and

have some time alone to think

about things. She said that this

was a “nice escape”. However, it is

also important to make sure that

you come back! Mirka said, “The

mermaid does not escape to

disappear, but to return”.

Look at the mermaid sculptures

and find the words to complete

the text below:

__ W __ __ __

__ __ S __ __ __ __ E

The last letter of the first word

is your next clue!

10. Turn around and

look up. In the air

behind you, you will

see a mobile of

hanging sculptures.

The dogs that appear in Mirka’s

works are based on her friend’s

real life dogs called Ambrose and

Percy. The birds that appear in her

works are there to watch

everybody but Mirka siad they can

also cause mischief. A bird “tells

you things if you listen to him. He

is your friend really, even when he

is a trouble maker.”

Look for a hanging sculpture of

a dog with a bird on its head.

Count how many faces in total

can you see on this sculpture?

Write this number below

F __ __ __

The second letter of this word

is your next clue!

11. Turn right and go to

the wall on the left

side of the doorway.

Again you will find

some soft sculptures

on shelves.

Look for a sculpture

that is almost

completely coloured

black!

When Mirka Mora was pregnant

with her third baby, her good

friend, the artist Charles Blackman

asked her “Why do you always

draw little angels with four toes?”

Mirka replied “That’s how my

hand does it I can’t do anything

about it!” When her baby was

born, a very strange thing

happened. The baby had only four

toes on one of its feet!

Look at the shape and details of

this sculpture and you will

notice that it is the same as

another sculpture on this wall.

What colour shirt is the colour

version of this sculpture

wearing?

__ __ __ K

The third letter of this word is

your final clue!

Write down the letters you have collected, un-jumble them and use

them to find the answer to the missing word in this wonderful

quote by Mirka Mora below. (We have already put some letters in to get you started)

“ART IS THE CHILD OF

__ M __ __ I __ __ T __ __ __ AND

GIVES LIFE” (HINT* You can check your answer to this puzzle on the ramp outside this gallery)

BONUS CHALLENGE: Take inspiration from Mirka’s artworks and her quote above to create your own mythical landscape by adding to the symbols below.

BONUS HIDE AND SEEK GAME! Can you find the artworks below in this room? They might be on a table, on the wall or even hanging from the ceiling! If you need a hint, we have provided one for you for each artwork. Tick the “FOUND” box once you have found them!

1. FACE THE BIG WINDOW AND SEARCH THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROOM FOR THESE ARTWORKS.

DIFFICULTY CAN YOU FIND? HINT FOUND!

EASY An orange snake with two heads

Look on the table next to the mermaid you found in question 9

MEDIUM A white-winged devil Look on a table next to the sculptures you were finding in question 8

EASY A flower with blue petals and a green face on one side


MEDIUM A big mermaid with a yellow tail and green hair

Look on the wall where you found the unicorn sculptures in question 5

MEDIUM A black “bat-cat” with green hands and a red rectangle on its body


HARD A very small angel with black hair, a red jumper and one blue wing with white spots

Look for a table with many small babies and angels near the large entrance to this room

MEDIUM A Siamese cat with blue eyes Look on the table closest to the window with cat sculptures on it

2. FACE THE BIG WINDOW AND LOOK SEARCH THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROOM FOR THESE ARTWORKS.

DIFFICULTY CAN YOU FIND? HINT FOUND!

EASY A school girl doll with a red and grey hat

Look on a table in the centre of the room beneath the hanging sculptures you were looking at in question 10.

HARD A very tiny pink panther sculpture made out of clay with a missing arm

Look for a table near the blue room where you can make your own cut-out doll. This table has very tiny dolls on it. Some of these made from clay.

MEDIUM A person holding two dogs. On one side these dogs are brown. On the other side the dogs are green or yellow

Look on a table in the centre of the room, below the hanging sculptures you were looking at in question 10.

MEDIUM A girl with red and blue clothing sitting on a brick wall with a yellow dog and a tree

Look on the wall where you found the sculptures in question 11

EASY A red-eyed teddy bear This is not a sculpture. This is a painting.

MEDIUM A completely black horse or donkey with a secret person on the back

Look on a table near the doorway to this room beneath the hanging sculptures from question 10

HARD A stitched picture of two angels holding a heart. Below them is a red two-headed snake.

Look for a table near the blue room where you can make your own cut-out doll. This is not a sculpture it is a hand stitched tapestry.

mirka mora: pas de deux - drawings and dolls · hard a very tiny pink panther sculpture made out of...

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