Aboriginal Art

A Journey Down Under

Aims of today’s Lesson

Today we are going to• discover a little bit about Australia and the Aboriginal

People• learn about aboriginal culture and art• study the symbols used in aboriginal art and put

them into our sketchbooks to use at a later date to create our own artwork

• And we will look at colour and understand how different colours may have different meanings

Introduction to Australia• The country's largest & best known

city is Sydney but the capital is Canberra.

• The Gold coast is a seemingly endless stretch of beaches.

• Australia is the size of western Europe.• When you leave the cities, Australia is

open and almost empty, you can go days without seeing a person.

• In the centre of the country is the great Ayers Rock (Uluru), it rises 1400 feet from the desert plane & is 5.5 miles round its perimeter.

• The rock is considered sacred and spiritually significant to the Aboriginal people (red sandstone).

Famous images of Australia

Sydney Opera House Ayers Rock Bush Fires

Bondi Beach

Australian FlagOutback

Animals

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL FLAG

FORM & SYMBOLISMThe Aboriginal flag is divided horizontally into halves. The top half is black and the lower half red. There is a yellow disk in the centre of the flag.

The meaning of the three colours in the flag, areBlack - represents the Aboriginal people of Australia.Red - represents the red earth, the red ochre used in ceremonies and Aboriginal people’s spiritual relation to the land.Yellow disk - represents the Sun, the giver of life and protector.

Sources say that the Aboriginal culture settled in Australia around 50,000 years ago. After settling in Australia they told stories about visions and rituals by painting with pigment found naturally in the outback. The method they used for painting is referred to as bark painting. The process involved cutting bark from trees during the wet season and placing it in a fire to cure. When the bark was taken out of the fire it was flattened with stones or logs. This was then used as the painting canvas. Finally they would apply paint or pigment using a technique called ‘dotting’. Brushes, sticks and fingers were used to create designs that reflected dreams, rituals and a rich cultural history. Some researchers say that most of the paintings had some sort of mythological undertone.

Aboriginal PeopleAboriginal Facts.• Aboriginal people told stories about

their life and history in their paintings.

• They would dot their paintings using brushes, sticks and fingers.

• They tell stories in words and pictures.

• The stories are called ‘Dream time stories.’

• Aboriginal art uses Earth colours (colours of the desert) such as browns, reds

• Symbols are used to tell stories• The canvas is covered in small dots of

paint• The dots make patterns or symbols• Frogs are respected in Aboriginal

culture because they lead to water.

Aboriginal ArtAboriginal ColoursBlackBlack stands for the colour of the Aborigine people and night.YellowYellow is the sacred colour. The colour of the sun.RedIs for the colour of the land and for blood. ‘We are all of one blood, from the land we come and to it we will all return.’WhiteWhite is the spirit colour, like smoke, wind and lightning.

Aboriginal Symbols

Emu

Meeting Child Coolamon Dingo

Campfire Woman Yundee

ManKangaroo Bushbannana Fire sticks

Witchetty grubs Goanna

Aboriginal Symbols

Aboriginal images. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj0iJll-Hug&feature=related www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSXjpWUDvO4&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1JQD4jRluE

Aboriginal Artistshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC8z8rAYLHw&feature=related

Examples of Artwork

Digital Aboriginal Art

By the end of this Project……• We will have a better understanding of Aboriginal Art• Have learnt about the symbols used in Aboriginal Art• We would have experimented with paint and used dot art like the

Aboriginal Artist – maybe using tools like sticks and pen lids• Will have discovered Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories• And we will have all made our own Aboriginal Painting!• We should have had lots of fun!