Our Home Ed community have been learning about Aboriginal Art. This is a fascinating culture full of intriguing beliefs and traditions. Nature is an essential part of the traditional Aboriginal way of life and is depicted through the use of natural materials. Bark is painted on, eucalyptus trees turned into didgeridoos, reeds and grasses manipulated into baskets and fishing nets.
Each Aboriginal tribe has their own artistic practice and permission has to secured before using them should you be part of another indigenous group.
Bagu with Jiman is based on a mystical fire spirit (Bagu), who threw firesticks (Jiman) across the sky. The sticks were followed by a trail of fire. This tale reinforces the importance of fire in nomadic Aboriginal tribes.
More contemporary artists such as Sally Gabori celebrated her homeland by using acrylic paint and canvas to produce large, abstract paintings. Gabori took up painting when she was 81 years old and produced over 2000 images, predominantly of her homeland. As a child she grew up on Bentinick Island in Queensland, where she fished and wove dillybags to carry food in. In her early 20's and after major flooding, the islanders had to relocate to Mornington Island. However, the strong ties of growing up in a traditional aboriginal community remained with Gabori and her memories are reflected in her work. To see examples of Gabori's work click on http://www.artnet.com/artists/sally-gabori/.
The children had the opportunity of using an easel, acrylic paint and canvas to create their own paintings. Applicators such as palette knives and oversized paint brushes were investigated. For some, this was the first time of working in such an experimental way.
Aborigines continue to depict their journeys and experiences through symbolic motifs and dots. Originally, dots were used to keep their way of life secret from Westerners.
Using the 3 primary colours, the children colour mixed earth colours to decorate wooden discs. The discs were turned into mobiles.
Beautiful ceramic vessels are often created and decorated with distinctive Aboriginal motifs and colours. To reinforce this idea, our Home Ed children had the opportunity to role out a slab of clay, mould it around a tube and allow it to dry. Once dry, patterns were scratched into the surface and painted using subtle earth colours.