In Term 1 the Grade 5 students were involved in a study of Aboriginal culture within their classroom as a SOSE topic.
I decided to incorporate the theme into the Art room to create numerous Aboriginal art pieces.

• We researched the history of Aboriginals in Australia and the impact the environment had on their life.
• We looked at both the early traditional Indigenous Art and the current contemporary Art.
• The Grade 5 students were introduced to the symbols, concentric shapes and lines of Desert art, bark and rock art, The milky way, ancestral beings (people, animals, birds, plants, rain, clouds and stars) of the Dreamtime and how the Dreamtime is kept alive in song, ceremony, learning an art works.

In Term 2 we were very fortunate to have the opportunity to invite an Aboriginal Artist to the school. He discussed the typical animal images used in paintings and their meaning, as well as elements of desert art, the sky, the Milky Way, the lost generation, and the effects of white settlement on the lives of the Aboriginal people.

Incorporating all these elements, we created two beautiful banners. We started by applying the Milky Way and footprints on the background of one banner. In the centre we had a camp site, with waves of smoke flowing in both directions. Around the camp site we painted footprints. In the second banner we had another camp site with lots of men sitting around it. To the right, we painted a snake making his way silently around the camp site. The students completed the banners by printing their hands around the border and writing their names on.

Aitken College