aboriginal art lesson...project: aboriginal bark painting supplies: brown or black construction...

Chandler Unified School District Art Masterpiece

Art Masterpiece: AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ART Art Print Series available at IRC

Keywords: Shape, Color, Line Grade: 2rd – 4th Activity: Aboriginal Bark Painting Objectives: Gain an understanding of the Aboriginal culture and the

function of their art to tell the story of who they are as a group of people.

Background of Australian Aborigines:

• In Australia, the native people are known as Aborigines. Some of the Aborigines tribes live today as they did thousands of years ago, primitively.

• Aborigines use art as a way to communicate and tell stories much like the primitive cave artists.

• These stories taught about life including birth, love, food gathering, hunting, warfare, marriage and death. The storytellers would use a combination of art forms such as painting, singing, music and dancing.

• Didgeridoo players often played music as the storyteller tells the story. Sometimes the stories were a secret and only certain members of the tribe were allowed to know the contents. The artist would cover the picture


with dots as a way to camouflage the meaning. Only those in the know were able to decipher the hidden pictures within.

DOT PAINITNG: is the traditional visual art form of the Aborigines in the Western Central Desert of Australia. They would use these Dot Paintings as a guide as they told their story.

• Aborigine artists would use homemade paints and pencils to create the images on sheets of bark.

• The artist would often spend more time selecting and treating the bark and preparing his paint palette and brushes than he would spend on the actual painting process.

• Sheets of reddish bark are removed from trees during the rainy monsoon season to reveal a thin fibrous layer or sheet. This sheet was cured by fire and flattened under heavy rocks.

• Bark painters of long ago would work with the basic earth pigments: red, black, yellow and white. These were collected from various natural forms, (flowers, grasses, dirt, crushed seeds etc) and mixed with a fixative such as honey, flower juice, bee’s wax or egg yolk.

• Brushes are made from strips of stringy bark or green twigs. These were shaped into bristles by whittling or chewing the tips. The artist will use several different shaped brushes for one painting.

• Today bright colors are more common with the use of acrylic paint…but traditional dot painters’ still use natural pigments.

Discussing the Print: Encourage the students to describe the work of art. What do you see? Can you see shapes that have been hidden in the dots? What story might the Aborigines artist be trying to tell us? Create a story with your class. Discuss the colors chosen by the artist. Ask the students what in nature might the artist have used to create the art because acrylic paints /brushes were not yet available.


Project: Aboriginal Bark Painting Supplies: Brown or black construction paper cut in half , animal die-cuts in

variety of colors, tempera paints, brushes, cotton swabs (Q-tips), glue sticks, paper towels.

In advance: In the school work-room or at the IRC punch out die-cuts of

various animals out of card stock or construction paper. Suggested animals may include: lizard, kangaroo, koala, frogs, bear, rabbits, etc. You will need one animal per student.

Coordinators: Unless you have been given more than 60 minutes of classroom time, opt for paper size no greater than 5 x 7” . A full size paper takes too long to complete. Process: Under the Doc-camera:

Demonstrate using the tempura paints and blunt end of a paint brush and cotton swabs to create dots. The application of the paint is to be done in a stamping motion. Up and down motion. Advise not to scrub or use the cotton swab to brush on the paint.

1. Handout brown or black paper (bark) and one animal die-cut to

each student. 2. Glue animal onto the center of the paper. 3. Students can then begin to use a cotton swab or the blunt end of a

paintbrush to outline the animal figure with dots. Use only one color for the dots that immediately outline the figure. (See sample below.) White is a good choice.


4. Next, the student will begin to camouflage the picture using dots

in various colors. The idea of creating rows of dots with patterns incorporated will create a visually attractive piece of art. Discourage random dot patterns.

5. Using both Q-tips and the rounded end of a paint brush will give a variety of dot size patterns. Suggest this to your artists.

6. Stress patience and neatness. The dot application is tedious but worth the effort!


Project Aboriginal Bark Painting


Brief info about the artist: Australian Aboriginal culture -‐-‐-‐ Aborigines use art as a way to communicate and tell stories much like the primitive cave artists. Sometimes the stories were a secret and only certain members of the tribe were allowed to know the contents. The artist would cover the picture with dots as a way to camouflage the meaning. Only those in the know were able to decipher the hidden pictures within.



aboriginal art lesson...project: aboriginal bark painting supplies: brown or black construction...

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