Duration

3 weeks

Driving question

What do artists create for a public audience?

Overview

Students investigate Aboriginal art to inform the practice of structural and cultural frame in art making through landscape painting.

copyright NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2003.

Content

Students follow the practice of contemporary and historical compositions by examining signs and symbols as a form of communication linked to cultural significance.

Assessment

All activities require students to demonstrate their learning and are all assessment for learning activities.

Teaching and learning activities

Before investigating Aboriginal art, consider your local community and their resources. Get in contact with the local Aboriginal education consultative group (AECG) and Aboriginal elders to organise visits and excursions.

Recommended reading

Before commencing this sequence, teachers are encouraged to read through the Protocols for producing Aboriginal Visual Arts written by The Australia Council for the Arts.

Investigating an Aboriginal artist

Students will:

• identify their local clan through the link on the Australian Museum website
• using the clan name, use the internet to locate a local Aboriginal artist
• write an artist profile of their chosen artist and present it to the class
• read and complete the exercises in the National Indigenous art triennial Culture Warriors handout by the National Art Gallery of Australia
• select another Aboriginal artist, research and complete the Research an Aboriginal Artist worksheet (PDF 4.3MB).

Article

Students will:

• read through the article 'Outside of the land, looking in': Van Gogh's Seasons through Indigenous eyes
• analyse the artwork provided in the article
• discuss what is included and excluded from the examples in the article?

Making skills

Painting

Students will:

1. look at the landscape by Albert Namatjira, Mt Hermannsburg Finke River c 1946-51
2. print out an enlarged colour copy of the artwork
3. identify the foreground, midground and background
4. study perspective within the art and complete the activities below in their books:
   1. What is the time and place of this image?
   2. What story does it tell?
   3. Construct a story told by the artwork of Albert Namatjira from an Aboriginal perspective.
5. write a story based on events that have happened in their local community
6. create a landscape that reflects their story and its intended meanings
7. view the Elements and principles of design slideshow
8. watch the following clips, noting the steps and instruction in their books
   1. How to prime a canvas
   2. Painting - Mixing Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Colors
   3. Acrylics: How to Paint a complete Landscape with acrylics: Painting Techniques
9. How to draw and paint landscapes in perspective.

Communicate

Written responses are documented and shared within collaborative discussion facilitated by the teacher.

Multimedia blog

Students will:

• document the process of their artmaking within a journal. This can be their visual arts process diary, or an online blog through sites such as Google classroom.
• photograph or sketch the process used
• write a response to the process used following literacy structures, language forms and features, as seen in the DoE text type support document.

Differentiation

Extension

Students could:

• discuss and compare traditional forms of Aboriginal painting with contemporary practices of artists
• consider the different perspectives in landscape compositions to inspire and influence artmaking
• watch the video 'Daniel Boyd interviewed in 2007' on 'We Call Them Pirates Out Here' from the MCA webpage and noting the information below
  • How are the views in this artwork different to a Western perspective?
  • What is missing from the artwork?
  • What is included?
  • What stories can be told by looking at the artwork through different eyes?

copyright NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2003.

Students could:

• read and complete the activities in the Indigenous art PDF.

Please note - this resource is a South Australian publication and the works have no direct connection to lands in NSW.

Evaluate

Feedback is formative for the duration of the project.

This sequence and accompanying worksheets are available as word documents below.

1. Painting lesson sequence (DOCX 55.01KB)
2. Research an Aboriginal artist worksheet (DOCX 68.64KB).

Reference list and resources

• Visual Arts 7-10 Syllabus copyright NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2003.
• Clan names within coastal Sydney date accessed, 06/06/17
• Research an Aboriginal Artist worksheet (PDF 4.3MB)
• Protocols when using Aboriginal art within the Visual Arts date accessed, 06/06/17.
• The Guardian article date accessed, 06/06/17
• Albert Namatjira, Mt Hermannsburg Finke River c 1946-51 date accessed, 30/03/22
• Elements and principles of design within compositions slideshow date accessed, 06/06/17.