4th Grade Aboriginal Portraits

Aboriginal art originated in Australia over 30,000 years ago.  Many of the aborigines traveled long distances and recorded their travels by using symbols.  The symbols they created using only lines and dots in a repeated pattern. Aboriginal art has many of the earth tone colors because they used to make their paint from materials in nature.  UNITY and REPETITION are seen throughout the aboriginal art we looked at because of the repeated dots used to create symbols.  The students were able to create their own piece of aboriginal art using dots. Students discussed what a portrait is and how it doesn't have to look realistic.  We also talked about how different cultures use different face paints for celebrations and ceremonies.  We also discussed symmetry and students had to us lines, dots and color to create symmetry in their portrait.