Art of the Aborigines of Australia

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Art of the Aborigines of Australia
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• In the oldest known continuous culture in the
  world, going back 35,000 years, you will find the
  native people called
• the Aborigines.

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• The Aborigines, or indigenous people of
  Australia, pass on traditional stories of their
  society through different kinds of storytelling
  song, dance, word of mouth, and art. The word
  indigenous means first.

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• The subject of much of their storytelling has to
  do with the creation of the Earth. The Aborigines
  refer to this time before time as Dreamtime.
  They believe that the Ancestor Spirits came to
  Earth in human and other forms, and gave the
  land, the plants, and the animals the form we
  know today. These spirits established
  relationships with people and animals, and
  traveled across the land creating rivers, hills,
  etc. These Ancestor Spirits are referred to as
  the Dreamings.

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• Once their work was done, the Ancestor Spirits,
  or Dreamings, changed again into animals or
  stars or hills or other objects.

For Indigenous Australians, the past is still
alive and vital today, and will remain so into
the future.
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• Like the Native Americans, the Aborigines were
  the first known inhabitants of their part of the
  world.

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• The Aborigines culture was similar to many
  Native American nations in that it was centered
  around living in harmony with nature. Aborigines
  and Native American people were displaced, and
  often mistreated, or even killed by European
  settlers who had little understanding or respect
  for the indigenous culture.

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• The Aborigines believed that their art connected
  the present to the past, linking the natural and
  the supernatural. Each piece of Aboriginal art
  has a definite story, meaning, or function. Most
  artists worked on surfaces such as bark, sand,
  rocks, and even the human body.

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• Dot paintings are the traditional art form of
  the Aborigines in Western Australia Central
  Desert. The canvas is covered in small dots of
  paint which create patterns and symbols. These
  symbols can be easily recognized by those
  familiar with the Dreamtime story.

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The repetition of circles, coils, curves and dots
was meant to produce a higher awareness and made
it easier to feel a connection with Dreamtime.
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• Aboriginal art is created as though it is seen
  from above,
• in a manner similar to a map.

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The Aborigines continue to pass on their
traditions today with their storytelling through
art. You can now find good examples of these
works in galleries and museums around the world.
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The End

• This PowerPoint presentation was created by Kim
  M. Johnson
• Anoka-Hennepin Elementary Art Specialist