Aboriginal Art....Hmmm, Looks Like Fun....

       Play is the highest form of research.                                                                   Albert Einstein

The next item I chose to explore on the list of Visual Art Project choices was Aboriginal Art. This looked to be fun and I couldn't wait to explore it. I had heard it is very relaxing to do and most that have done it loved it. Well that is exactly what I needed at this point in the semester! I had visions of not using paint, but rather using dried beans, peas, corn and any other kinds of seeds that I could get my hands on. My plan was to select a super cool image, sketch it out, gather my materials and have at it. I saw myself happily selecting seeds and gluing them down and I couldn't wait to get started. 

I began to research Aboriginal Art and the further into my research, another idea began to form. I discovered that this type of art was actually used as communication and storytelling for the Aboriginal people. Some of the canvases used were rock walls and tree bark. The stories told about what was around them at the time, where water was located, what type of animals there were, every day camp life, where they had been or traveled from as well as much more information. I was tickled to discover that they also used their art to embed hidden messages. This intrigued me as well as the symbols they used to tell their stories. Each symbol had one or more meanings depending on how it was used in the art. I was curious about the symbols and the hidden messages, so I dove further into my research and watched the idea that was beginning to form evolve. 

As stated, the Aboriginal People used many symbols in their artwork and story telling. Below is a sample of some of the symbols I found and used in my story.

                                                           

Above image found on www.aboriginalartonline.com 

I found that as I learned what the symbols meant, I wanted to know if I could figure out what was going on in some of the images I found on Google Images. It became a game and I was able to actually make sense of some of the paintings and get the general gist of what was happening. I could also make out some of the stories which was a lot of fun. Again, the idea that was evolving for my piece became more clear and it couldn't have been farther from what I was originally thinking with the dried seeds. I was going to use paint after all. 

Since story telling was what I was getting out of my research, I decided to tell my story through the use of Aboriginal Art, also called Dot Painting. The use of circles was heavy in the Aboriginal artwork and was a lot of the times in the background of the pieces that I viewed. Since it was my story that I was going to tell, I incorporated the use of circles as well as some of the different symbols that were used in my piece. 

My family is my world. I love trees and decided to use a tree as my main symbol and central focus of my piece. I looked at it as my own Tree of Life as it is my family tree and again my family is my world. The circle around the tree stands for my family being the central most important thing in my life. 

The tree is enclosed in the circle of my family. Each "petal" on the outside of the circle stands for a member of my family. The four elders, which are my parents and my husbands parents are at the four corners of the circle. One set on top and bottom and one set on both sides,  The elders are represented with two half circles. Each half circle "petal" represents a member of my family, even the two babies are represented "small petals."  These symbols for elders and people in my painting are the same symbols that were used in the Aboriginal paintings. 

The symbol for a gathering place is a circle with rays extending on either side.

I incorporated this into my painting with the rays extending from either side of my circle, as our Tree of Life is central to our family.  

The larger blue circles in the background that surround our Tree of Life, are stars.

My family has always looked to the night sky and admired the beauty and wonder of it all for as long as I can remember. My grandmother used to tell me stories how she would look at the night sky filled with stars with my older brother. My older brother would then wake me and my little brother up in the middle of the night to go out and view the stars. I now do the same with my children. It is one of the times when we have wonderful and meaningful conversations. 

As I was completing my painting, I did not realize that the way I was adding dots of paint to my tree was actually forming a heart at its center! This was purely accidental, and I couldn't have been more pleased as it truly fits with the theme of my story. 

"My family is my heart."

I truly enjoyed learning about the Aboriginal Culture and how they used their art to tell stories. I am very pleased with my piece as it tells my story. To the ordinary eye, this may look like just a picture with many different designs, but those who knows about Aboriginal Art and their use of symbols, they will see there is a story here that contains multiple layers. It is the story of my.....

                                                                                                      Quote found at http://www.babble.com/kid/quotes-for-mothers/