The vibrant art of Aborigines has inspired children at Chilton Primary School in Ramsgate.
They have researched and studied various styles and subject matter that the indigenous Australian people created over centuries.
They learnt how Aboriginal art includes work made in many different ways such as painting on leaves, wood carving, rock carving, sculpting, ceremonial clothing and sand painting. Aboriginal art is closely linked to religious ceremonies or rituals.
Pupils then created their own art work as part of a home learning project, resulting in a huge range of colourful, thoughtful and interesting creations.
Among the media they used to bring their Aborigine art to life were paint, pens, clay, spray paint and sparkly gems jewels.
The job of judging and selecting the top three plus highly commended entries went to the school’s junior leadership team whose pupils discussed which offerings they thought really summed up the project theme.
After long and thoughtful deliberation they decided that Zuzanna from Year 6 was their favourite, with work by Leo in Year 4 and Niamh in Year 5 as runners up. They will receive goody bags for their efforts.
Highly commended entries came from Mac in Year 6, Bradley from Year 1 and Nadia from Year 3.
Speaking on behalf of the JLT, Jasmine from Year 6 said: “It was a really tough task to pick the winners because they are all so good and so different. The standard was very high.
“We decided it was a fair way to select the winners if pupils chose them and it is good that we were all allowed to have our say.
“The paintings are impressive and you can see that everyone has put in a lot of effort, with lots of different styles and materials used.”
Deputy Head of School Natalie Barrow said: “All of the children from Year 1 to Year 6 took part and their artwork was beautifully presented.
“Pupil voice is important to Chilton so we were happy for our junior leadership team to choose their winners – they took the job very seriously.
“The Arts play a large part in our school life and these lovely pieces of Aborigine art will be put on display around school for visitors and families to enjoy.”
An artist friend in NSW wrote this when I sent her the link!
It’s good to see that children are being encouraged not only to explore other cultures, especially in art but also given an awareness of different peoples and cultures around the world. Kudos to those teachers responsible and the kids for producing great art…and having fun doing it. Thanks and will forward it on to my cousin here in Brisbane and my other cousin in the USA (both retired primary school teachers) and also to my friend Helen who has much to do with Aboriginal art.