In term 2 we will be learning about artists from different cultures, specifically looking at aboriginal art from Australia. We will start by discussing aboriginal artist's work observing what colours, patterns and symbols they use. This will inspire us to create our own final artistic pieces. Once we have finished our artwork we will move onto where aboriginal art comes from by locating Australia on the world map and comparing the UK and Australia. 

We began our topic by looking at different aboriginal artists and exploring their artwork. We discussed the similarities and differences in the colours and patterns. We learnt that there were three common types, dot painting, rock paintings and x-ray paintings. We focussed on three artists and noted what we liked and disliked to inspire our own artwork. 

We noticed that they used ‘earthy’ tones and colours for their artwork, but more contemporary aboriginal artists use lots of different colours. So we learnt about mixing primary colours that then create secondary colours. We got very messy and had lots of fun using the paint. 

After practicing creating different colours, we looked at the symbols found within aboriginal art. We learnt that the symbols are used to tell stories and represent things such as a man, meeting place and campsites. We wanted to incorporate these within our own work, so we spent time recreating them using different tools. We started with pencils and moved onto oil pastels. We found we had to be careful using oil pastels as they smudge easily!

We also practised our dotting technique and explored a range of tools so we could decide which would be best for our final piece. Additionally, we tried different mediums such as paint, pens and oil pastels. We then practised making patterns using the dot technique within animal outlines. 

Now it was time to plan our artwork! We all chose a central focus piece, this was either a hand, kangaroo, lizard or snake. We chose what symbols we wanted to include and thought about the colours we would incorporate. Miss Buckett and Mrs Fowler are so impressed with the outcomes they look amazing and everyone worked so hard! 

Now we have finished our art, we are going to learn more about Australia. We will begin this by exploring the world map and finding where Australia is and the different territories within it.