Did you know that Parliament House in Canberra houses an extensive collection of Australian Artwork and that some of the pieces were commissioned especially for the building? One of the best known artworks at Parliament House is the Forecourt mosaic and it is based on Indigenous artist Michael Nelson Jagamara's painting called Possum and Wallaby Dreaming. The mosaic measures 15 metres by 15 metres and is made up of 90 000 hand-guillotined granite pieces in seven different colours!
The mosaic depicts Jagamara's Dreaming (creation time) ancestors - the brush-tail possum, red kangaroo, rock wallaby and goanna - all gathering for an important ceremony. The tracks of these ancestors are shown moving toward concentric circles in the middle of the mosaic.
In class, we discussed the use of symbols and dots in Aboriginal artwork, as well as the use of warm, earthy colours. We then spent some time sketching and planning our own stories using some of these symbols before beginning to paint. Some students have finished their work already!
Emanuel's artwork tells the story of people sitting around a campsite/waterhole with their digging sticks and shields. Emu, kangaroo and goanna tracks are nearby.
Joshua's artwork tells the story of animals near running water and a waterhole. There are emu and kangaroo tracks, as well as a honey ant.
As you can see, students have created some interesting lines and patterns to tell their stories. I will continue to post photos of student work as more are completed. The students have worked really hard on these and most importantly, enjoyed the process. It takes a long time to fill a page with dots!
