Lots of Dots: Aboriginal Inspired Dot Paintings

Did you know that there are more kangaroos than there are people in Australia? It was fun to study Australian history and culture with my students before making Aboriginal-inspired dot paintings. These paintings use symbols to represent things such as bodies of water or gatherings of people. Often they include handprints or or animal shapes. 

Dark paper made for a nice value contrast with bright or light colors, which is helpful for my students with low vision, and the acrylic dots made from the backs of pencils dipped in paint became tactile bumps once the paint dried. This project can be done in a period or two of art class, which meant there was plenty of time for discussion of symbolism in art, and how important it is to appreciate cultures other than our own.

 

Mosaics Project

We began our Art class unit about art around the world by studying Ancient Roman mosaics. Long before Italy was a country with Rome as a capital, it was part of a huge empire, extending into Africa and Great Britain. And the mosaics with intricate images made of thousands of tiny colored glass and ceramic tiles, like pixels. There were complex boarder patterns, intricate scenes from daily life. a wide range of value would give the illusion of space to images of people, animals, and still life objects. 

 My students chose from a variety of colored tiles in my room, put on a pair of safety glasses, and then took a hammer to the tile to break it into smaller pieces. Our classroom has an outdoor patio, where we could attack the tiles on bricks without having to worry about a big indoor mess. 

Students each drew a simple image onto a piece of wood, and then glued their tiles down with hot glue or hot glue. It helps to start with the big pieces and then fit smaller pieces into the remaining spaces. I bought a bag of sand grout, and half the bag ended up being enough for 15 mosaics of various sizes. We mixed a cup or two at a time, covering the top with a square of mat board, trying to "squeegee" it into all the cracks. After it sits long enough to harden, the excess on the top can wiped and polished up with a rag. Everyone was so excited to see how their projects turned out.