X-Ray Painting and Bark Art

I was wondering how this would work to look at a culture's artwork and use it sort of like we use primary source documents to see what we could learn about that culture. I have never done anything like it before, and wasn't even sure how pedagogically sound it would be. But it seemed like a good idea when my daughter raised it as a suggestion for how to study the Aboriginal people of Australia, and I have been very satisfied with the results.

The last study we did was on what is termed "X-ray painting." Animals and people were painted on various surfaces in amazing detail, but seemingly from the inside out. We started by looking at all the photographs of fossilized fishes at Photovalet. It was a mini-science lesson as the children looked at the impressions these ancient fishes made on the rock. We then looked at this piece of art, painted on bark.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art gave us some information about how the artwork was created.

And Aboriginal Art Online gave us a nice history of bark art.

My children went outside and worked at peeling bark off of logs from our woodpile for their project. We had no idea about how to prepare the bark, but this is what we did:

1. Soaked in bleach and scrubbed the inside surface. (There was mold growing on some of it.)
2. Dried in oven at 200 degrees.
3. Got frustrated that it curled.
4. Re-soaked and laid it out on the counter.
5. Piled things on top of it to flatten it.
6. Put it back in the oven to dry at 200 degrees with a pizza stone on top of it.

You could probably skip steps two through four.

The children then each took their sample I printed off and went off to make their own bark art. I read the next story from Indigenous Australia while they worked. My younger two were more interested in the process.

Bug (2) painted away.

Bear (4) mostly just enjoyed mixing the paint.

And Mouse (8) made a fish and the leg of a dinosaur.

What did my daughter learn about the indigenous peoples of Australia?

1. They were very aware of their environment.

2. Their stories reflect the observation of the relationships between the animals around them.

3. They were very adept at using what was available to them to make beautiful pieces of art which lasted for centuries.

4. The desert sand art uses symbols which look very much like the tracks the various animals/activities make in the sand. The ability to track was probably very important. Many of these pictures also show good hunting grounds and watering holes, demonstrating the importance of this kind of knowledge.

5. The X-Ray painting shows attention to the internal features of the animals that were hunted.

Essentially, my daughter learned that the Aboriginals were hunters/gatherers with a highly developed culture. Their history (their story) was very important to them and preserved through stories and art.

homeschooling, Aborigines, Aboriginal art