Look and Discuss

Present and discuss with your class a selection of the 7 featured artworks in the Artwork & Artists slideshow, focusing particularly on Seven Ravens by Dorothy Grant, A Minor Sport in Canada by Bob Boyer, and The Place Where God Lives by Robert Houle.

(Tabs will provide you with information on the theme, composition, interpretation and the artist.)

A downloadable Presentation that you can add to or manipulate will also help you share these images in your classroom.

Session 1:

Use the suggested artworks as the basis for a discussion. What design elements and design principles can we find in these works? Discuss the different techniques and effects used to create shapes, lines, space, texture and colours, as well as contrast, balance, rhythm, proportion and, of course, symmetry and asymmetry. Make sure that your students notice that Aboriginal artists like to use repeated motifs in their artwork, and also like to represent their own personal and cultural history. After presenting the suggested works, ask the students to think about what they would like to see on their personalized blanket. What identifies them? What shape and image might they use? Is it an animal, a sport, a recreational activity? Besides what they find to express their identity, they will be creating a unique work, a blanket that represents their own identity. Discuss with them the importance of identity and ask them to question their parents and friends about their family?s past and their cultural past. Ask them to think about the following questions. Why they have chosen one element rather than another? How will the elements relate to one another? Will they need to include all of them, or are they instead going to choose the most significant or most striking ones? Next, ask them to create a visual composition with shapes that tell a story.

For example, you can ask your students to think about an animal, a sport, or another activity that they like very much and that is typical of them. For example, they might love cats, playing soccer and eating pizza; on their blanket, they could create cat?s eyes using the shape of a soccer ball and the colours in their favorite pizza!