UPDATED
As the world watched news accounts of Australian bushfires
engulfing more than 12 million acres of land from the end of 2019 into early 2020,
sixth-graders at St. James School in Falls Church were studying aboriginal
Australians in social studies class with teacher Maureen St. Pierre, and creating
pre-language symbolic art with teacher Daniela Shumate.
“Art is healing, and prayer is powerful." Daniela Shumate
In a collaborative project, students painted symbols such as
dots, campfires, swirls and rainbows to tell a story, and explained
their work on the back of the canvas during an assignment in January.
“Before there was written language, there was art and
that is how they communicated,” said St. Pierre. "In our art journey, we explore the pattern of art,
beginning with cave art and then to symbols and then to written words as
students learn about visual literacy."
This art form, called Dreamtime, is important to the aboriginal
people. According to aboriginalart.com, “It gives a social and spiritual base
and links them to their cultural heritage.”
“The students learned what is sacred to the aboriginal artists
and to respect the traditions they follow,” said Shumate. “They then integrated
this art form with their own faith.”
Student Anthony Clarke painted his interpretation of the birth of
Jesus in the aboriginal style. He used a combination of dot painting, large
clusters of dots and lines to represent a crowded Bethlehem, horseshoe shapes
for people (three grouped together for the wise men, and two together for Mary
and Joseph, and a larger group as the shepherds) and a circle with six smaller
circles surrounding it to represent a star.
“This art is so sophisticated and not easy,” said Shumate.
Nathanael Adamson used repetition of large and small dots to
represent rain, “A connection that wasn’t intended, but beautiful,” said
Shumate, “since the people of Australia were praying for rain during that
time.”
“Hope” is the title of Caitlin Musolino’s piece, which features symbols
for a campsite and smoke in the center, people on either side, animal tracks
moving toward the edges of the canvas, and a rainbow across the top — all
narrative elements that tell the story of a town burning, with the rainbow
representing hope after the fire.
“We are so lucky that the kids are interested in learning, and we
can bridge artwork with what we are learning in social studies,” said St. Pierre.
“The hands-on projects make it enjoyable and enhances their learning
environment.”
“Daniela is always reaching out to the other teachers for
crossovers,” said Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mary Sue Carwile,
principal. “The projects give the students a sense of the world beyond
themselves, and each day starts with prayers for not only Australians during that
time, but all people suffering from natural disasters.”
The teachers thought the project was so poignant and timely, they
reached out to the Australian Embassy in Washington and shared photos of the
exhibit with them. They also offered to send the canvases to be displayed on a
temporary basis. The embassy had to decline, due to a current construction
project and space issue, however, their representative responded via email, “Thank
you from the bottom of my heart. Your art is wonderful and will be passed on to
others who need inspiration.” The embassy will send each artist a poster as a
thank you.
“It’s really cool that the embassy gets to know we care, and are
supporting them,” said Jessie Schreuder, a recent transfer student from
Uruguay.
“Art is healing, and prayer is powerful,” said Shumate.