Dave's Aboriginal Art and Dreamtime site
Let me introduce myself: I am Dave and I make boomerangs. Because of this, I have become fascinated with Australia, Aboriginal Art and Aboriginal Dreamtime stories. I have done a bit of searching on the internet for information about these subjects and decided to try to pool some of it together, focusing on the aspects I find fascinating. I hope that you find the site to be interesting, fun and informative. If you have questions or comments on the site, you can email me by clicking here or by clicking the image below.
What can you expect to find here?
Below we have a picture of a rather large (24" or 60cm) boomerang that I made and painted using a style similar to the aboriginal dot art technique. The shape of the boomerang is like that of a snake so I painted it to look like a Corn Snake. This boomerang only my attempt to approxomate the technique used by aborigines and is not true aboriginal art!
Evidence has shown that the Australian Aboriginals have been in Australia for at least 60,000 years.
Over these many thousands of years Australian Aboriginals have used sticks and Echidna quills or spikes to paint their traditional "dreamtime stories" .
These paintings consist of thousands of "Dots" and done the traditional way, takes the artist many days of dedicated concentration just to "fill in the background."
Whilst the European artist uses an easel, which holds the canvas or painting upright in front of the artist, so that the artist may see both the original subject (such as a landscape) and the easel with the painting or work in progress, at the same time, aboriginal artists usually lay the canvas on the floor, and lying on the floor using their arms to support them, apply "Dots" of various coloured paints to depict a subject which is usually within their mind at the time. This painting, by Eddy Harris, depicts a Water Bird and a Turtle swimming and hunting in the lower part of the river. The circles shown represent whirlpools. The two long lines with a circles shown either end depict roots of the gum tree with the different coloured reds, yellows and greys showing small rocks in the clear water, and the greens representing the moss and the reeds. Painting by Eddy Harris.
The traditional aboriginal dot paintings usually represent a story, generally regarding hunting or food gathering, and usually have traditional aboriginal symbols imbedded throughout the painting. These symbols, when explained, give a whole new meaning to the painting. The on the left painting, also by Eddy Harris, depicts tribal men hunting and spearing a large Kangaroo around four water-holes where it had come to drink.
As the Australian Aboriginals never had a written language, these traditional dot paintings are in reality, the aboriginals way of writing a short story, which has not changed for over 50,000 years. The close up to the right, shows the intricate workings of the traditional aboriginal artwork, with the painting consisting of thousands of "Dots". The Dreaming or Dreamtime, has different meanings for different Aboriginal groups. The Dreaming can be seen as the embodiment of Aboriginal creation, which gives meaning to everything - the essence of Aboriginal belief about creation, spiritual and physical existence. It establishes the rules governing relationships between the people, the land and all things for Aboriginal people.
Story telling is an integral part of the Australian indigenous people. The stories tell how the land came to be shaped and inhabited how to behave and why; where to find certain foods, etc.
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