Visual arts / Year 5 and 6

Curriculum content descriptions

Explain how visual arts conventions communicate meaning by comparing artworks from different social, cultural and historical contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks (ACAVAR117)

Elaborations
  • making discerning judgments about how they work as an artist, and what and why they design and create, using appropriate visual conventions, for example, a sculpture that expresses movement
  • Considering viewpoints – critical theories: For example – Compare these paintings (one from India, one Australian). What do you recognise? What do you understand? What is new?
  • explaining the artistic vision of artists from different contexts, particularly referencing the meaning their artworks convey, for example, Aboriginal rock art, graffiti art, Egyptian art
  • Considering viewpoints – meanings and interpretations: For example – What is this artwork about? What visual conventions have been used to convey meaning? How did the artist represent their subject matter? How does the artwork reflect the artist’s perspective about the environment? How did the audience react to the artwork when it was first displayed?
  • analysing how symbolic meaning or metaphor is constructed in their own artworks and artworks of others
  • Considering viewpoints – psychology: For example – What elements are used to show excitement in the sculpture? Make a scary monster.
  • expressing an opinion about the way numerous artists communicate multiple viewpoints through their artwork
  • Considering viewpoints – evaluations: For example – Did it make you think more seriously about the issue? Did the rest of the class understand your message?
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural understanding
  • Personal and social capability Personal and social capability
Cross-curriculum priorities
ScOT terms

Settings (Narratives),  Aboriginal art,  Torres Strait Islander art,  Visual arts

Video

Creating art and meaning from waste

Welcome to Marina DeBris's exhibition, "Beach Couture: A Haute Mess". How would you describe Marina's art? What are the ideas she communicates through her artworks? How do the processes, materials and techniques Marina works with contribute to the creation of meaning in her art? Do you agree with Marina's belief that art ...

Interactive

Strange faces

Students explore the artworks of Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who lived four hundred years ago. He loved creating artworks out of other objects. He used objects like fruit, vegetables, sea creatures, flowers, bowls, barrels and books. Students create their own artwork in his style.

Video

Finding beauty in the everyday

Lin Martin is passionate about the connections between science, nature, humanity and Buddhism, all of which come together in her art. Her photographs explore the beauty all around us, in our everyday natural surroundings. It is in these small moments captured by her work, where she draws attention to tiny details in nature, ...

Online

Through my own eyes: a self-portrait - teacher resource

This resource for teachers is a visual arts unit that leads to a resolved two-dimensional self-portrait on paper. The unit combines the techniques of drawing and painting and explores the concept of a personal environment. It is in four parts: exploring examples of portraits by artists across history; developing line-drawn ...

Image

The Mughal Court paintings

This is an enlargeable image of a Mughal Court painting (1560-1858) from a Bhagavata Purana showing a battle between Krishna and the fire-headed demon Mura. The Bhagavata Purana is a collection of Hindu devotional stories in Sanskrit, illustrating the stories of Krishna in human form. Accompanying the image is information ...

Video

My Place - Episode 17: 1848: Johanna, Torment

This 3-minute film clip is from the ABC My Place series and tracks the fictional experiences of Johanna, a young girl in 1848 in Australia. There is an accompanying set of downloadable worksheets. One activity asks students to consider the concept of portraiture through history. Another activity invites students to research ...

Text

Legendary Textile Tales

This resource includes some teaching ideas based on a project facilitated by textiles artist Caitlin Bowe and students from two secondary schools. In this resource, teaching activities prompt exploration of the framework for Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Students choose a story that aligns with the hero’s journey structure ...

Text

Albert Namatjira: Unit of work

This unit of work has been written to support the book Albert Namatjira in which award-winning artist Vincent Namatjira tells the life story of his great-grandfather, Albert Namatjira, one of Australia’s best-known artists. This unit includes practical ideas for using this book in your classroom.

Image

Australian collection

This database features a selection of Australian artworks from QAGOMA. The searchable database provides artwork images, background information about the artist and the artwork, classroom activities, a glossary of key terms and curriculum alignment information for teachers. Search results can be refined by theme, period, ...

Image

Indigenous Australian collection

This federated search from the QAGOMA database features a selection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks from the collection. The searchable database provides artwork images, background information about the artist and the artwork, a map of major Indigenous regions in Australia, classroom activities, a glossary ...