Art with Nicole & Emily 

The Yarning Circle with years 3,4 and 5

As part of our unit on Indigenous art, students are learning about a range of traditional storytelling and creative processes. The 4/5 class are working on a large collaborative artwork to demonstrate some new weaving skills. Using natural fibres and tapestry needles students are learning the skills of knot tying, threading needles, stitching and most importantly not giving up! It is tricky and requires persistence, resilience and patience but the sense of achievement is huge when the coiling and stitching begins to take shape.

At the end of last term, Emily took part in a local, traditional weaving and yarning circle where participants joined with first nations women to learn the art of basket weaving. Emily is now bringing new skills and greater understanding along with a renewed enthusiasm for the artform to the students.  Our weaving circle is becoming an encouraging space where students weave and chat and help one another undo knots and overcome obstacles. Each student's woven circle will become part of a large turtle shell artwork which is still being imagined and will be displayed in the school. As the students' weaving skills grow our hope is they will share these skills with others around them and thus a wider community will benefit from the beautiful practice of natural fibre weaving and knowledge sharing.