Have students use materials that are readily available in their homes and communities, such as those previously mentioned, to create their own art works. Refer back to the cave paintings and the idea that the materials were far less valuable than the resulting paintings, which had great spiritual power in the eyes of people at that time. In Islamic art no depictions of idols or creatures are allowed. Australian Aborigines use body-painting as a part of their traditional ceremony. People of Bali use masks and outfits depicting religious characters in dance.
Eastern art has an emphasis on feeling and meditation.
Traditional European religious art was concerned with exact representation of physical form in spiritual renderings. View examples of works from a variety of cultures and religions. Have each student research a culture of interest and present information on that culture's traditional spirituality, as reflected in art works. Students interested in mathematics may be interested in creating the perfect balance of geometric shapes or perfection in an ordinary object, as related to Islamic philosophy. Students interested in literature may want to decorate their own poetry and writings with illuminated borders and capital letters, as in early Christian manuscripts.