This is an art project that I repeat every year, because it is such a great process for the kids… starting with an initial sketched idea, building an armature, applying paper mache, painting and adding embellishments. I tie this lesson to the Pacific Northwest Coast masks. You can see masks from previous years here and the process photos here. Thank you if you voted for me in the Art Ed blog of the year contest! While I did not place … Read more…
The 2nd graders have been learning about the characteristics and functions of Alaskan masks as well as the cultural traditions of Native Alaskans. They made a 3-D mask using typical characteristics— animal or human features, fur, feathers, appendages, hoops around the mask.
I love these masks!
The third/fourth grade classes made paper mache masks. We used inspiration from the Pacific Northwest Coast masks and viewed a video about their culture. Here are the steps we used. Start with a papermache mask form (we used some from Nasco). Then, add appendages with newspapers, LOTS of masking tape, pieces of cardboard, yogurt containers, etc. So much fun to build up a mask! After all the parts are very secured with tape (and I mean lots of tape, MORE … Read more…
For this project, we drew African masks and then constructed them from slabs of clay. These were painted with acrylic paints and then sprayed with varnish.
