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Masks
as Cultural Artifacts
Summary
Students
are to design and make a mask to express some aspect of themselves
and/or their environment. Mask making integrates a number of environmentally
relevant individual, cultural, social, and ecological concerns.
This activity has Canadian content in both the planning and the
three-dimensional sculptural components. Emphasis has been placed
on the environmental influences on technique, media, and imagery.
Program
Area
This activity
is suited to the Visual Arts sections of the Arts curriculum for
Grade 9. It can also be used in more senior grades in any unit
incorporating aspects of three-dimensional media.
Learning
Outcomes
Teaching,
learning, and evaluation will focus on the student's ability to:
- Identify
form, types, processes, pattern, symmetry and traditional designs;
- Describe
the use of the mask as an art form in historical times as well
as in a variety of contemporary cultures;
- Suggest
evidence that physical and cultural environments influence function
and form of artifacts such as masks;
- Apply
knowledge of masks developed through this activity in the planning
and execution of their own mask;
- Use personal
experience and values as creative resources for the construction
of masks.
Materials
Required
The materials
required depends upon the media chosen by the students, but will
likely include some of the following: sketch paper, newspapers,
cardboard, mat board, papier-mâché paste, masking
tape, pencils, paper towels, scissors, brushes, found objects,
balloons, plaster, wire mesh, tempera and/or acrylic paints. Examples
of the work of other students and artists from diverse cultural
and ethnic backgrounds, and other time periods is essential.
Timing
This is
approximately a two week unit. In the first week, introduce the
project to the students, allowing time to research, discuss and
design their mask. The second week should be dedicated to the
construction of individual masks, their presentation to the class,
and summary discussion.
Background
Masks are
traditionally an important aspect of many cultures and a rich
area of study. There are masks for ceremonial, theatrical, masquerade,
festival, and sporting contexts. Masks are often based on human
and/or animal forms, but they can be extremely abstract and stylized.
They often reflect spiritual and social concerns of the cultures
that produced them. In some cases, masks reveal a relationship
of that culture to its environment.
Mask construction
makes a useful art project because of the physical nature of the
medium, and the combination of mimetic and abstract elements in
a single composition.
Note
Some of
the course work activities related to this topic have been successfully
incorporated into the multicultural art program led by Susan Brown
at North Toronto Collegiate Institute, and this guide has been
written with her assistance.
Classroom
Development
- Introduction
Start with a diagnostic activity which indicates the level
of the students awareness: show slides of masks. Some students
may be able to identify the context in which the masks are produced
or used. Ask students to suggest usage and purpose of the masks.
Then introduce a variety of mask forms and styles: functional,
decorative, realistic, fantastic, sacred, or profane. Discuss
the possibilities inherent in the mask form.
- History
Component
Introduce the tradition of mask-making in cultures such
as West coast Haida, Japanese masks, Hellenic Greece and African
masks. Compare these traditional examples with some contemporary
Canadian examples such as goalie and catcher masks.
- Imagery
& Themes
Discuss myth and magic and their possible incorporation
into mask imagery-especially environmental themes such as the
flood, volcanoes, storms and various spirits and gods. Try to
get students to suggest how a mask could reflect a person or
culture's relationship with nature.
- Principles
of Art
Introduce formal qualities-especially environmental themes,
such as how in virtually all cultures around the world, visual
motifs, composition, pattern, and balance originally derived
from a people's perceptions of nature.
- Significance
Introduce the importance of African masks in influence turn-of-the-century
art movements. In Venice and Louisiana masks traditionally are
used to build community spirit during time of celebration. For
example the Mardi Gras mask hides the identities of the participants
during the Mardi Gras.
- Symbolism
Discuss symbol making and interpreting symbols. Examine
how masks express natural symbolism and how many of them pay
respect to nature.
- Role
of Masks
Discuss the role of masks and how students are to approach
their own design. Students are to research and design their
own ideas for a mask. Each student is to have a theme, main
idea, or message which can either be articulated verbally or
in the physical artifice of the mask. They are to express some
aspect of themselves and/or their relationship to the material(s).
- Standard
Safety Message
Just before students do any studio work remind them of the
safety precautions which are relevant to this particular activity.
Also explicitly refer to the introductory discussion/activity
on safety procedures from the beginning of the term/semester.
- Studio
Technique
Students should first create their design on paper, including
views from all angles. They should list the materials required
and write an outline of the steps they intend to execute up
to final completion of the product. This design should be review
by their peers or the teacher before any actual work is done
on the mask. A Plasticine replica may be an alternative or addition
to the drawing. However, students should not be allowed to start
work on their mask until they have a clearly expressed idea
of what they intend to do.
Next,
students build an armature, an internal framework to support
a sculpture, out of chicken wire, coat hangers or balloons
that will be covered by paper maché or other materials.
After
the application of the materials that will form the foundation
of the mask, students can shape, add to, or attach objects
to this material as decoration. They should be encouraged
to add paint, found materials, beads, natural objects such
as feathers to their masks.
Masks
can be finished and painted, or left in various states of
construction depending on the student's design.
- Alternatives
Students could construct masks with clay. For students who
did not want to do masks, the same activity could be done with
costumes, pottery, or architecture. These adaptations would
be good for exceptional learners.
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