Magazine Masks
Beth Conover
Title: Magazine Masks (Paper Mache)
Grade: 5th
PA Academic Standards For The Arts And Humanities: 9.1.5.A- Elements and principles of visual arts. 9.1.5.C- Know and use fundamental vocabulary within each of the art forms. 9.1.5.E- Know and demonstrate how arts can communicate experiences, stories or emotions through the production of works in the arts. 9.3.5.A- Identify critical processes in the examination of works in the arts and humanities.
Objectives:
Knowledge: Students learn about creating gluing materials and about layering. They will also learn about fiestas and their importance. They will also learn about mixed materials.
Skill: Students learn how to use their knowledge of the face to make their masks accurate and life like. They also learn to use recycled materials to produce something greater. They also learn how to layer properly so that their masks are strong and have not gaps.
Attitude: Students learn to be aware of re-using materials. This will also make students aware of symbolism in culture and in art. Students will become more aware of the facial proportions and symmetry. This project is unique because it gives students knowledge of another gluing technique and shows them diversity in the art room.
Prepare ahead: Gather visuals, former student examples, information onPablo Picasso, and supplies.
Prior knowledge: Students have some knowledge of the elements of art, and how to paint. They also have knowledge of primary and secondary colors.
Motivation:
Questions leading the students to discovery: Okay today we are going to be learning about a VERY famous artist. Has anyone seen this artists work anywhere? That’s right it is up in our classroom! Now this should be pretty easy, but what artist is this? Great, it’s Pablo Picasso. What is special about his work is he did a lot of works involving masks. He also did work called surrealism. Who can tell me why you think it’s called this? Right, because it is weird and NOT REAL!
Lets take a look at some of the masks he was looking at. What do these masks remind me of? Great, yes we are looking at African masks. So today we will be making masks, but what is special about the art room is that we can make any masks we want/ feel like (fiesta, costume, tribal, etc). Why do you think all different cultures make masks? Are they all the same?
Okay another important part of our lesson is our gluing material. Does this look like normal Elmer’s glue to you? No, it looks watery right? It is called papier-mâché, and it was used all the way back in the 1500’s for creating doll heads. It is made of water and a starch (like flour or wheat); our glue is made of wheat paste and is pretty thinks, some have thicker consistencies than others and look almost like cream. Okays, so after we let these dry over night we will be painting them! So we should be thinking of some elements of art that we could use to design our masks. Who can remind the class where to find the elements of art? Right, they are all around the room (some next to black board and some in the back of the room), so be sure to look around and see if you are using your elements!
Demonstration: Okay so today we are going to be using recycled materials to create masks. I think it is really fun and exciting to be using recycled materials and helping the environment. We have plastic molds for all of you to use. So we will be using magazines and a glue material to start these masks. So what do you think will be important when gluing our paper on? Right we don’t want to drip a lot of glue, we also want to make sure we are layering our paper. Who can tell me what layering is? Right, putting one sheet over top of another, but in this case we will be crisscrossing the paper, almost like weaving. Why do you think we are going to do this? Right, it makes it stronger. Okay so here is how I am going to make the paper stick. I have to take a small strip of paper and glaze it with the glue. So what I DON’T want to see you do it dunk your whole hand in, or a whole wad of paper into the glue. You only need to lightly coat the paper. Okay so what carefully how I do this. I dip a portion of my paper into the glue and wipe it clean with two fingers. Notice I took the excess off OVERTOP of the bowl and NOT on the table. Okay so once I have glue on my paper I can begin laying my paper on the mask. So as long as we keep crisscrossing our paper we will be fine. We also need to remember to keep molding our paper onto the form. Why is this going to be important? Right, so it keeps the shape and we get all of the details. We also need to make sure we have three layers of paper on our masks. Just like our glazing process we have to make sure we count about how many layers we have. It needs to be strong so lets make sure we have enough papers to hold our masks together.
Visual Aids: Pablo Picasso’s Dora Maar Au Chat, Three Musicians, (Close up from) Demoiselles compared to an African mask, Head of a woman compared to an African mask; and examples of Mardi Gras masks.
Reference to art history: Pablo Picasso, surrealists, and African masks.
Exemplars: Former student work and teacher’s example
Activity:
What will the students do?
Morning class 1: Tear up magazines using ruler and start layering paper with glue onto mold.
Afternoon Class 1: Finish gluing and layering their paper onto masks.
Morning Class 2: Cut out mask and begin decorating and painting
Afternoon Class 2: Finish painting and decoration masks.
Supplies: Face mold, papier-mâché glue and buckets, rulers, magazines, 18x12 paper (scrap paper for underneath), paintbrushes, water buckets, smocks, sequins, feathers, tempera paint, glitter, and assorted buttons.
Vocabulary: Pablo Picasso, surrealism, masks, layering, symbolism, features, proportion, symmetry, papier-mâché, patter, and color.
Closure: Okay, nice job cleaning up! Who can remind the class of the artist we looked at today? Right, Pablo Picasso, and what type of artist was he? Good, he was a surrealist artist. Now does anyone remember what a surrealist artist is? Good, they paint unusual, silly, funny, not real things. Okay, great so who can remind the class what we will be doing tomorrow? Thank you, yes we will be finishing up our masks, now what is one thing we need to keep in mind? Right we need to layer, good, we need three layers, great, we need to wipe off extra glue (over bucket- NOT TABLE!) great job today class, okay so tomorrow I will be looking for quietly working students to start their masks.
PA Academic Standards For The Arts And Humanities: 9.1.5.A- Elements and principles of visual arts. 9.1.5.C- Know and use fundamental vocabulary within each of the art forms. 9.1.5.E- Know and demonstrate how arts can communicate experiences, stories or emotions through the production of works in the arts. 9.3.5.A- Identify critical processes in the examination of works in the arts and humanities.
Assessment Strategy: What assessment strategy tool will I use to evaluate the learning outcomes? I will be using a rubric with the students that will question their basic skills, their higher-level thinking, their knowledge of the project, and how they self assessed themselves. I will also ask them to write a little bit about their project.
Correlated Activity? Students will continue painting teaching them new methods of dry painting and wet on wet painting using tempera and then will use their background to create silhouettes by cutting from black paper.
Interdisciplinary Domains: Art History: Making students aware of Pablo Picasso, his love of African and tribal masks, and surrealist art.
Reflections: I feel this lesson is successful, because it includes various methods of art and art history. It can also be used in various times of the year (Black History Month, Mardi Gras, and near October) and can be very versatile with age groups by adding intricate mask shapes and specific patterns. I think this lesson would be successful with many age groups because it becomes interactive and will keep their enthusiasm going throughout the whole lesson.
Title: Magazine Masks (Paper Mache)
Grade: 5th
PA Academic Standards For The Arts And Humanities: 9.1.5.A- Elements and principles of visual arts. 9.1.5.C- Know and use fundamental vocabulary within each of the art forms. 9.1.5.E- Know and demonstrate how arts can communicate experiences, stories or emotions through the production of works in the arts. 9.3.5.A- Identify critical processes in the examination of works in the arts and humanities.
Objectives:
Knowledge: Students learn about creating gluing materials and about layering. They will also learn about fiestas and their importance. They will also learn about mixed materials.
Skill: Students learn how to use their knowledge of the face to make their masks accurate and life like. They also learn to use recycled materials to produce something greater. They also learn how to layer properly so that their masks are strong and have not gaps.
Attitude: Students learn to be aware of re-using materials. This will also make students aware of symbolism in culture and in art. Students will become more aware of the facial proportions and symmetry. This project is unique because it gives students knowledge of another gluing technique and shows them diversity in the art room.
Prepare ahead: Gather visuals, former student examples, information onPablo Picasso, and supplies.
Prior knowledge: Students have some knowledge of the elements of art, and how to paint. They also have knowledge of primary and secondary colors.
Motivation:
Questions leading the students to discovery: Okay today we are going to be learning about a VERY famous artist. Has anyone seen this artists work anywhere? That’s right it is up in our classroom! Now this should be pretty easy, but what artist is this? Great, it’s Pablo Picasso. What is special about his work is he did a lot of works involving masks. He also did work called surrealism. Who can tell me why you think it’s called this? Right, because it is weird and NOT REAL!
Lets take a look at some of the masks he was looking at. What do these masks remind me of? Great, yes we are looking at African masks. So today we will be making masks, but what is special about the art room is that we can make any masks we want/ feel like (fiesta, costume, tribal, etc). Why do you think all different cultures make masks? Are they all the same?
Okay another important part of our lesson is our gluing material. Does this look like normal Elmer’s glue to you? No, it looks watery right? It is called papier-mâché, and it was used all the way back in the 1500’s for creating doll heads. It is made of water and a starch (like flour or wheat); our glue is made of wheat paste and is pretty thinks, some have thicker consistencies than others and look almost like cream. Okays, so after we let these dry over night we will be painting them! So we should be thinking of some elements of art that we could use to design our masks. Who can remind the class where to find the elements of art? Right, they are all around the room (some next to black board and some in the back of the room), so be sure to look around and see if you are using your elements!
Demonstration: Okay so today we are going to be using recycled materials to create masks. I think it is really fun and exciting to be using recycled materials and helping the environment. We have plastic molds for all of you to use. So we will be using magazines and a glue material to start these masks. So what do you think will be important when gluing our paper on? Right we don’t want to drip a lot of glue, we also want to make sure we are layering our paper. Who can tell me what layering is? Right, putting one sheet over top of another, but in this case we will be crisscrossing the paper, almost like weaving. Why do you think we are going to do this? Right, it makes it stronger. Okay so here is how I am going to make the paper stick. I have to take a small strip of paper and glaze it with the glue. So what I DON’T want to see you do it dunk your whole hand in, or a whole wad of paper into the glue. You only need to lightly coat the paper. Okay so what carefully how I do this. I dip a portion of my paper into the glue and wipe it clean with two fingers. Notice I took the excess off OVERTOP of the bowl and NOT on the table. Okay so once I have glue on my paper I can begin laying my paper on the mask. So as long as we keep crisscrossing our paper we will be fine. We also need to remember to keep molding our paper onto the form. Why is this going to be important? Right, so it keeps the shape and we get all of the details. We also need to make sure we have three layers of paper on our masks. Just like our glazing process we have to make sure we count about how many layers we have. It needs to be strong so lets make sure we have enough papers to hold our masks together.
Visual Aids: Pablo Picasso’s Dora Maar Au Chat, Three Musicians, (Close up from) Demoiselles compared to an African mask, Head of a woman compared to an African mask; and examples of Mardi Gras masks.
Reference to art history: Pablo Picasso, surrealists, and African masks.
Exemplars: Former student work and teacher’s example
Activity:
What will the students do?
Morning class 1: Tear up magazines using ruler and start layering paper with glue onto mold.
Afternoon Class 1: Finish gluing and layering their paper onto masks.
Morning Class 2: Cut out mask and begin decorating and painting
Afternoon Class 2: Finish painting and decoration masks.
Supplies: Face mold, papier-mâché glue and buckets, rulers, magazines, 18x12 paper (scrap paper for underneath), paintbrushes, water buckets, smocks, sequins, feathers, tempera paint, glitter, and assorted buttons.
Vocabulary: Pablo Picasso, surrealism, masks, layering, symbolism, features, proportion, symmetry, papier-mâché, patter, and color.
Closure: Okay, nice job cleaning up! Who can remind the class of the artist we looked at today? Right, Pablo Picasso, and what type of artist was he? Good, he was a surrealist artist. Now does anyone remember what a surrealist artist is? Good, they paint unusual, silly, funny, not real things. Okay, great so who can remind the class what we will be doing tomorrow? Thank you, yes we will be finishing up our masks, now what is one thing we need to keep in mind? Right we need to layer, good, we need three layers, great, we need to wipe off extra glue (over bucket- NOT TABLE!) great job today class, okay so tomorrow I will be looking for quietly working students to start their masks.
PA Academic Standards For The Arts And Humanities: 9.1.5.A- Elements and principles of visual arts. 9.1.5.C- Know and use fundamental vocabulary within each of the art forms. 9.1.5.E- Know and demonstrate how arts can communicate experiences, stories or emotions through the production of works in the arts. 9.3.5.A- Identify critical processes in the examination of works in the arts and humanities.
Assessment Strategy: What assessment strategy tool will I use to evaluate the learning outcomes? I will be using a rubric with the students that will question their basic skills, their higher-level thinking, their knowledge of the project, and how they self assessed themselves. I will also ask them to write a little bit about their project.
Correlated Activity? Students will continue painting teaching them new methods of dry painting and wet on wet painting using tempera and then will use their background to create silhouettes by cutting from black paper.
Interdisciplinary Domains: Art History: Making students aware of Pablo Picasso, his love of African and tribal masks, and surrealist art.
Reflections: I feel this lesson is successful, because it includes various methods of art and art history. It can also be used in various times of the year (Black History Month, Mardi Gras, and near October) and can be very versatile with age groups by adding intricate mask shapes and specific patterns. I think this lesson would be successful with many age groups because it becomes interactive and will keep their enthusiasm going throughout the whole lesson.