Summer Session, "Summer Bridge" is nearing an end, and what a whirlwind three weeks it has been. First just attempting to condense a 16-week lesson into a 9-week quarter is already quite a fete. Now to squish that into a three-week session, that's some magic for you!
One of the classes I'm teaching ("Intro to Art") is Maskmaking. I've taught maskmaking before, in one-day workshops in community centers to semester-long classes with middle school students. I feel that it is a subject that exposes students to a wide variety of cultural expression. They can analyze the origins of their own ideas in relation to community, culture and the world. [GA Visual Arts Standard VAHSVAMC.4] For this class, I was incredibly inspired by the art of Warren King.
http://wrnking.com.
Because I always embed math, science, and history in every lesson of course the students complained "It's too hard!" Nevertheless, fact is, in crafting the cardboard pieces into a cohesive representation, one must consider geometry and physics as well as creative expression. Students had to consider the symmetry of their shapes, and when it was necessary to use a rotation, a reflection or a translation. I can't tell you how many times I watched someone cutting what should be two identical shapes at two different times -- there's no way they will turn out the same shape.
The students began the lesson by exploring the cultural significance of masks in Native American, African and Mexican traditions. We used a chart at
www.whats-your-sign.com then I encouraged them to think about an animal spirit who's characteristics best matched their own. I encouraged them to think about the function and the form of their masks as well. From there they compared and contrasted characteristics on a double bubble map - here's where it got tricky... explaining that their mask was representational and not literal. Oh, what fun!
When the students were frustrated I would tell them "that's good, frustration leads to problem solving." When the students grumbled I said "it's like a science experiment -- you are testing theories." Oh, and "there are no mistakes, only your expression" is my mantra. Even with my best efforts there were a few students who decided to retaliate against the rigor to make my three weeks a living hell. I had the remedy for that -- one-to-one lessons (when everyone else got cooking) Alas, mini-session or not, the class still had an amazing learning experience and most of them produced amazing works. I hit at least eight State and Common Core Standards in the lesson, examples of their base masks are posted. Next up... painting. Stay tuned.
