My kid’s after school clay class is comprised of 2nd through 5th graders which I thought would be quite an age gap when I proposed the class. I’ve found that age doesn’t really matter when you have a student who is really interested in learning about and working with clay. Very cool discovery if your ask me. If anything is an issue, it’s lack of time. Our class runs 3:00 to 5:00 PM and I’d love to have an extra hour so that everyone can do their best work without being rushed.
This week’s project is to make a clay mask. I brought in the mask above which I had made in my very first ceramic class at the University of Southern Maine and even managed to find my initial sketch which I shared with the students.
To stimulate conversation and to get brains thinking, I brought in this book on African masks for kids to look at. We talked about how masks are used in different cultures as disguise, ceremony or other functions such as theater. Too bad, we couldn’t have done this project right before Halloween! Serendipitously, I even found this article in the Denver Post a few Sundays ago about two local mask makers that I clipped out.
The kids started out by sketching some ideas. I had to remind them by referring to my original sketch that their final mask might not end up looking like their sketch. Given our time constraints I wanted them to quickly sketch out some ideas but a lot of the kids sat frozen in front of their drawing paper. I asked them questions like, “What’s your favorite animal or event?” to stimulate ideas - though I do know the frozen feeling well when sitting in front of a blank canvas. We ended up with some really inventive masks and unfortunately, I didn’t snap any photographs even though I’ve brought my camera 2 weeks in a row! We just get so busy that I forget. But, I do have the masks from Monday’s class drying in my studio - and I plan on taking a closer look at them this week. I’ll try to remember to take some photographs this evening in the Tuesday class.
I do a demo every class - so I may just make 2 masks of my own to share with you. I haven’t made one since the one above several years ago, so it should be fun.
I’m subbing again this am in the pre-kindergarten kids class (they are just so darn cute!) so I must get ready and sign off.
Have a great day,
~Cynthia
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