Masks are a frequent topic on the lists -- and in the
search feature on my site. I had a co-worker who made
ceramic carnivale masks with his students (Renaissance
tie in - or Mardi Gras). Here is a site for
inspiration.
This is how my co-worker did them.... He made plaster
casts of the plastic face molds (one plaster form for
each student). Students did draped slab masks directly
on the plaster cast. Decoration included carving,
piercing and sprigging. Masks were taken off of the
plaster hump before drying (so they wouldn't crack).
Delicate masks were allowed to dry on crumpled
newspaper. Ones that were very fragile were even fired
with the paper under them (paper burned out). He liked
glazing them with metallic brown and gun metal.
Metallic paints might be nice.
This lesson could also be done with middle school
students (he did it with his art fundamentals class)
The mask link was shared by Sean Grigsby on Net Gold
list. I will not be linking this site....save it if it
interests you.
If anyone does this lesson idea - please send me a
sample for IAD - no lesson plan necessary.
