Embedded Files
Cycle Three takes us on a deep dive into the faces we wear and emotions shown through art with an emphasis on masks. The ancient Greeks gave us a sense of pathos, or the sense of stirred sympathy, and ethos, the appreciation for valiance, honor, and physical beauty. Masks of Africa address a continental array of interpretations of social rites, spiritual occasions, and celebration. Masks have served to protect, conceal, tell stories, and provide a chance to play with personas. There can be a highly personal experience in the way we see masks as symbols. As we are constantly present online and masked in public, the very reverse of our ordinary lives, the metaphor of masks gives us a chance to pause and reflect.
Our essential questions ask:
What masks do we wear to conceal our thoughts and inner feelings?
What sides of ourselves do we share with the public?
Here we look to share our own narrative, real or imagined, through mask study and mask making.
SEL Warm Up
What some think of as failure can lead others to discovery. Risk taking in art is a component of a mindful thinker and can result in unexpected results. The capacity to alter your plan when it doesn't seem to result in exactly what you want is what can give life to new ideas.
Read the brief excerpt from Juxtapoz in Bertjan Pot's "failure" and witness the playful results of his experiment gone awry.
Artists Using their Talents to Solve Problems and Discover
Artists Using their Talents to Solve Problems and Discover
Art Doesn't Save Lives?
Art Doesn't Save Lives?
American Sculptor Anna Ladd moved her studio to France following World War I and spent her time developing custom prosthetic masks for severely wounded veterans to help those who felt shunned as a result of their facial trauma. Ladd's artistic training and sculptural expertise provided the precision needed at the time when facial reconstruction was not possible.
You can also read more it here at the Smithsonian
Spotlight Artist
Nairbobi based Artist Cyrus Karibu wanted a pair of his own sun glasses but his father would not indulge him. Instead he developed a series of homemade mask-like glasses over the course of years. He calls them C-stunners and uses discarded computer equipment, gourds, toppers, and a variety of other materials to create elaborate custom designs.
Lesson Resources
Lesson Google Doc
Additional Resource for Teachers
Mask making is a human commonality found world-wide. Looking for more mask expedition material? The Smithsonian has a series of photographs from the Puerto Rico Ponce Carnival performance tradition.
Masks of the Ponce Carnival, Puerto Rico
Located at the Smithsonian Museum
Accessible through archives:
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/carnival/
Virtual Field Trip
Catherine Clark, MIT Assistant Professor, writes about the masks of empire, politics, and war, emphasizing, "Masks made for a variety of uses in Africa, Asia, and the Americas circulated in 20th century Europe as art; instead of being held or worn, they hung on walls and sat on shelves in homes, offices, artist studios, and museums... [acquired] as part of the unequal and violent exchanges of formal and informal empire."
Catherine Clark, MIT Assistant Professor, writes about the masks of empire, politics, and war, emphasizing, "Masks made for a variety of uses in Africa, Asia, and the Americas circulated in 20th century Europe as art; instead of being held or worn, they hung on walls and sat on shelves in homes, offices, artist studios, and museums... [acquired] as part of the unequal and violent exchanges of formal and informal empire."
Let's take time to learn about some of the formal meanings of the masks of Africa that we encounter in museums.
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