Creating masks in our Hand Building with Clay class at McKinley Elementary after school with the CREST Enrichment program has been a joy. With majority boys in the class, the tempo had to be high energy.
Students learned how to “pound out” slabs (flat) pieces of clay the week before, then created “armatures” (support structures) of newspaper, over which they stretched their slabs, so that their masks would be three dimensional.
It was exciting to watch the students develop their mask characters, inevitably thinking in terms of story…inspired by characters from film, television, and books, but always their own. Students used coil, scoring, incising and even pinch pot techniques to create their mask characters.
Creating detail.
Two faces, in one?
Creating texture!
Inspired by the zombie craze.
Our one young girl in class that day created…a self-portrait?
Creative use of coils…
Figuring it out…
A very coherent expression.
Tattoo?
What is going on here? Perhaps this young maker is working out his feelings through creating.
It would not be the first time…
All hail, the healing powers of Art.