The timing of this lesson for me is fantastic. I just spent the weekend in California and stumbled upon this exhibit at the Bowers Museum. Watch this video taken by Bowers President Peter Keller on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea that features the Fire Dance Mask Festival. Several of the large spirit masks seen in this performance were collected on behalf of the museum and can be viewed in the Spirits and Headhunters exhibition.
Spanning the geographic region collectively referred to as Oceania, this comprehensive exhibition highlights masterworks from the three cultural regions of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. Particular focus is placed on New Guinea, land of the headhunter, and the rich artistic traditions infused into daily and ritual life. Submerge into a visually stunning world and come face to face with larger-than-life masks, finely crafted feast bowls, objects associated with the secretive Sepik River men’s house, beautiful shell and feather currency, magic figures and tools of the shaman, objects related to seagoing trade routes, and gorgeous personal adornments.
Our lesson will have the students create these masks on a small scale using paper plates, preprinted outlines to save time, markers and pastels. We are also using pipe cleaners on the top or bottom as the rafia adornment. Again, K-5 - easier than having them tie rafia during a 50 minute lesson. More fun too, because it holds its shape.
Symmetry is the running theme and objects found in nature such as shells, rocks, wood, fibers.
Many of you are familiar with the awesome statues at East Island in Polynesia.
You can learn more about it on the Bowers' Museum site and listen to their narration here.
Have fun with this. We suggest for younger students if you are short on time - pre-print the masks for them, cut the eyeholes and mouth. Punch the plates that you will mount them on. We used the Chinette type of plates for thickness, but not plastic.
The kids had a BLAST!
