E16: Masks Up!

The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood

What kind of masks can you think of? Masks have developed a whole different meaning over the last couple of years. Regardless how you feel about them, masks have become a normal part of our lives and children are fascinated by them. Spencer talks about how to bring joy and culture back into the subject. We discuss themes and the problems you run into when you try to force them into your curriculum, but how powerful it is when you find a topic that the children are interested in.
This was definitely the case with Ms. Spencer's art project study on masks! We talk about how the topic came about organically and how she ran with it. She introduced a different category of masks each week. They started out talking about masks used for celebrations like Venetian carnival masks, Dinayang masks, African Fatima masks, Junkanoo masks, Day of the Dead masks and facial paint, Dancing Devil masks of Venezuela, and Red Goblin masks of Japan. The children each made a masquerade mask.
Next, they talked about ritual and ceremonial masks like the Egyptian priest masks and African ritual masks (which the children were inspired by for their own masks). For this topic, they talked a lot about symbolism and color theory. Then they moved on to performance masks. They talked about masks of Greek theater, THALIA, Japanese Kabuki masks, and Beijing opera masks (which were the project that the children made). They also talked a little bit of modern theater like The Lion King on Broadway and even Pinkfong Baby Shark with the little hats.
To transition into the last category, they talked about sports masks since they combine performance with protection. That got them ready to talk about how masks keep us safe. Spencer finishes up our discussion by taking us through some of the health and safety histories of masks. We talk about the surprising origins of the Plague Doctor masks and discuss how this is a great way to introduce hope to children as this is not the first epidemic in history. She showed the children the first firefighter helmet (The Nealy Smoke Mask) and the cowboy bandana. That led into the development of medical masks and even their role during the Spanish Flu. There are pictures from that time that almost look just like our society today. They ended the project by decorating their own reusable safety masks.
Don't forget to show us pictures of your favorite masks!
Resources:
Mask Presentation - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18WPcr0W_hk-lIf2-Z-_H90TrCvnyQsjcF_jILhQtmnE/edit?usp=sharing
The Color Game - https://color.method.ac/
African Masks - https://www.artyfactory.com/africanmasks/
History of Medical Masks - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7255306/
"Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Support the show