Animal Masks Linking Art and Anthropology

This Year 9 (Grade 8) Art project was inspired by a life-long love of masks and mask culture and by a recent visit to the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa. I have collected masks in my travels, and have constructed several of my own. Recently, I made two masks from cardboard – a Krampus mask based on the European tradition, and a lion mask inspired by The Lion King’s Scar character and a mask I found online. In the school project, students were asked to find a culture or mask maker who uses animals as inspiration for their designs. They then completed an artist study, found reference images, and created sketches to help them in constructing individual masks, which could be copies or extensions of what they found in their research. Following a reflection activity, final works were displayed in a four-class collection.

Learn more about the Canadian Museum of History and the First Nations of West Coast Canada at https://www.historymuseum.ca/event/grand-hall/

Cards of the World Culture, Pattern & Symmetry

Cards of the World was a collaborative project between Dulwich College Beijing Art Teachers, and was conceived by Head of Department Jenn Knowles and myself. Every student in Year 8 contributed a playing card design, and the final printed sets are being sold to raise money for the “Yunnan Project” charity fund. As the card box reads: “[The Yunnan Project] is a charity where DCB students raise funds to support schools for migrant children in Yunnan province. DCB runs two trips per year where students engage with local communities and funds raised go towards building essential facilities such as bathrooms and playground resources.”