Animal Masks - Grade 5

These masks began as a lesson in relief design.  It's a test in patience for the students as they try to control the flow of the glue out of the bottle onto the drawn lines of their design.  I on the other hand encourage them to appreciate the irregularity of the new found glue lines.  The students then have a week to wait to see the unique results of the dried glue.  It really is magical how it transforms itself.  Those who view the finished art work are always so curious as to how the project was done.
The students used oil pastels to color their designs.  Shading and highlighting were encouraged as the pastel was applied.  The interesting  organic shapes created with the glue allowed for the use of a variety of color and color blending.

The results were very dramatic.  It was a bit of a struggle choosing the most complimentary background for the masks.  After a lot of trial and error the background paper was created with strokes of colorful chalk that really made their image pop!