Milk Jug African Masks

African masks are used traditionally for rituals of coming of age. In modern societies they are used as decoration and a trade item. African masks have influenced a lot on modern society, including influencing Pablo Picasso's art. One example is Picasso's painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon; in this painting the faces of the ladies represent african masks. Though for this project we are going to focus on the symmetrical design elements of the mask and recreating the traditional look for the masks. As I have said before it is important to teach your children through art, we art teaching culture this time as we teach how to make the mask. To make a mask you can use many different elements- paper plates, actual wood, but we used milk jugs. Take an empty milk jug and cut it out to get your base for the mask. Once you have the mask cut out eye slits for the mask also. Since milk jugs are see through we are going to tape over the whole mask with masking tape. You can create texture with the masking tape and add onto the mask also. Once the mask is completely covered you cover it with shoe shine and then once that is dry you paint onto it and add on beads and dried grass or rafia. You add hair to the mask by punching holes into the mask and tying the hair material through it.

Below is my african mask I made:

I chose to take the milk jug handle and make it into my mask's nose and painted a symmetrical pater onto the mask for design. If you were able to look closer at my mask there is texture made by the tape so that the mask and the shoe shine did not go on evenly. I chose to do this mask because today in our society when there is a coming of age for a man it is when they grow a beard. Beards are a huge thing in society (especially in my family with my brother) and they have become a sign of a man. I hope you enjoy creating with your students! Here is a link to a tutorial at Elementary Art Methods 3700: Milk Jug Masks Tutorial