Perfection not Required
Posted By Kathleen David on March 4, 2012
Friday I went into Caroline’s school to help the teacher with an art project. They are studying various cultures as part of social studies. The current unit is on the Inuit. So I went in to make masks with the children based on Inuit masks and art. One of things we required was symmetry in the pieces and we showed them how to create that symmetry.
This was my example for the children.
(For the Visual Impaired. This is an oval piece of black construction paper. It is a happy face made of red, blue and white paper. The smile has red on the bottom layer then blue then white construction paper. A red nose which is an inverted triangle. The eyes are a blue layer then white then red then a black dot. At the top are two red strips of construction paper)
The thing I emphasized to the students was that there were no mistakes or wrong way to do the mask. They were amazed at how I could so quickly cut a piece of paper to a shape. I told them that when I was their age, I couldn’t cut paper the way I can as an adult. It took me a lot of practice to get to this point. That made a number of them who were having problems with the cutting feel better and they attacked the project with renewed enthusiasm.
I had a lot of fun with the children and they were very creative.
The final product by Caroline’s class
(For the Visually Impaired: This is Caroline’s class in front of a white board. They are holding their finished masks in front of their faces. The base of the masks are a mix of black and brown construction paper with various colors of construction paper on top making both human and animal faces. Caroline and her mask are in the upper right hand corner.)
I am grateful that I got a chance to work with Caroline’s class on this project.
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