PAPER MACHE MASKS

After my presentation about Ghana in West Africa, I decided that it would be a good idea to introduce the students to our next element of art, form, by creating their own version of an African masks.  They started by folding a piece of poster board and drawing half of a mask on the fold.  This reinforced our discussion about symmetrical shapes.  Then we stapled them creating a mask form which was not two dimensional but three.  Then they began to add cover it with paper mache.  We used torn pieces of paper towels and glue water.  Below is one of my students talking about her mask as she works on it.

REFLECTIONS ON GHANA

Here is your assignment for today since I won't be there with you.

I did a presentation Wednesday for you all about my three trips to Ghana. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something about one of my favorite countries. So today I thought it would be a good time to reflect on my presentation by doing a Ghana Quest. Write your answers on a piece of paper and give it to the substitute teacher or type the answers in Word and email them to me at lhewett1@yahoo.com. Good luck.

1. Ghana is in northern, southern, eastern or western Africa.
2. Which ocean separates the US from Ghana?
3 . What is the capital of Ghana?
4 . What four colors are in the Ghanaian flag and what do they symbolize?
5. What's the name of one of the slave castles in Ghana?
6. Ghana is located on the Gulf of ______________.
7. What are the two main religions in Ghana?
8. What is the name of Ghana's currency?
9. Who would live better - a Ghanaian in the US or an American in Ghana?
10. What is fufu?
11. What is the most interesting ingredient in Groundnut soup?
12. Is there any gold in Ghana?
13. Who are the janitors in Ghanaian schools?
14. Who are the Ashanti?
15. What is Ghana's most popular sport?
16. You'll find a few McDonalds in Ghana. T or F
17. What is kente cloth?
18. What are adinkras?
19. Why are some Ghanaians afraid of African masks?
20. What are some of the languages spoken in Ghana?
21. Why is it so unsafe for an American to drink water from Ghana?
22. Name two countries that neighbor Ghana.

While in Ghana I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Mr. Ablade Glover, Ghana's most famous artist. He was a gentleman and very talented. For your last question I want you to click on the link below. When you do you'll see a photo of Mr. Glover and lots of his paintings. Choose the one painting that you like the best, write its title and tell me why you like it so much. I'll need three or four sentences for your answer.

CLICK HERE


That's it. Have a wonderful weekend.

Mr. Hewett

PRESENTATION ON GHANA

In  preparation for our study of African masks, I did a presentation on Ghana in West Africa.  I have been three times for a total of eight weeks.  I showed artifacts from Ghana and told stories of the people I met and the things I did and saw.  Lastly one of my students posed in an authentic chief's outfit while the others drew him.  Later I'll be showing videos that I took while there.

TESSELLATIONS DONE BY HAND

After completion of their tessellations on the computer the students were assigned to do one by hand.  They soon discovered that tessellations were a lot quicker and easier if done on the PC.  But the ones done by hand were quite awesome as well.

TESSELLATIONS

Whenever I teach shapes one of the first projects we do is tessellations.  Tessellations are repeated patterns that can goon forever in all directions with no overlapping or gaps.  Their first tessellations were done on the computer using the Paint program. Here are a few examples.  I think they did an awesome job.  Next they will be doing tessellations by  hand.  Then they will compare and contrast the two.

WHEN IT CAME TO LINES, THEY BLEW IT

In my line unit we talked about all kinds of lines.  So in order to achieve lines that aren't possible using pencils or paintbrushes, my students created lines by blowing ink on a sheet of paper with a straw.  They really enjoyed this activity to the point of some of them becoming light headed.  I asked them to make sure lines crossed over lines. Why?  This created shapes, our second element of art.  They learned that there are two kinds of shapes: geometric and free form or organic.  Most of the blown lines were free forms.  In order to make the shapes more prominent I asked them to color all shapes with color pencils.  The end result was beautiful.

Before this activity though each student created compositions using the five basic lines: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved and zigzag.

CONTINUOUS LINE PORTRAITS

As part of our continuous line drawings, each student was asked to draw a portrait of the person sitting in front of him/her.  What is difficult about this?  They had to draw the entire picture with only one line.  Once they put down their drawing utensil they were not allowed to pick it up until the drawing was finished.  We also discussed the Denver Bronco's quarterback, Tim Tebow and the pose he has become famous for.  So two of my male students volunteered to pose as Tebow while their classmates drew them using only one line.