Young Artists aged 10-15 | Winter Carnival: Mask-making and Costume

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Winter Carnival: Mask-making and Costume

In this one-day course students will be cast into a world of mask-making and costume where they will explore themes of transformation, identity and camouflage.

We will look at the tradition of mask-making through time. We will see how the use of the mask in theatre, and in different rituals across our world, has influenced our contemporary culture, in cinema, theatre and visual art. Throughout the day we will draw inspiration from the work of artists such as James Ensor, Paula Rego, Caroline Achaintre, Claude Cahun, Pablo Picasso and Leonor Fini, amongst others.

In the first half of the day we will use discarded materials such as paper, card, tape and glue to create masks imbued with personal references and influences. Collaborating in groups, we will then spend some time building a set, using the work of the artists we have studied as a reference.

The second half of the day will see our model wear the masks crafted by students, posed within the set we have created, allowing a world to come alive before our eyes! We will then make drawings from our winter carnival world and later we will don the masks ourselves and enter our set so we can create ever more complex compositions and narratives within our drawings.

This course is for you if you are interested in:

  • Masks, costume, theatre and stage.
  • Identity and transformation.
  • Working in three dimensions.
  • Colour.
  • Mark-making.
  • Imagination and world building.

Students will:

  • Gain confidence in drawing from observation and in creating more challenging compositions.
  • Work in three dimensions, from design to final piece.
  • Develop their ability to experiment without the fear of making ‘mistakes’.
  • Build their skills in contextual studies though discussion of artists work and conceptual ideas and themes.
  • Gain confidence in working within a group and in sharing ideas with others.
  • Work with different, unusual materials in drawing and in crafting props.