Students create a different mask
Wearing a mask when in public has been one of the CDC'S biggest suggestions for stopping the pandemic since spring. How ironic, then, that Betsy Selover, an eighth- grade art and
10th- 12th- grade ceramics teacher at the high school, is teaching students in her Ceramics II class to make masks.
Her class has been making making masks for four of the six years Selover has been teaching in the district, and the whole project usually takes two weeks.
Using a basic face shape, students roll clay out and mold it into a form.
After that they compress clay, then add or cut away pieces of the form until they have a desired shape - in this case a mask.
Why clay masks and not heads or figurines?
"Throughout art history, masks have been created, either for spiritual rituals or to honor an emperor," Selover said via email.
Her purpose for making these masks is in teaching students human face structure and creating that structure in a three dimensional form, among other reasons.
By doing this, Selover believes students are learning to reflect themselves and their personalities in the
Masks by Ashlye Rupper and Elizabeth Gesler
finished products, something she described as exciting.
Another reason for the project according to Selover is that it asks students to tap into students' extended thinking.
"I also want them to think creativity," Selover said. "When picking a theme they have to decide to how convey that concept."
According to Selover, while creating a human face using clay is difficult, her students eventually start to enjoy the work.
To be clear though, these clay masks were NOT a response to the pandemic.
"I honestly did not even think about it being a mask and connecting it with the pandemic," Selover admitted.