Papier Mache Sculpture

These papier mache sculptures by the 4th grade students depict each student's design for a meaningful mask. The students designed their sculptures after they studied masks from different cultures around the world. We started this project around halloween, therefore, it was easy to start a discussion about the uses of masks. We observed masks from the theater, carnival, ritual dances (as in the Chinese Lion dance) and religion (as in ancient Egypt) as well as other cultural masks from Mexico and Africa.

Before we started building these masks, the students watched a short movie (by Rainbow Books) that featured a papier mache sculptor, Stephen Hansen from Kalamazoo, Michigan. The movie shows the artist creating a sculpture from the very conceptual step until the fine details. As Mr. Hansen thinks out load, the movie vividly depicts the thinking behind the creative process . The movie is a very concise and entertaining way to demonstrate the long process of making a papier mache sculpture.

The students used found materials, lunch tray, newspaper and grocery bags, to build their armature. They used torn strips of newpapers and papier mache paste to form the base of the sculpture. After they removed it from the armature, they "painted it" with colored tissue paper and embellished it with buttons, feathers, pipe cleaners, yarn, fabric, shredded paper and other found objects. 

As a culminating activity, the students wrote an artists statement explaining the meaning of, and inspiration for, their sculpture as well as the process and materials used in its creation.