Mardi Gras magic - Brief Article

Henrietta O. Ladson

During February, school children busily sift through stacks of red hearts, cut sheets of pink paper and glue delicate lacy doilies, all in celebration of Valentine's Day. As a visual arts specialist, I am always confronted with the unspoken need to teach art lessons related to the "big" holidays. Often, however, I find that the classroom teachers have provided plenty of art-related opportunities to celebrate these occasions. In fact, these activities seem to abound, especially in the primary grades.

On a whim, I decided to be totally different in my kindergarten art class, and replaced the traditional Valentine's activities with a celebration of Mardi Gras. The result was a project in which each child created a unique mask embellished with all of the wonderful sparkle and glitz associated with Mardi Gras. The kids loved the activity, and the masks themselves were amazing.

I began the lesson by leading a discussion about masks. Of course, the kindergartners immediately identified masks with dressing as their favorite characters, and wearing fanciful costumes during Halloween or at fall carnivals. The concept of a celebration fit easily into this discussion, and we then explored other celebrations with which the students were familiar.

At this point, I introduced Mardi Gras and showed pictures of some of the elaborate costumes worn by grown-ups. The students were intrigued. With great flourish, I then showed them examples of the Mardi Gras masks they would be making. They were hooked. Those young children sat very quietly and listened to the rest of the lesson because they really wanted a dazzling Mardi Gras mask of their very own.

The success of the project was twofold. Instructing the students in basic coloring techniques for use with markers was imperative. Kindergartners seem to prefer coloring with markers, yet from my observations, few know how to handle this medium effectively.

I decided that a coloring demonstration was in order. Choosing a darker hue, such as violet, I began by drawing three squares. In the first square, I colored rapidly, leaving a lot of white paper showing. In the second square, I colored repeatedly, making the color very dark and murky. In the third square, I used a slow, careful sweeping motion, filling in the small areas afterward.

Throughout this demonstration, I asked the students for their opinions as to what was wrong or right about each example. Many kindergartners love to participate in discussion and when asked to verbalize their analysis of the squares, they successfully identified poor technique.

The second thrust of the demonstration related to using two colors. Choosing yellow and purple, I showed how coloring into another color's area would make a "yucky" color. By actually coloring a purple circle over a yellow square, the students were able to see the purple circle become brownish. Thus, they visually understood why a yellow square must be colored around a purple circle, instead of over it.

Last, I presented the concept of a color pattern. Kindergartners spend much time studying patterns, and therefore the students understood the definition of a pattern. The idea of applying a pattern as a decorative technique was new, but logical.

Finally, the students were ready to begin. I gave each child a blank mask made out of half of a paper plate, with a tongue depressor hot-glued to the back. Part of the teacher preparation for the lesson included cutting out holes for eyes using an X-ACTO [R] knife. Also, a small place was cut for the nose.

After advising the students to think about their design and to color carefully, I allowed them to begin. The students had access to all colors of large markers with the exception of black and brown. If asked, I explained that they were creating bright and colorful masks and would not need black and brown. Because the area to be colored was relatively small (compared to a standard size sheet of paper), the students did not get fired and become sloppy in their technique. In fact, they were surprisingly careful throughout the coloring process.

The magical part of this project started after the masks were colored. I gave each child one strip of stick-on foil stars in the color of his or her choice. Again, I encouraged them to consider the concept of pattern. After affixing the stars, the students chose from an array of spangles in a container, which was placed on the table. I was impressed with the meticulous way the students chose their spangles. Application of the spangles also presented an opportunity for instruction on gluing small items to larger items.

The excitement continued to build as a box of feathers circulated the classroom. Each student was allowed to select three feathers for embellishment. Finally, it was time for the grand finale, which was, of course, glitter! The students had previously worked with glitter, so they were allowed to create their own designs, dabbing glue where they wanted to place their glitter. I did mention that the eyes are important, and therefore, many students chose to emphasize the eyeholes on their masks.

I must confess I was truly amazed at how wonderfully these masks turned out. The students were very excited, too. I believe creating something slightly different than the normal Valentine's Day card is an art lesson that they will not forget any time soon.

Henrietta O. Ladson is the visual arts specialist at Lake Park Elementary School in Albany, Ga.

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