Lesson video

My name is Esther.

Some people call me Miss Esther and I'm an artist and art teacher.

We'll be doing a lesson together today called: Masque: Sculpture, Clothes, and Messages.

It's part of our unit: Clothes and Culture: Wearable art.

Let's get started.

Our outcome for today is that by the end of the lesson, you can build a figure and costume that shows identity and power.

We have some key words for today.

Some of them you might already know.

I'll read through them and then we'll have a look at what they mean together.

We have masquerade, costume, identity, and sculpture.

You might know some of these keywords already.

A masquerade is a parade or celebration where people wear masks and costumes to celebrate, protest or tell stories.

A costume is the type of clothing worn in a particular place or time or by members of a particular group.

Identity is all the things by which a person or thing is known or considered as being.

You could think of it as all the things that make you you.

Sculpture is a three dimensional piece of art made by shaping or combining materials.

This is our lesson outline for today.

First of all, we'll make and wear a costume together.

Secondly, we'll be building a sculptural figure from wire and paper.

And last of all, thirdly, we'll dress the figure in symbolic paper clothes.

We'll start by making and wearing a costume together.

What message could a costume send about a person's identity or power? I'd like you to pause the video and have a talk to someone nearby about maybe a time of year when people wear costumes and what that costume can tell you about who they are and their power.

Restart the video when you've had a conversation.

Well done for sharing your ideas about costume and identity.

We're going to talk now about mask.

Mas is short for masquerade.

It's a parade or celebration where people wear masks and costumes to celebrate, protest or tell stories.

Around the Caribbean, different islands have their own names and traditions for this, such as Carnival in Trinidad, Jonkonnu in The Bahamas.

Jonkonnu originated in Jamaica, and Crop Over in Barbados.

And we have an example of a parade to look at here.

This image shows participants in the Karneval der Kulturen, Carnival of Cultures in Berlin, Germany.

The event is an annual street festival and parade that celebrates the cultural diversity of the city.

It's a true or false question.

In masquerade parades like Jonkonnu, people wear bold costumes to celebrate, protest and remember their history.

Do you think this is true or false? Pause the video and talk to a partner sharing your ideas.

Well done for having those conversations.

Did you get the right answer that it was true? We'll find out why together.

Jonkonnu and other masquerades use costume, dance and music to share culture and tell powerful stories.

Hi everyone.

We have Izzy, Aisha and Lucas with us, and they're working together as a fashion team to create a costume.

Aisha is the model and Izzy and Lucas are going to be the designers.

They talk together, first of all, about what Aisha likes to wear and what she will wear the costume for.

Lucas asked the question, "Does she like bold shapes?" Izzy says, "If Aisha will be in a parade, what about clothes she can dance or stretch in?" As they work, they take inspiration from masquerade parades and think about their design choices.

Lucas asks, "What does Aisha like to wear in real life?" That's a good question.

Izzy says, "Aisha likes strong outfits with big shapes and lots of movement." Lucas has another question.

"Does your costume help Aisha dance, march or pose?" Izzy replies, "The arms can still lift and the legs can bend, perfect for powerful posing." They keep testing the costume to make sure the model can still move, pose, and bring the costume to life.

Great planning, Lucas, Izzy, and Aisha.

Izzy and Lucas are using paper as a material for their design.

They try folding or layering paper to make the design more exciting.

Izzy and Lucas build their costume by wrapping strips of newspaper over Aisha's arms and shoulders.

They use small pieces of masking tape to stick the paper together so it stays in place.

They check that Aisha can still move and pose while wearing the costume.

I'd like you to pause the video here and just have a look at the paper designs on the screen.

Think about whether they have holes in them, what you can see and where they might go on the body.

Have a conversation as a group about the image on the screen.

Pause the video and restart it when you've had your discussion.

Great conversations everyone.

Lucas asked, "Do our costumes have to look like real clothes?" Izzy says, "No! In masquerade parades like Jonkonnu, costumes are bold and full of meaning.

These big shapes and movements tell a story." Great, we have a check for understanding.

The question is why is it important to test the costume while the model moves? Pause the video and have a conversation about why it's important that the costume will be able to move with the model.

You can talk as a group or one-to-one with somebody.

Great conversations and thoughts about why a costume would need to move with the model.

You may have had answers like: To make sure it's safe, comfortable, and doesn't fall apart.

We have a list of things we need to create a costume.

You will need: newspaper, masking tape, scissors, and a group of four or five people.

Fantastic.

We are now ready to do Task A: Make and wear a costume together.

You're working as a fashion team.

One person is the model and the others are designers.

Use newspaper and masking tape to design a bold costume for a masquerade that shows character and shows movement.

Think as you make.

What does your model like to wear in real life? Can you make bold shapes like a crown, cape or skirt? Does your costume help your model dance, march or pose? What makes your costume special or powerful? What kind of character would wear this costume? Bring all your folding, form playing, patting, joining skills together and enjoy making your unique fashion designs.

Pull the video and restart when you've done Task A.

Well done, fantastic making.

It is really interesting to see how many different shapes and designs we can get from one material like newspaper.

Here's an example of a costume.

Izzy says, "Our model likes strong, bold outfits in real life, so we're adding big shapes like a tall crown and shoulder armor.

We're keeping the arms and legs free so the model can march and strike powerful poses.

Our costume shows a leader character, someone brave and confident." We are ready now for our second learning cycle, build a sculptural figure from wire and paper.

We have a question: Can a sculpture create movement without actually moving? What do you think? Can you pause the video and have a conversation with a partner about whether a sculpture can create movement without actually moving? Great conversation, it's really interesting to share our thoughts about how movement is conveyed in sculpture.

We have an amazing artist to look at here.

Sokari Douglas Camp is a British-Nigerian sculptor.

She uses pose and costume to show ideas about identity, power, and culture.

Her figures often look like they are moving, marching or dancing.

So if we check out this figure here in the picture, we can see some of his character coming over from his pose in what he's wearing.

Douglas Camp works with steel, cutting, bending and welding it into shape.

What pose might you choose? You might have already developed some poses from making your own costume.

At the V&A museum, you can see The Three Graces, three classical figures with no clothes, showing ideas of beauty and calm.

Sokari Douglas Camp made her own version of this sculpture.

Her version is called Africa and America Supporting Europe, three dressed strong figures that ask questions about power and history.

And in this sculpture, Europe is in the middle, the figure of Europe, supported by Africa and America.

So the question we could ask ourselves is who is holding up power? We have a check here for understanding.

What does Sokari Douglas Camp use in her sculptures to show identity, power, and movement? Is it A, paper and glue? Is it B, pose and costume? Or is it C, clay and wood? Pause the video and talk as a big group about what you think Sokari Douglas Camp uses in a sculpture to show identity, power, and movement.

Amazing conversations.

Did you get the answer B, pose and costume? Lucas and Izzy are having a conversation.

Lucas says, "How can wire and paper tell a story?" Izzy says, "Through pose! A body's position can show power, emotion, or meaning." You will build a wire figure that tells a story through body movement.

We'll think now about building the wire figure and choosing a pose.

The pose could be: reaching out, standing proud, dancing, resting, marching.

A pose can show how a person feels, moves or tells a story without using words.

You might have a pose from your explorations earlier that you'd like to use.

In Jonkonnu masquerade parades, figures look like they are alive.

Their arms lift, heads tilt, even without words, they speak through the movement.

Lucas says, "So our sculpture doesn't have to look real.

It has to feel alive." We have a check here for understanding.

Which pose, for you, shows strength and how do you know that it's showing strength? We have figure A, it's got their arms towards their body.

Figure B, whose arms are, well, one arm is above the head.

And figure, C whose hands are by their head.

Pause video and point to the figure that you feel shows strength, and then share with someone nearby how you know that.

What makes you think that? Restart the video after you've thought about the question.

Great conversations in thinking about the meanings of the different poses.

Did you get the answer B? B is the correct answer.

The pose with hands up and back straight shows strength because she looks confident and proud.

Great thinking together.

Well done.

You can build a figure using wire.

We have got a safety tip here.

Be careful when using wire, the ends can be sharp.

Always bend or tape the tips of the wire, that's the end of the wire, and work slowly so you don't scratch your hands.

To build your sculpture, you will need: A staple gun, which will be used by an adult.

Aluminum thick and thin wire.

A board and strong tape.

You can build a figure by bending two wires together to start.

Twist the middle of the wire to make a loop.

This is going to be the body of your sculpture.

If we look at the images, we can see the wire being bent in the middle, crossed over, and then twisted around so it makes a loop with two long bits of wire sticking out.

On the end of the long bits of wire are the feet.

Stick these two long bits of wire to the board.

You can make a little loop at the bottom for feet if you'd like to.

Make a second loop, the arms and head.

So you'll need a new piece of wire and you make a loop in the same way.

Aluminum wire is very easy to cut and very flexible and bendable.

We can see going through, the wire has been bent in the middle.

It's been twisted to make a small little head loop and the shoulders have been made, shoulders are quite important.

To attach the two shapes together, we'll use the thin wire, lining up the head, the small loop on top of the big loop.

You can see here the artist is tucking and threading the smaller wire around to bind those shoulders onto the body.

And that the two bits of wire that were left over in the small loop have now become arms. Before you go any further, it's important to check the balance of your figure and that it's attached securely to the base with the strong tape.

Now build your figure.

Give it a pose.

Is it reaching out, standing proud, resting, or dancing? I'd like you to just pause the video for a second and think about what pose you might do for your figure.

Like Sokari Douglas Camp, you are telling a story with the body movement.

Remember, the sculptures don't move.

When you are ready and you've added lots more thin wire to your figure.

Then wrap masking tape around your figure to really build up the body.

It's really exciting, we're ready to do Task B: Build a sculptural figure from wire and paper that shows a clear pose and personality.

You can think about what kind of person is your figure? Is it moving or still? What story does that pose tell? Pause the video and have a fantastic time looping, twisting, bending, shaping, sticking, binding and wrapping.

Restart the video when you've done Task B.

Well done, amazing work.

It's really fantastic to build up our skills in using things like wire and creating sculptures.

You've done an excellent job of challenging yourself to make a moving figure with this material.

We've got an example here of a sculpture and an explanation about it.

It says, "My figure is a dancer.

It's moving with one arm up and one leg bent.

The pose shows energy and joy like it's celebrating." We're ready now for our final lesson cycle.

Dress the figure in symbolic paper clothes.

So we dressed a real human figure to start with and now we're dressing our wire figure.

We've got a question here.

Can what someone wears change what we think about them and how? I'd like you to just look at the screen and think about costumes that you see people in.

How does it change how you think about that person? Just looking at the image on the screen and just having a think about it.

Here's our amazing artist again, Sokari Douglas Camp who dresses her sculptures in bold metal clothes to make them look strong and powerful.

Can you think of something you wear that makes you feel confident or powerful? I love that idea, like power dressing.

Pause the video and share with a partner what is maybe a favorite outfit that wear that makes you feel confident or powerful.

Great conversations, well done for sharing your favorite power or confident outfits.

We have Lucas and Izzy here.

Lucas says, "Are we just making our clothes to decorate our sculpture?" Izzy replies, "No, the clothes should mean something.

They help tell the character's story." Clothes in art can show identity, power, culture, or emotion.

We have a pause here, a check for understanding to do together.

It's a true or false question.

Cloths in art can show ideas and not just fashion.

Is this true or false? Pause the video and have a discussion as a group.

Did you get the answer that it's true? Well done for sharing your ideas.

Why is it true? Clothes in art can tell us about a person's identity, their feelings or their history.

We have our materials list here.

For this part of the lesson, you will need some card, some paper, tissue, paper, a whole punch would also be a great tool to have.

You can cut shapes for your clothes.

You can make shirts, skirts, belts, masks or clothes.

You can fold card to make colors or hats.

You can use string or tape to attach the clothes to your figure and layer the different materials.

We have a check here for understanding, a small pause.

Jacob has taped thick card straight onto his sculpture without shaping it first, so the clothes look stiff and don't fit the figure.

What could we suggest to Jacob to help him get the clothes to fit the figure? Pause the video and have conversation with somebody nearby about how we could help Jacob.

What suggestions could we make? I hope you had some good conversations and shared some of your knowledge and technical skills.

Jacob could try bending or folding the card before taping it on, that way his clothes will follow the shape of the body and look more natural.

Really exciting, now we're ready to dress up our wire figure.

Dress your wire sculpture using paper and card to show identity and meaning.

Include clothing shapes, you could have a cape, a belt, a collar, a mask, layered materials, and also include a message through your costume.

I'm thinking really here about what story does your figure carry.

It's a great chance to use our imaginations and invent a history and story for our wire figures.

Have a fantastic time dressing your figure.

Restart the video when you've done Task C.

Great work.

It's so enjoyable to add things to a sculpture and create even more character and expression.

We've got an example here of a figure in its costume.

Izzy says, "My figure is celebrating.

It looks like it's dancing in a festival.

The costume shows it's proud of where it comes from.

It is telling a story about joy and freedom." Worked really hard this lesson.

Here is a summary of what we've done today.

We explored how costumes and poses can show identity, power, and emotion with you creating your own paper costumes and working as a team.

We talked about masquerade traditions for inspiration like Jonkonnu, where costume dance and music, express culture and history.

And we found out about artists Sokari Douglas Camp.

And then we designed and built our own figures and costumes that expressed identity and told our story through shape and movement.

It's been great to work with you.

I hope you've enjoyed the lesson and I'll see you in another art lesson very soon.