Ndebele African Art



Fifth Graders just finished these beautiful paintings of Ndebele villages from Africa!



African Sculptures

Fourth graders have been learning about Africa in Art class. We practiced making African masks and African textile designs and combined those ideas to make our African sculptures!

Museum Inspirations

For many years I was fortunate enough to teach Saturday and summer classes at the Toledo Museum of Art. Working with so many children who had a passion for art and had chosen to take the classes was an awesome and fulfilling experience. I also met and collaborated with so many wonderful area art teachers. I truly believe that my years at the museum taught me more than any college course ever could have! Because I worked with small class sizes, we were able to do some pretty cool projects. Here are a few of my favorites.

 This first work of art was inspired by the still life collection. Second and third graders used chalk pastels dipped in white tempera paint. The results were vibrant!

Students were able to visit the African galleries and look at various examples of African textiles. In the classroom they used fabric, ribbon, raffia, and stamps to create the wall hangings.





Butterfield horse inspired by the sculpture infront of the museum





/

Calder Circus: This project was made in another class by one of the most talented art teachers I know! Lisa had her students use cork, tissue, wire, etc. to recreate Calder's circus. If you look closely you can see the tiger jumping through the ring of fire and the figure on the horse!

Students used foam board and paper mache to create these Egyptian pharaoh faces!

African Masks

Here are some African mask projects my students have created through the years. We usually read the book Who's In Rabbit's House and look at a variety of wooden masks from Africa. I was lucky enough to have been given these my first year of teaching! 5 beautiful wooden masks were brought to me from a parent who found them in a box out for garbage! My students love looking at them and drawing from them. Our museum also offers a lending program where teachers can borrow objects, such as masks, and return them after a few weeks. I have built my own curriculum box for African Art, complete with music, handouts, coloring pages, books, stamps, and the treasured masks. It's been a great teaching tool!

This mask was made by a fourth grader using sand, colored yarn, and beads.

This mask was made using yarn, noodles, and beads. Then we dabbed gold and bronze paint over our masks!

These masks were styrofoam prints embellished with gold paint and oil pastels.