Masks: Symbolic Expression

The secondary classroom is such an interesting environment to unravel the identities we put on in different situations and moments. In my opinion, high schoolers are some of the most savvy when it comes to this, and are therefore unknowing experts. This mask unit really stretches students to work outside of concrete ideas and subject matter to reflect more on abstract ideas injecting personal iconography.

Students are first asked to observe, discuss, and interpret contemporary masks in a group, extracting meaning blindly. After they have an idea of how contemporary artists utilize masks they must seek to think about where they might metaphorically put on a different mask, and why. It is interesting to see how they begin to make connections to social media, childhood, culture, and more. They become more willing to engage in the project as they feel it is personal and creative. As we enter the planning stage they are given different abstract prompts in groups where they work together to visually represent words with no clearly defined imagery. Seeing a vast array of representing facial features from their peers they are not only showing social development but also emotional vulnerability.

That is by far the hardest thing we can foster in this room. Building trust is so important for students to feel the space to take emotional risks and as a result, develop. Physically and intellectually they are developing by combining their skills learned in previous units to really capture symbolic structures to achieve their aesthetic goals.