Festive skulls.

Those who teach art from a cart know the difficulty involved in providing students with a well-rounded experience in the visual arts. Transporting supplies along with setup and cleanup pose many problems and we manage to find solutions for them through trial and error and through the sharing of ideas with other "art carters."

My personal quest has been to ensure middle school students experience the element of form. Working on small desks in crowded rooms with virtually no storage, put efforts of working three-dimensionally to rest. A reasonable compromise to this problem is to take a three-dimensional art form and convert it to one that is two dimensional.

Historical and Cultural Context

The Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead provides a wealth of three-dimensional art forms to explore. With class discussion focusing on form, I show reproductions of papier-mache skeletons and skulls, ceramics, the paper-cutting art form known as papel picado and the breads and candy that are specially made for this celebration.

With molds purchased from an educational supply company, I create decorative sugar skulls which fascinate students. Our class discussions often involve comparing and contrasting the Day of the Dead with other celebrations involving death such as Halloween and Memorial Day. My students who have emigrated from other countries will often share celebrations from their homelands. We discuss the image of the skull--one that middle school students are familiar with and the boys, in particular, like to draw. We often see skulls as frightening symbols of death or as macho symbols of fearlessness with flames shooting out of empty eye sockets. The decorative skulls of Mexico often stand in contrast to this type of portrayal, being more lighthearted and fanciful. This opens the door to understanding the different ways that other cultures view death.

Embellished Compositions

For the art production phase of this lesson, I focus on the festive skulls that are a part of this holiday. Both the papier-mache skulls and the sugar skulls provide me with the opportunity to discuss terms such as form, repetition, pattern, symmetry, asymmetry, positive and negative space, as well as symbolism and folk art. Even though these objects are created using materials and techniques that I am unable to utilize in the classroom, students are still fascinated with their construction and we discuss this in detail. Students who were fortunate to have worked with these materials always share their experiences.

The objective of this lesson is to create a collage, using the skull as subject matter, with the addition of various decorative elements as observed and discussed in the reproductions. I provide each student with a template of a skull made from 9 x 12" (23 x 33 cm) tagboard. This provides a large space for adding features, shapes, and patterns. The students trace the template onto a 12 x 18" (30.5 x 46 cm) sheet of white construction paper and cut it out. The remaining scrap paper is used to create various bone shapes. The additional shapes are decided upon by students, but I discourage them from using the cliche of the skull and crossbones, and challenge them to be more original. Once the collage elements are arranged and glued to a black construction-paper background, students embellish their compositions with various images and patterns. Fine-tip colored markers are used for the detailed patterning. During the final stage, students make their pictures shine and glitter with bits of foil, glitter glue, or three-dimensional paint. The three-dimensional paint mimics the look of the icing that we see on the sugar skulls. Encourage students to use good judgment and restraint when applying their finishing touches. The glitter and foil should enhance, not overwhelm, the artwork. With this bit of guidance, I rarely have a student go overboard.

Conclusion

In viewing and critiquing their artwork, students are always fascinated with each other's creative efforts. Despite the use of the template and some basic guidelines, their results are varied and unique. Using a two-dimensional medium, students were able to explore, visually and intellectually, three-dimensional forms. They explored a culture and celebration that encourages us to observe and ponder the cyclical and transitory nature of our environment and ourselves.

Resource

For sugar skull molds, samples of papel picado, and other Day of the Dead items see the ad on page 64 or contact:

Crizmac Art and Cultural

Education Materials, Inc.

P.O. Box 65928

Tucson, Arizona 85728-5928

[phone]

www.crizmac.com

Materials

* skull template

* white and black construction paper, 12x 18" (30.5 x 46 cm)

* glue sticks

* scissors 

* fine-tip colored markers for patterns and detail

* large-tip colored markers for filling in larger areas

* colored foil, glitter glue, or three-dimensional paints pens

* art reproductions

Teacher Tips

* Avoid having students arrange a skull and crossbones composition.

* Encouraging students to consider a vertical or horizontal format and how it will affect the overall composition.

* Suggests arranging shapes before gluing.

* Sketch large feature and shapes with pencil before coloring with market.

* For teaching off a cart--use a rolling drying rack. If not available, eliminate the glitter or 3-D glues.

* Low budget tip--there are calendars based on the Day of the Dead theme with many excellent photos.

NATIONAL STANDARDS

Students know that the visual arts have both a history and specific relationship to various cultures.

WEB LINK

www.mexconnect.com/mex_/ feature/daydeadindex.html

Kathleen A. McArdle is a visual arts specialist at Glen Rock Middle School, Glen Rock, New Jersey. At the time Ibis article was written she was teaching at the L. V. Moore and Grace Widlay Middle Schools in Roselle, New Jersey. [e-mail]