Painted masks inspired by Chinese Opera

These masks are inspired by the Chinese Opera tradition, in which the colors and patterns of the make-up change according to the characteristics of the characters in the stories. The aim of the work, carried out with sixth grade students, is to understand the aspects of bilateral symmetry. For the realization of the mask we used a template that you can find here:

To create these abstract and symmetrical designs we were inspired by some of the countless images found on the web like this one, without copying the proposed figures but inventing new decorations in a free and personal way

First we folded the template of the mask in half and drew the lines and decorations freehand on the half mask. We then copied the lines drawn on the other half, placing the folded design on a window and tracing the drawn lines.

The drawing obtained was then traced on a white cardboard suitable for painting, with carbon paper. The drawing was traced with a permanent black marker to define the areas to be painted. In the last step the mask was painted in tempera paint, paying attention to apply symmetry also to the colours.