Sixth-grade art students at Memorial Middle School in South Portland have created masks inspired by those used in the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, such as King Tut, and the masks are now hanging in the school hallways, as well as around the superintendent of school’s office.

Using self-portraits as the base, art teacher Sanda Weber said her students then transferred the images to a gold-colored aluminum sheet and pressed the image of their face into the metal, creating a slightly raised and textured representation of their portrait.

The students then examined the images of Egyptian pharaohs, who they had studied previously with their Social Studies teachers, as the inspiration for creating their own headdresses.

Weber said her students looked at the patterns and styles of the Egyptian pharaohs, but were also challenged to create something that was personal to them. They then used oil pastels and colored pencils to add color and finalize their designs.

Weber said in addition to being a fun and creative project, the masks also met several of the Essential Learning Targets for middle school students, including understanding the proportions of the human face, as well as making connections across disciplines since her students had also recently studied ancient Egypt in Social Studies class.

“Allowing the students to draw themselves, as well as to make choices and be creative with the project, helped them to take pride in and make a personal connection with their work, thus increasing their effort and commitment,” she said.

Initially, Weber added, the students were a little wary of the mask project, but once they started the creative process, she said, “they were really excited. (And) in the end the students worked extra hard to do their best. The results are great and the students are very proud of their work.”

For her part, she hopes the students have “seen how art can connect with the content that they are learning in other subject areas. (And) I especially hope they had an opportunity to be creative and have fun while learning.”

Weber also said the mask project wouldn’t have been so successful without the “resources and insight I received from the sixth-grade social studies teachers – Kate Porter, Sarah Connors and Jadie Farwell.”

Olivia Wallace, a sixth-grader at Memorial Middle School in South Portland, shows off her Egyptian mask.

Julianne Coyne and her mask.

Julliet Mutizwa and her mask.