Art Smarts!

Throughout this year our class will have "Art Smarts" lessons that will connect the arts with what we are learning in research, math, writing or literacy. We had our first Art Smarts lesson this week as we learned about Egungun Masquerade Costumes created by the Yoruba people in Nigeria and Benin, Africa.

We learned that these elaborate costumes are created to honor ancestors in a special ceremony. Each picture or pattern on the costume represents important aspects of their family.

You can visit this Egungun Masquerade Costume at the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh! The class hopes to take a field trip there this year to see this piece and explore the other amazing works of art.


We began to work on making our own masquerade costumes. This was a perfect activity for the beginning of the year because it gave us the opportunity to learn more about each other. Each panel of our costume stood for something important to our families.

Here are some pictures of us planning and beginning to create our costumes.

Check back for an update with the completed costumes!