African Masks Research Paper

This project discusses the African Mask. The earliest use of the African mask was for rituals and ceremonies and the oldest found mask is from 7000 BC. However, Masks were found older but because of the materials that were used from making the mask included leather and wood, they did not survive to be found. (2) The masks were important during the Paleolithic times. (3) The African masks are an important part of African ceremonies, rituals, initiations, celebration and secret communities. (1) African Masks are made from wood, pottery, textiles, copper, and bronze. The majority of them, however are made from trees because there is a plentiful amount in Africa, and the wood is the most natural home in the mask. The tree that the Africans cut the wood from is thought to have a spiritual soul. Before the tree has been cut down a sacrifice may be offered as a mark of respect for the spirit of the tree. The African Mask are different depending on which animal the artist chooses to represent. Some well- known animals for masks …show more content…
One of my favorite facts that I learned is that African Masks are made out of wood, pottery, textiles, bronze, and copper. Another one of my favorite facts is that the use vegetables, plants, seeds, tree bark, soil, or insects to create natural pigments and dyes to decorate the Africa mask. The difficult part of the I-Search project was to research my topic and write down facts on each of the five notecards. This was hard because I had to read a lot of each resource, then take out what I thought would be an important fact to include n my I-Search. My favorite part of the I-Search process was to choose my reports. As I looked on the list of things to choose from I was fascinated by a lot of topics. I narrowed it down between the art topics. There were a lot of interesting topics but the African Mask seemed like the right choice for