The Classical Road Show

ZAMBEZI TALES

Art Project

 

You are invited to create your own versions of the African art tradition by making and painting masks and shields which will be exhibited at our concert.  (Instructions below)

This is optional, but if you do make some, please bring them along on Friday 26 May.   Shields will be handed in and collected at point of entry.  Masks worn only when seated.

 

 

INTRODUCTION

There are many countries and peoples in Africa and each group has its own culture, that is its language, history, art, stories and ways of doing things.  In Zambezi Tales we explore Africa through its folklore, especially tales from the Shona and Tonga tribes.  Many of the tales feature wildlife such as warthogs, hyenas – and rabbits!  They could feature in your project.

 

The oldest paintings known in Africa were found in a cave in the region between Royal Natal National Park and Bushman's Neck, South Africa. We can see the importance of art in the lives of our early ancestors, as over 20,000 individual rock paintings have been recorded at 500 different cave sites.

 

The pictures were made nearly 30,000 years ago, about the same time that cave paintings were made in France, Spain and Australia.  It seems that the earliest people all over the world decorated important places with pictures.  These caves became  holy places for the San people of Southern Africa. 

 

The bushman or San paintings are one of South Africa's greatest cultural treasures. Their subjects range from animals (mainly the eland, a type of antelope) to humans, therianthropes (mythical figures combining human and animal form) to ox-wagons and mounted men with rifles.

 

The San ‘shamans’ or priests, would go to the sites of rock paintings and draw power from them by going into a trance – a dream-like state.  The eland was thought to be particularly full of a power that the shamans could use to go into a trance, allowing them to heal the sick, bring rain and control animals.  They believed that the paintings on the rock opened doors to the spirit world.

 

Our Debt to African Art

All around the world, art is created to mark important stages in life or to reflect religious beliefs.  For thousands of years sculpture and painting have been very important to the African tradition which has in turn inspired some of the greatest  European painters of the twentieth century such as Matisse, Modigliani and particularly Picasso in his ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’.

 

Picassso: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon                                   Wilfredo Lam: Jungle

     

 

 

ART IN EVERYDAY OBJECTS

 

Sometimes we think of art as being paintings.  But everyday objects that are artistically designed can be regarded as works of art as well as useful.  Such objects in the African tradition are weapons, head-rests, pots and jewellery – made from materials from animal dung to gold. 

 

Can you guess what this picture represents?  It is a headrest, a wooden pillow which, when a person’s head rested on it at night, supported the neck and protected special hair styles! Headrests also kept heads cool (in the air) and were very comfortable. 

 

In some parts of Africa, double headrests were made for a husband and wife to share, but among Shona peoples in Zimbabwe, headrests were used only by men.  Since they were very personal objects, headrests were looked after very carefully, taken to be used on long journeys and often buried with their owner.

 

In sleep, people could sometimes enter the spirit world and dreams were believed to foretell the future.  This made headrests even more important as a place to dream.

 

 

Ostrich Eggs have been used by Africans for thousands of years as containers.  The people who made early rock paintings carried water in these shells, the hole being plugged with wax or grass.  But if instead you eat the eggs, they are so large that each one can feed eight people. 

 

Here are some decorated ostrich eggs, now a favourite with the tourists.

 

 

 

 

GEOMETRIC PATTERNS

 

 

The paintings and sculptures of Africa are not intended to be naturalistic represent-ation but rather are often symbolic of the rules, social traditions and heritage of a tribe.

 

There is no word for ‘art’ in many African languages; instead words like ‘design, ‘skill’ and ‘pattern’ are used.

 

Here are some typical African patterns used to this day to paint the outside of houses and in textiles.  Note the beautiful earth colours which are employed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MASKS

 

When we see masks in museums, we have to remember that they were meant to be worn by someone moving about, as part of a performance including costumes, music, stories and dancing, often with an important message.  Masquerades take place for a variety of purposes, but the wearer of the mask is always hidden.  The person is not important because masks are used to conjure up the world of spirits and ancestors. 

 

Performances often mark important times in the life of people or a community.  They can also be used to settle arguments and keep order.

 

Dancer’s Mask

 

This African dancer has a mask with a motor bike on top!  It is an integral part of his costume – an interesting mix of ancient tradition and modern life.  Perhaps it is representative of his ‘day job’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spirit Masks

 

Ancestors are dead relatives whose spirits are believed to have power to help the living. 

 

Many ceremonies are performed to encourage ancestors and their spirits to look after people.

 

Masks are meant to be seen as part of a ceremony or performance including costumes, music, stories and dancing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animal Masks

Animal masks can also be used in dances or playacting to amuse or frighten the spectators.

 

 

 

Make your own mask

 

Making a face mask is relatively straightforward. It should be made of card and would need to leave the mouth and nose free for singing and eye holes big enough for the children to be able to see clearly and to watch the conductor.  The basic shape, approximately 15cms x 6cms, could be developed by adding ears, horn or tusks and painted with animal marking or geometric patterns.

 

 

 

 

Cotton tapes, each about 27cms in length or thin elastic could be threaded through slits and attached to the back of the mask with sticky patches.

 

 

 

or paint your face

 

As an alternative to making a mask, you might decorate your faces with face paints.

 

For certain African ceremonies, people’s bodies were sometimes treated as works of art and decorated with paint and jewellery.

 

Here is an illustration, but you may make up your own geometric patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance Shields  (illustrated below)

 

In many parts of Africa, boys and girls are welcomed to adulthood by initiation ceremonies involving dance.  Dance shields are made of wood with a hole in the middle through which the hand carrying the shield passes.  The pattern on the shield represents the tribe, but changes with every initiation ceremony – this often happens every year, just like a school class moving up a year.  So you can tell by looking at someone’s dance shield what group they were in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battle Shields  (illustrated)

 

These were made by pulling a piece of animal skin over a wooden cone and rubbing it with oil to make it soft.  The maker could then print patterns with special hammers and add delicate metal designs before the skin hardened.  The more beautifully decorated the shield, the more important the warrior.  Some attached a lion’s paw, tail or mane to impress friends and frighten enemies.  The Emperor often presented shields covered in velvet and decorated with precious metals to officials who had worked hard and pleased him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make your own shield

Making shields to display in the Cadogan Hall (say one or two per school) lends excitement to the concert and gives your work of art good if temporary exhibition space! 

 

Materials: The shields need to be self supporting but light, so please make them from rigid cardboard cut into a shield shape.  They should be at least 130cms x75cms (or larger) to have any impact in a big hall.  The decoration of the shields should be geometric patterns for the dance shields and animal skin markings for the battle shields which are slightly larger

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Attachments: The shields should have a slit hand hold in the centre for carrying. Additionally, please attach strong string in a loop of 60 cms, through a hole in the top of the shields.  This will enable them to be quickly and easily hung up in the hall by our team, who will receive them from you (and return them after the concert)

 

Labels: please stick the name of your school on the inside of the shield to ensure a reunion.

 

 

THE COLOURS

 

 For both masks and shields should be limited to black, white and dark red, which are colours of religious significance (white is a spirit colour) and yellow and turquoise blue which are earth and sky colours.  The yellow of the earth and the blue of the sky could be mixed to produce the green of the vegetation.  Finger painting (for leopard and cheetah skin) would produce lively and interesting patterns for both these themes.

 

VISITS

 

At The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford artefacts, masks, drums, shields, weapons and talismen from world wide cultures show an extraordinary range of inventions.  Every society expresses its traditions in the things they make, such as the tribal patterns on shields and masks. They express their culture in everyday living just as we might wear the football shirts of our heroes to go shopping. Often, particularly where there is modern development, societies’ needs are met by ingenious recycling of waste materials.

 

We have arranged that schools participating in the Art Project will have the opportunity to book a free visit and guided trail through The Pitt Rivers Museum and also at the adjacent  Oxford University Museum of Natural History where there will be the a guided tour of African animals.

Together these museums won the 2005 Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award

 

Please ring to make your own arrangements if you would like to take up this offer; tel 01865 270 927 Andrew McLelland at Pitt Rivers Museum www.prm.ox.ac.uk/activities & Tel 01865 272 950 Chris Jarvis at Oxford University Museum of Natural History, quoting The Classical Road Show

 

I do hope that your children will enjoy their exploration of African art and we all look forward to seeing many of their own works of art!  Please call me if you have any queries on 0778 756 8175.

 

Maureen Giddings

Trustee & Art Consultant of The Classical Road Show