SECOND GRADERS WORLD TOUR CONTINUES IN AFRICA

Led by Art Parent Kelly Costa, Mr. Mayhew's second graders exploration in the traditional arts of African began with a lesson in early mankind and the nascent beginnings of man's need to create art and tell stories.

San Bushman Rock Paintings: Drakensberg, South Africa

Some of the earliest evidence of cultural memory is found preserved on stone walls in caves and outcroppings in the “Dragon Mountains” of South Africa.

Drakensberg, South Africa, has the largest and most concentrated group of rock paintings south of the Sahara—more than 20,000 individual rock paintings have been found in 500 different cave and overhang sites. Most works seen today are probably less than 4000 years old, but some date back 8000 years!

The San painted both ritual and abstract expression, in ceremonial dance and hunting motifs. The early San artists painted a variety of reptiles, birds and fish, but these were far outnumbered by mammals — particularly antelope, their favored prey.

Room 103 students swooped into South Africa on Google Earth (!) and explored the topography of the Dragon Mountains. They learned how the San created red, brown, black and yellow pigments from minerals, ground plant matter, and iron and other oxides found in the rocks around them. They mixed these powders with a binding medium such as plant sap, beeswax, animal fat, milk, blood, or honey. (Painters also used white from naturally occurring zinc oxide, and black from manganese or charcoal.)

Some painters seemed to have sketched in charcoal or ochre crayon before painting. Then, we think they used their fingers, small reeds, ostrich or porcupine quills, and brushes of made of grass, feathers or hair to apply the paint.

The kids created their own versions this artform using paint they created from natural ingredients: cinnamon, paprika, ground sesame seeds, turmeric, and coriander (mixed with our version of animal fat—cooking oil!). They added definition with charcoal on crumpled kraft paper, mimicking the texture of cave walls.






A second ancient art form, not quite as old as the cave paintings, but ancient nontheless, was the study of Ancient Egyptian sarcogophi.

Using a 3-D template (origami meets archeology) students cut out and started to decorate their own personal cardstock sarcophagi lids and bases. They chose hieroglyphics and symbols that communicate something about themselves, or, alternatively, just had fun decorating the coffin lids.





The last stop in Africa was a study of woven Kente Cloth. The kids watched a video of master weavers as they demonstrated how looms work, and how each color and pattern represents something culturally significant. Afterward, kids designed their own patterns on gridded paper with colored pencil.