The past inspires the future

In the middle of May we had a visit from 90 children from Malmesbury Park Primary School. They came to study the masks which we have in the collection.  Many of these masks were made in 1999 by costume students for the film Entrapment.  The children were making sketches in preparation for a day back at school when they would be making their own masks.  They were intrigued by the different styles of mask and the embellishments that had been used.

We had three groups of 30 children come throughout the day and we laid out the masks on three tables.  The masks on each table included traditional Venitian Carnival masks, masks made by past students, and those made by a costume company.



The children had the opportunity to move around the room and find their favourite masks to draw. 

They picked out masks which inspired them, which would help them design their own masks back at school.

The children were accompanied by a number of adults including teachers, classroom assistants and parents.

I think the adults enjoyed the day just as much as the children did.

The day resulted in some fantastic sketches. Some included notes about the materials used.  

Others were filled with the patterns shown on the fabrics.

The children were very good at capturing the shapes and outlines on the masks.

They were also very accomplished at capturing the details.

We very much enjoyed welcoming the children to MoDiP and would like to thank our colleagues in the AUB Widening Participation team for helping us prepare for the day.  It is possible that in a few years time some of these young people may remember their day at MoDiP and consider coming to the AUB to study.

Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)