To address the problem of students running out of steam during the sculpture part of mask making Multimask has been developed to enable students to tell a visually interesting story with big impact, but with less mess and energy waste. Multimask frees up classroom time for in-depth studies in the curriculum of the diverse cultural & sociopolitical contexts that produce mask making. Patty Bode's stellar article featured in Rethinking Schools Online about making Puerto Rican Vejigante Masks in class redefines multicultural visual arts education: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/17_01/Puer171.shtml
The Vejigante (bay-he-GAHN-tay) is a fantastic, colourful character introduced into the carnival arts hundreds of years ago, and is a classic example of the blending of African, Spanish, and Caribbean influences in Puerto Rican culture.