Year 4 - Art and design
Masque: sculpture, clothes and messages
Clothes and culture: wearable art
Study Hub
Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
Made in collaboration with October Gallery this unit brings together diverse visual languages from across time and place, encouraging children to see wearable art not simply as adornment, but as a powerful form of communication, one that celebrates identity, and gives voice to stories that matter.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to build a figure and costume that shows identity and power.
Key Notes
- Exploring how costumes and poses can show identity, power and emotion
- Masquerade traditions like Jonkonnu, where costume, dance and music express culture and history
- Designing and building a figure and costume that express identity and tell a story through shape and movement
Vocabulary To Learn
- masquerade: a parade or celebration where people wear masks and costumes to celebrate, protest, or tell stories
- costume: the type of clothing worn in a particular place or time or by members of a particular group
- identity: all of the things by which a person or thing is known or is considered as being
- sculpture: a three-dimensional piece of art made by shaping or combining materials
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- My sculpture has to look like a real person to say something important.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Exploring how costumes and poses can show identity, power and emotion. Masquerade traditions like Jonkonnu, where costume, dance and music express culture and history.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'masquerade'
a parade or celebration where people wear masks and costumes to celebrate, protest, or tell stories.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: My sculpture has to look like a real person to say something important. Correction: Remind pupils that sculptures can be bold, simplified or abstract and still carry strong messages. Artists like Sokari Douglas Camp use pose, pattern and costume to express complex ideas about history, power and pride.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 4 Art and design guide library.