Grades 5-8. 

Explore African culture and personal expression through mask making. Using recycled material and found objects, students will create individual masks. This workshop is an engaging way for children to learn about West African culture and the history of West African Mask Making.

Iyaba Ibo Mandingo is a painter poet, writer, actor, and playwright, arts collaborator, artist advocate, and arts educator. He came to the United States from his native country of Antigua as a young boy. Iyaba owes his love of the arts to his mother, a trained singer, and his grandparents, a tailor and seamstress who first introduced him to colors and patterns, paving a path to the many forms of expression he employs. Iyaba studied fine arts at Southern Connecticut State University. He teaches in and around the tri-state area as a master teaching artist. Iyaba currently resides in Bridgeport, where his art gallery — 9104 The Art House — serves as a workspace classroom and creative hub.

This program is made possible by the continuing generosity of Roz and Bud Siegel and the staff at Westport Library.