Learning about fashion, masks and identity

At Kinneret Day School on Monday, students in Leslie Wachtel’s fourth-grade class worked diligently to cut out colorful construction paper shapes, attaching them to brown paper masks.

Students drew inspiration from “Helena Rubinstein: Beauty is Power,” an exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan centered on the legacy of the Jewish cosmetics entrepreneur. 

Born in Krakow in 1872, Ms. Rubinstein’s wildly successful business centered around her unique style. The exhibit showcases products and advertisements from her beauty lines, works from her personal art collection, which featured artists including Picasso and Matisse, and her collection of jewelry and clothing, created by designers like Balenciaga and Schiaparelli, among other significant items. 

The museum’s teaching artist Lisa Leighton said by seeing the objects that defined Ms. Rubinstein, students could begin to think about the things that define themselves.

“You wear a mask, but you also have it to control how other people see you. So it’s about identity,” Ms. Leighton said. 

After visiting the exhibit, students wrote poems focusing on their heritages, likes and interests. Ms. Wachtel and Ms. Leighton asked them to draw from their poems and the exhibit itself to create their masks.  

Student Yael Dipietra, 9, focused on bright colors and bold shapes as she constructed hers. 

“It was really cool to see all the different things she did…. She had a lot of style, which was very cool,” she said. 

Ella Blayer, 9, said the exhibit inspired her to add aspects of her personality to her mask. 

“I really liked it and it gave me some inspiration,” she said of the exhibit. “I like to be funny, so I made a mustache [for my mask],” she added. 

Noah Holmgren, 10, drew from his childhood as he constructed his mask — an elaborate piece with a long beard. 

“When I was younger, I liked fire trucks, so I decided to put a fire helmet,” he said, pointing out an FDNY helmet labeled “Ladder 15.”