The aroma of plastic streaming from Malea Jaffe’s classroom proved there was an art project commencing.

As a special end of the year project, Jaffe’s classes are making tribal masks to help students learn about and understand old Indian and Aztec tribes.

“[The students should learn] what it meant to be in a tribe. The masks should be primitive and have defects in them,” Jaffe said.

In front of every student is a blank white face mold accompanied with plaster, water and paper towels.

“The bandages will stick to the mold when the plaster is put in water,” 8th grader Eduardo Villaruel said.

The process is easy for the students, but it’s also messy. No matter where you look, there is always someone washing their hands in their water tub, putting a paper towel on a pool of water or someone’s piece of plaster flopping around and getting the plaster-water mixture around their tables and on themselves.

Every student has an apron and a face full of concentration. For around five days, this will be what these students look like as they finish them.

“Anybody can do it, it’s just time consuming,” Jaffe said.