Week 8: Art Exploration - Mask Making

Okay so this week has been hectic and I let the time click ever so close to the end (something so unlike me).  I seem to procrastinate the most on the project that require creative thinking.

This week we were tasked to create a mask.  We were suppose to do internet research to find masks that we found inspirational.  I loved doing this.  It amazed me how many cultures use masks and to find out what they were for.  I found myself drawn to highly colored masks or masks where their colors meant something to the wearer.

The first mask is from the Chinese theatre:

I know after saying I like lots of colors, one of the masks that I really liked was mostly black.  What I really like is that in Chinese Opera, black stands for strength.  I also like the pattern and lines.  It keeps your eye drawn to the mask.

The next mask is beaded and is Egyptian.  I was reading about funerary masks and that were explaining how ornate they were but that type of mask was not the only one used in Egypt.  The priests also wore brightly colored masks.

The masks that I am really drawn to are are native american.  I love how unique they are.  Last week when I had the opportunity to go to the Fenimore Museum and see the Thaw Native American Exhibit, there were several beautiful masks.  Of course, their masks are very elaborate and detailed.  Some are carved from wood and most are painted.

Of course I don't have time or the patients to create an actual native american mask and I now have my 15 year old sitting next to me laughing hysterically at my lovely art work but it's a mask none the less.

I was going to use straw from our goats for the hair because a lot of the masks I looked at had used it but I didn't have a way to make it stick.  With this blasted heat, I'm lucky what I did stuck at all.  I used brown napkins and cut them to make the hair.  I was trying to make a nose that stuck out much like the beak in my inspiration picture but that was a big fail.

I wanted to use a plastic spoon but that didn't work (again it was too hot for glue).  My daughter had a big box of left over card stock from when she creates cards and I just went through the box and picked out several colors to make the mask lively. 

I know I'm not artistically inclined and really don't enjoy it so that's why I'm a business major and not an art major.  I'm just glad to have learned a bit about different mediums for creating art.