Mask Project

  Guro Zamble (Antelope) Mask

Cherokee Booger ("Bogey") Mask

Terai Monkey Mask

For this project, I was interested in choosing masks that depict animals, as I think it's interesting that cultures all over the world want to make a spiritual connection with these creatures that they cannot speak to in the physical world. I liked the look of the longer faced masks, so the masks I chose either have a long snout or have long, vertical faces. The mask by the Guro people in Africa uses contrasting, complimentary colors (the blue of the face contrasted by the red circles around the eyes) to create an eye-catching mask. The face is very symmetrical and balanced, split right down where the nose should be. There is a pattern of color (red, white, blue, red, white, red, blue) that coats the length of the horns. It's interesting and unsettling how it has two mouths, one that looks quite harmless, and one below it that's lined with sharp teeth. Perhaps this represents two different natures of the animal, and those who wear this mask hope to get on its good side?

The Cherokee mask is an animal representation of the "bogey man," which the Cherokee considered the white man to be. To ease their fears of this invader, they present the person wearing the mask as comically rude and stupid. The mask itself, on the other hand, looks very pretty. It's made out of a carved gourd, and has intricate, almost Celtic looking, designs carved into it. The main element of art used in this mask would be line, which outlines and emphasizes key features, such as the eye, and creates eye-appealing patterns. The fur and feather "hair," add texture to the otherwise smooth mask. The antlers balance the mask, but asymetrically, as the antlers are not identical.

The Terai mask, from Southern Nepal,  represents a monkey. I liked its long, sloping face, and the way its brow comes together to form its nose. The mask is monochromatic, for it is only one color, a darkish red. The entire mask is very round in form, and the lines from the ears and forehead travel down through the nose to the mouth at the bottom, making the eye move about the entire mask. The wideness of the eyes and the blackness of the large pupils create emphasis and focal points at these eyes, which are definitely the most prominent and alluring aspect of the mask, and make them seem very monkey-like.

I debated between three different animals for my mask. The first was a lion, which keeps the long snout that the monkey had, and would have a rafia mane. The second is a fox, that has a shorter snout but has the same general shape, and would be made out of a gourd. The third was a bird, that would have leaf-feathers.

I ended up choosing the fox, because making a mask out of a gourd sounded fun, and I was having trouble figuring out a different way to make the mask appear three dimensional. I also chose the fox because they are known for their cunning and intelligence, and these seemed like qualities the person wearing the mask would want to adopt.

My final mask incorporates the sloping snout that begins at the eyebrows like the monkey mask, crafty, catlike eyes like the Cherokee mask, and coloring similar to the Guro mask. It's made out of half a gourd with gourd ears, and is decorated with toothpicks and acrylic paint. The area below the eyes is a different color because I removed the top layer of skin.

The gourd is painted red and blue, which are complimentary colors, which make it appear bright and vivid. The mask is pretty much symmetrical, with the patterns that are on the left mirroring those that are on the right.  The gourd's rounded shape gives it three dimensional form. The natural lines of the gourd, combined with the painted lines and dots, allow the eye to move around the mask. These lines, as well as the toothpicks that go in multiple directions, make the mask look more dynamic. The blue and red give the mask some variety that would have been lacking if the gourd had just remained orange, but it is unified overall by the connecting lines that are of the same thickness. There is also some variety in the textures: the smoothness of the gourd is broken up by the sharpness of the toothpicks, which gives the fox some fierceness.

Creating the mask was fun. At first, I didn't know how I could go about making a 3 D mask that wouldn't take more time than a weekend allowed. I considered making it out of paper mache, but then decided to mimic the way the Cherokee mask was created. I ran into some trouble when every kind of glue I tried to use wasn't making the pieces stick together--the gourd was too slick. This, however, led me to use the toothpicks, which probably adds to the mask. I wish it was a little more elaborate, but I think it turned out okay. I didn't get to carve a pumpkin this year for Halloween, so it was nice to be able to carve the gourd!