Mask Making

3 Inspiration Masks:
 

This is a female mask that is celebrating femine beauty and cultural pride. It was made by the Punu peoples, Garbon. It was created out of wood and pigment. The people were admired for their delicate beauty, the Punu people were famous for their white-face masks. This really appealed to the Western Museum collectors over a century. This mask portrays the feminine beauty: elegant coiffure, rounded forehead, highly arched eyebrows, almond shaped eyes, narrow face and a small chin. There is a sculpted line between the not and ears on the mask which represents an ornamental chain of jewelry. The mask is white which signifies beauty and spirituality. The Punu femine beauty is associated with the whiteness of the spirit world. This was worn by a dancer on six-foot tall stilts, the performer’s graceful acrobatic feats of bending and twisting are admired by all.

This mask displays value. The mask is white therefore it shows the lightness of color. It is very balanced as well. Both sides of the mask are even with features. The is emphasis as well. When a viewer looks at this mask they are drawn to the middle part where the line is featured. Line is displayed in the mask.

This mask is called Beautiful Ancestress. This was made by the Chokwe peoples and it was created out of wood and pigment. The Chokwe peoples were masked dancers that perform in villages during the initiation period. The name of this mask means “young woman”. It represents a female ancestor who died at a young age, and it is a reminder of the theme of death which is part of the initiation experience of death and rebirth. The shape of the face is of a deceased person which sunken eye sockets and a gaunt face. The “tears” that are carved under the eyes express the painful experience of loss through death. Pwo idealizes feminine values; the dancer performs gracefully and teaches good manners to the spectators. The power and the elegance of the dancer’s performance is supposed to bring fertility to the women of the village. The mask has filled teeth and decorative scarifications reproduce the appearance of the initiated young women.

This mask has texture in it. Just by looking at the mask, you are able to tell what the mask is going to feel like. Rhythm is displayed. There are alternating lights and darks in this work. Unity is shown in this mask as well. It does not appear to be confusing or disjointed.



This mask is called the Bauta. This is the most famous mask. Some of the other famous masks come from the Commedia dell’ Arte “The Plague Doctor”, which was characterized by a long beak, Harlequin easily recognized for his colorful costume, Colombine the beautiful, Pantalone the merchant fool who has found his way into the English culture. The Mattaccino was a clown of the carnival.

This mask displays value. It goes from having color to a white chin. It also has rhythm because it goes from lights to darks. Texture is also displayed. The design in the mask is some what three dimensional; therefore a person is able to see the texture of the mask.

SKETCHES:

MY MASK:

I chose to use a lot of color because when I think of a mask I think of color and Mardi Gras. The ones I found for my inspiration inspired me to create my mask based on females. I wanted my mask to look like she had makeup on; therefore I colored in her lips red and her eyes blue to make it look like she had on eyeshadow. I also create eyelashes on the mask as well. The top where it is purple and has a design on it, I just wanted it to be colorful and underneath there are black dots which are suppose to be jewels on her forhead lining. Also by making a colorful mask it has emphasis. The top part of the mask that has the design on it displays line as well. Space is shown by showing the distance around, and between things; like the distance between the eyes and the lips. Since this is a colorful mark, there is a lot of variety in it, especially with the colors. Each of the sides are balanced. For this project, I just used colored pencils. I liked my finished mask. I think that it would look really good if it was an actual mask and if it was three dimensional. I believe from looking at it now, I probably would have done a few things different with creating my mask. During the creation process, I wanted to make it very feminine. In the beginning I was very confussed on what I wanted to actually do, but in the end it all came together.