Blog Making Mask

 This mask is a Shipibo mask, and was made by peoples in the Ucayali River area in Peru.  It is made of carved wood and monkey hair and is fifteen inches long.  The face of the mask is carved to look like a monkey's face.  Other than the monkey hair that is attached to the outside edges of the face, it is bare.  This mask uses texture from the hair as well as the carving.  You can see the marks and bumps in the surface from whatever tool was used to carve it and the individual hairs.

This mask is a helmet type mask named Pumbu.  It's an African mask reserved for chiefs.  It is monochromatic; earthy colors browns, tans and beiges.  It has a long, narrow face, with round, relief eye holes.  The nose, ears and eye holes have white lines around them.  There is a diamond pattern covering the bottom half of the face.  There is a beard made out of a straw-type of material covering the outside edge of the mask.  The mask uses elements and principles to symbolize chiefly courage and power, such as texture in the beard.  Size and proportion of some of the facial features are exaggerated.

This mask, called Ndeemba, is used in initiation ceremonies for boys.  It is very large, and covered in a grassy, straw like material.  It has antler like projections from the top, that are used to hold decorations.  .  It has a small face and exaggerated features.  This mask is also monochromatic with the same earthy tones.  The texture of the grass is course and thick.  The antler like projections use line to bring viewer's eyes to the top of the mask.

 I used similar elements and principles that I saw in the masks that inspired me.  I used a long narrow shape for the face, and shapes for the features of the face, too.  I added texture with the ribbons, and the ribbons were monochromatic using different shades of green.  I also used color by sticking to earthy tones which was a common factor in all of the masks that inspired me.
Creating a mask was cool.  I liked researching all of the different types of mask and choosing my own that inspired me.  There were so many different directions to go with this project that it took me longer to think of what I wanted to do than to actually do it because of all of the different ideas I had.  If this project had been a few weeks earlier maybe I could've made something to use as a Halloween costume, haha!