traditional versus contemporary mask making,
are there any exhibitions regarding masks on currently? anything relevent? where i can do work along side this to add to portfolio?
MASKS RESEARCH IMPORTANT
Masks are objects that cover the face for variety of reasons. They are used for protection, disguise, entertainment or ritual practices and are made from various materials, depending of use. Earliest use of masks was for rituals and ceremonies, and the oldest found mask is from 7000 BC. Art of making masks could be older but because of the materials used for making them (leather and wood), they did not survive to this day. Oldest masks were of ritual purpose and could be found in many places of the world. They are generally similar in their overall appearance, but very different in style and way they are made and used.
In Africa, ritual masks are used in many different ways. In West Africa, they are used in ceremonies which purpose is to communicate with ancestral spirits. They are made out of wood, with great skill and such masks are used in ritual masquerades of Edo, Yoruba and Igbo cultures. Beside human faces, many African masks are made in the shapes of the animals. It is believed in some African tribes that they make possible to communicate with animals spirits of savannas and forests. One of the more common masks is an antelope. It is believed that an antelope have thought people agriculture or that it symbolizes a farmer. Some tribes make mask as symbols of different attributes. Mask with closed eyes symbolize tranquility while bulging forehead symbolizes wisdom. War masks are made to scare the enemy with big eyes, painted colors and anger of the carved face.
Elizabethan masques
History of Elizabethan Masques - the Mummers
The history of the Elizabethan masque dated back to the ancient custom and ritual of 'Mumming' which were performed by 'Mummers'. The first mummers performed mimes, plays without words re-enacting old stories, legends and myths particularly those about Saint George. The term Mummer therefore derives from the old Middle English word 'mum' meaning silent. All Mummers were disguised with vizards or masks and referred to as 'Guisers'. The important element of disguise was passed on to the Masques of the Renaissance. The mummers were various male members from the community - many played the same role for years. The Mummers were traditionally associated with Christmas and their torch light processions through the villages and appearance at the Manor House or Castle were greeted with great excitement. The Mummers entered the Great Halls with loud blasts from trumpets and drums and the blaze of many torches. Over the years dialogue was added to the mummer's plays - they became a forerunner of the theatre. The element of disguise continued and the identities of the Mummers were concealed.
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When dialogue was added to the plays of the Mummers they also disguised their voices to conceal their identities. The Mummers introduced additional elements to the plays which became increasingly entertaining with the addition of jokes, jests, songs and dance.
The Staging and Scenery of Elizabethan Masques
The staging of the Renaissance Masques was extremely important. In later years even great architect Inigo Joneswas employed to produce lavish sets accompanied by various mechanical devices for the Jacobean masques. Great attention was paid to the indoor sets and scenery used for Elizabethan Masques. Expensive items of furniture and paintings were borrowed to embellish the scenery, sets and stage areas. The 'props' and accessories were even more fantastic and included items such as gilded chariots and fountains. Scenery was designed for temples and the facades of castles. Devices were developed to produce thunder & lightening effects. Elizabethan masques were also performed outdoors during the summer months.
Queen Elizabeth and the Elizabethan Masques
Queen Elizabeth was fond of making Royal progresses throughout England. She expected to stop at the great Elizabethan houses and palaces and to be entertained royally. Masques were often produced in her honour. This was the case the Kenilworth Entertainments of 1575. Kenilworth Castle was owned by the Queen's favorite courtier, Robert Dudley. Dudley spent a fortune on preparing the castle for the visit of the Queen - he intended to impress her and no expense was spared. Entertainment was an important element of the visit and Robert Dudley employed the Elizabethan poet and dramatist George Gascoigne (1537-1577) to create a new Elizabethan masque. The theme of the Kenilworth masque was male heroism and the vulnerability of women - the story was about men of stature in the days of King Arthur. Robert Dudley naturally played a leading part as a 'man of stature'. This traditional, romantic type of masque theme, emphasising the strength of men and the vulnerability of women, was not unusual. Masques also promoted the notion of marriage and men protecting their women. These blatant themes of male authority dominated the stories of the masques. Perhaps this explains why the powerful Queen Elizabeth, who often referred to herself as a 'prince', did not sponsor masques performed during the Elizabethan era - but she must have enjoyed the lavish spectacle of the masque and the blatant flattering directed at the sovereign!
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Dramatists and Composers of Elizabethan Masques
Leading Elizabethan Poets and Dramatists were employed to write the words and verses of the masques. These included Sir Edmund Spenser, Francis Beaumont (1584 - 1616), John Fletcher (1579 - 1625),
Thomas Middleton (1580 - 1627) and, in later times, Ben Jonson. Famous composers and lyricists such as William Byrd (1543-1623), Thomas Campion (1567-1620) and John Mundy (1550-1630) were also responsible for creating masques. But the most famous and important of all the Elizabethandramatists was none other than William Shakespeare. The fantastic themes of the masques were included in many of the plays of William Shakespeare such a A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado about Nothing. |
Artists using Paper Mache
Will Ryman was a playwright before he became a sculptor, and his work draws as much from the realm of theatre as it does from art. Spanning over 8 metres, The Bedis both a monumental sculpture and a stage. Made from papier mâché, Ryman’s giant man reclines in a dreamy world, somewhere between Sunday morning lie-in bliss and nervous breakdown, basking in the clutter of indulgence. Ryman crafts the accoutrements of pastime with cartoon exaggeration: notebooks, beer cans, open bag of crisps, and even the requisite faithful dog become comically distorted in this clumsy, lazy state of ennui. Through his use of papier mâché, Ryman’s installation takes on the dimensions of set design. The Bed’s description of slacker-ish idle is humorously at odds with its oversized, commanding spectacle. By revealing the process of making, his clunky forms invite suggestive narratives through their self-conscious artifice, becoming both props and performers in an anti-drama of epic proportions. The bed itself operates literally as a platform or stage, the centre of expectant action and entertainment, a fabricated, self-contained tableau posing in (and overtaking) the viewer’s real-world space with delightful suspension of belief.
These examples of contemporary artists using paper mache, show its potential. Seen above, Rymans giant man, seems expressive and wrinkled, something that was evidently enhanced through the use of paper mache. As the children will be making masks, this is a particularly useful example where we can see human features, yet in the same way we intend to juxtapose reality with fantasy, this seemingly usual man, is giant. In addition I find a link between the notion of dreams and the surreal, vs reality and Shakespeare's fondness of dreams and his playing with reality and fantasy.
Mask work, see references.
Mask work, see references.
A piece of work on show, coming from New Art West Midlands. This sits central in the space and as you walk through a square cut out within the supporting wall in the gallery, the room seems chopped off by this dividing wall covered mostly in a sort of wallpaper created by graduate student (name?) three masks which she wears accompanied with three wigs (pictured and shown on a wall to the left of this dividing wall) consider her partially oriental heritage. The way in which the paper hangs looks messy! I feel that this paper would have looked better flush to the wall. However, In pictures the paper almost looks more like material, that could reference drapes and the extravagant materials of the orient. Perhaps this was the intention for viewers in the space but was not achieved.
The three plinths reflect the three images taken and create a sense of balance with the central plinth set forward creating a triangular field of view across the piece.
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