Mask Exploration Project

I chose this mask because it reminded me of something that was very symbolic in the past. This mask is the Mask of Agamemnon, a 16th century mask discovered by Henrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae. This mask was made of gold and was created around 1550-1500 BC. The mask shows persistence of balance with the layout of having everything in its place. The lines on the mask bring out the eyebrows and the chin up to the ears. The gold color makes the Mask seem important (not saying that it is not), but i think that gold gives a scene of class in this case. This has a bit of unity, but there are some parts that seem to have a bit of tension. The shapes of the eyes, eyebrows and the ears come together well in this mask.

This mask seemed interesting to me because it looks so realistic. This is called the Noh mask. The mask in the picture is showing that when you move the mask the expression on the woman changes. For this specific mask, i can not find the exact information on it because the website is giving an over all aspect on the type of mask the time it was made. These were created around the 14th century and is a major form of classical Japanese drama. This mask shows proportion complete with things being in the exact spot needed. The color of the mask being an actual skin tone and the look of the lips and the hair make the mask come together and because of the mask being moved to show different emotions it can be categorized as in motion in away. This shows balance as well and kind of goes hand in hand with proportion. The space between the eyes and eyebrows is equal on both sides. The Value of the face with the hair and they eyes popping out with darker colors and the forehead and the nose being a bit lighter (this might be the light that the picture was taken in) was interesting. 

This mask is something that I do not like personally, but it is definitely very interesting. This also did not have information on just this mask, but it was done in the 19th century made of wood. It is called the Fang mask and it is used for the ngil ceremony. This mask shows line with the way the forehead and where the eyebrows would be are aligned. The shapes around the eyes all the way to the bottom of the face by the chin emphasizes shape for this mask. The way I see the mask I can see a bit of texture when it comes to the wood used. 

The mask that I wanted to make was something that stuck out to me for many years in different art classes. I love the pop of the sparkles and the rhinestones on almost anything, but I thought that it would be interesting to make a mask with them incorporated on it. My sketch is not very realistic to what I actually made, but I do have to say I did have a lot of fun making this. I used a hot glue gun to glue the pieces on, the glitter glue for the eyeliner and the eyebrows and the feathers to symbolize hair in two ways. I used more rhinestones than I originally thought I was going to do, but I think that it looks different and mysterious. I used color with the different color rhinestones to make certain areas pop out.  rhinestones can also be used as texture because it gives a sense  of that. The feathers help with balance as well as the whole mask and how it comes together. Form is big here because the three-dimensional mask  with all the shapes portrays this. The size of the mask and the feathers show proportion with the adequate size of everything to the mask. The colors and different textures that I used helped realizes the emphasis on the piece. 

I definitely thought the mask could look better if I thought it out more, but it did take a lot of time and cost more money than i thought it was going to. Like i said, I did have a great time doing this project and I think it is a good assignment to do to help people better understand the mask aspect of art.