Masking for Clarity

To see Masking for Clarity: working with Multimask, found objects and light - view http://www.photoblog.com/showoffs/2008/01/27/

This collection of my latest "signature compositions" emphasizes the portrayal of authentic (rings true) visual narrative through the mediums of mask and digital photography.

By "sitting in the masks" as i work, i find creative ways of exploring the conventions of masks and ways of challenging attitudes and ideas about them.

The best art comes from inside out

These are mask making students in Chicago. This picture was sent by Jeff Semmerling, a professional artist and art educator who is currently involved in the 2008 season of the New Orleans Mardi Gras. Jeff first arrived in New Orleans in 1981 and after becoming immersed in the carnival experience was spellbound by the ability of masks to allow people to express their eagerness to live.

Here is a snippet from an article about this extraordinary mask maker written by Kaity Nicastri:
"On the corner of Montrose and Damen, there is an understated storefront with the white sign above it proclaiming it "The Inside Out Art Studio: Serious Fun for Artists of All Ages". Inside this shop is a treasure trove of hand made masks and puppets created by an artist named Jeff Semmerling and his partner Sonja Schaefer. With training from the best mask-makers in New Orleans, Jeff has brought his passion for the masking experience back to his native Chicago. "When wearing a mask, it's not you; but yet it is you! That's the magic!" says Semmerling." http://www.insideoutarts.us/

"Senor Taco Salsa" (about Mardi Gras)

Mardi Gras is celebrated around the world but no one, it is said, does it like New Orleans. Twelfth Night (after Christmas), or January 6th, is when the New Orleans Mardi Gras month-long season begins - and continues until the midnight of Fat Tuesday, 5th February. Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday, and the day after the lesser known Rose Monday.

Mardi Gras parades have been staged in New Orleans since the 1837 (as evidenced by a first newspaper account describing masqueraders "in such grotesque and outlandish habiliments") and in 1857 the modern incarnation of Mardi Gras took shape with the founding of the first Krewe, a kind of official parading organisation. Today there are hundreds of Mardi Gras clubs that continue to conduct elaborate, colourful, outrageous political cabaret throughout the streets of New Orleans.

Katrina Gras - In 2005, after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the city opted to uphold its Mardi Gras tradition. Some people objected, but for others it was deemed a "therapeutic antidote" for what was perceived as a woefully inadequate government response to the disaster. Participants reportedly wore blue biohazard suits and blue tarps, and went about portraying blind people while wearing T-shirts that read "Levee Inspector".

For movie and more info check out http://www.mardigrasunmasked.com/

('Senior Taco Salsa' is a scarecrow found at the Lawrence Arts Festival, January '08, New Zealand.)

Face Shell

Even now, after all these years of making masks, sometimes I am still daunted by the prospect of making that first mark on the pristine white surface of my Multimask tabla rasa (blank slate). What if i mess it up?

Performing artist Hilary Halba of the University of Otago Theatre Studies has this to say:

"...while one's aspirations are still in one's imagination, they are perfect and anything's possible, but the minute you actually make a start on doing anything is the minute error begins, or the minute disappointment happens or the minute that imperfection seeps in".

Dealing with the Con-troll lurking under the bridge:

A good way to deal with those feelings - the terror, anxiety, hopes, dreams - that is the crux of going on a soul-searching quest or just making something better than average, is to treat the Multimask in a way that is beyond conscious control. This "little old Chinese lady" was dampened then oven-baked before coming out all randomly wrinkled. Did you know that the Chinese word for mask 'mian hok' means "face shell". I like the above 'face shell' so much i cannot bear to do anything further to it! It's perfect as it is...

A Refined Escape

A woman once told me that dressing up [in mask & costume] was about creating a world safe as a child's bedroom should be - where she "cannot be reached". By dressing up she was saying: the imagination, the body, the world is not hostile. Did you know that Picasso thought along similar lines...that his paintings were a refined escape from a hostile world. Interesting thought!

"Ippinquill" - a new carnival arts character

To celebrate the November '07 launch of our new MASKWORX website http://www.maskworx.co.nz/ i have devised Ippinquill - a 'carnival arts' character - using layers of clever cutouts from about 15 Multimasks, a strong pair of scissors, a curved tip pair of scissors, a pencil and two bead buttons.

The point of this playful exercise is to transform the Multimask classic face shape into a carnivalesque (happily exaggerated) face scape with a new agenda. Our new carnival arts character is facing an identity crisis: Ippinquill no longer recalls where it comes from? Ippinquill doesn't appear to know where it is going? And...Ippinquill doesn't want (to know) anything?

To the visual storyteller, this presents a problemo dramatico: What sort of portrayal is it when the usual identity cues are missing? But perhaps more importantly...what sort of audience plays along with a central character who is unrecognisable? I am grappling with these ideas...

Halloween - a night of enchantment

While spring has arrived here Downunder, the northern hemisphere is getting ready for Halloween.

One of the oldest celebrations in the world, Halloween was originally an agrarian folk festival marking the end of harvest-time, hence the signature colours orange and black; orange holiday foods such as pumpkin pie, apple cider, caramel apples with roasted pumpkin seeds, and the colour black symbolising impending winter and the inevitable cycle of dying.

Many people think Halloween is an American custom (and doubt its relevance beyond the USA), but the original Halloween began in Ireland. In the 1840’s Halloween was exported to America as Irish immigrants rushed to escape their country’s potato famine.

Dating back over two thousand years in Celtic Ireland, the summer season officially ended on October 31. Then the holiday was called Samhain (sow-en) and grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating their New Year.

Today Halloween has become a confusing mixture of practices. For contemporary Halloween fun check out these links http://www.halloween-online.com/ and http://www.365halloween.com/