History of Mask Making

By LaCharles James, Urban Sculptor copyright 2011

HISTORY OF MASK MAKINGWOOD CARVING

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“The HARLEQUIN”Understand the Janus

The JanusNarawood, Lacquer


HISTORY OF MASK CARVINGThe Urban Perspective

LaCharles James

Mask carving is an ancient art form that transforms people. This

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“My Demons”

Understand me and I will free you

Nara wood and Acrylic

transformation is related to cultural beliefs. By looking at the cultural concepts involved in producing masks we begin to enjoy the process of introspection. Through the understanding these issues the journey into mask making will enhance your creative abilities.

The transformation is related to entertainment, religion, and humor. Masks can transform people into gods, demons and heroes. For those that create masks we can connect to self, environment and the universe. It is a medium to express creativity. The physicality and poetry of this art form will introduce you to exhilarating forms of communication and sensitivity.

Spiritual Power of Masks Carving

In societies in which masks of supernatural beings have played a significant ceremonial role, it is presumed that the spirit power of the created image usually is strongly felt by the artist with few exceptions, masks have been made by professionals who were either expert in this particular craft or were noted sculptors or artisans. A primary belief in the conception and rendering of urban masks is the spirit power dwelling in organic and inorganic matter. Therefore the mask contains the spirit power of whatever material was used to create and transform it.

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The spiritual and creative power is considered volatile; an active force, surrounded by various taboos and restrictions for the protection of those handling it. Certain prescribed rituals frequently have to be followed in the process of creating urban masks. For example, lighting your favorite cigar and sipping on a favorite libation or even enjoying your companion, all are muses for the urban carver.

As the form of the mask develops it is usually believed to acquire power increasingly in its own right, and again various procedures are prescribed to protect the craftsman and to ensure the potency of the final object. A spirit power is also often believed to inhabit the artist's tools so these must be handled in a prescribed manner.

If all the conventions have been adhered to, the completed urban mask, when worn or displayed, is regarded as an object imbued with great supernatural and spirit power. The artist absorbs some of magic power from the mask and, it is believed, by some cultures that this is the close

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“NIGHTMARE”

Happy thoughts

association between the mask maker and the spirit of the mask.

A few West African tribal groups in Mali believe, in fact, that the creators of masks are even potentially capable of using the object's supernatural powers to cause harm to others. Traditional imagery and formal conventions usually have restricted the aesthetic creativity of the mask maker. If the formal conventions are not followed, then the artist brings upon himself the

severe censure of his community; even the displeasure and wrath of the spirit power inherent in the mask.

The necessity for

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“SIN EATER”

Without Sin, Ugly is Beautiful

Bass wood and Acrylic

“NIGHTMARE”

Happy thoughts


accuracy, however, does not restrict artistic expression.

Masks and Creative Interpretations

The mask maker can and does give his own creative interpretation to traditional forms, attributes and devices The artist, in fact, is usually sought out as a maker of masks because of their known ability to give a vitally expressive or an aesthetically pleasing presentation of the required image.

Mask carving has developed around the cultural expression of social development. Each culture, African, Asian, Indonesian, Indian, American Indian and many more have developed expressions of their culture through mask making. In Africa, you can find the greatest range of type and function of masks associated with secret societies. In the Oceanic and South Pacific societies, masks were also widely used; and, the American Indian masks were used in some of the folk rites still performed in Europe today.

Masks representing potentially harmful spirits were often used to keep a balance of power or a traditional relationship of inherited positions within a culture. Masks were also used for

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healing by the “medicine man” and in wedding and birthing ceremonies. The masks invariably were prescribed by tradition, as were their uses.

Masks have been used to discipline women, children and lawbreakers. In China and North America, for example, admonitory masks usually completely covered the features of the wearer. Some say that the firsts mask created in Africa were used for admonition.

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“ I recall a time when serving in the American Peace Corps in Africa, that I saw a frighten child disciplined by the tribal elders wearing the traditional Poro Mask.”

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“AVARICE SMILES”

Do not trust me

Bass wood and acrylic

Members of secret Poro Society and Sandi Society societies usually conduct the rituals of initiation, when a young man is instructed in his future role as an adult and is acquainted with the rules controlling the social stability of the tribe. Totem and spiritualistic masks are donned by the elders at these ceremonies. Sometimes the masks used are reserved only for initiations. Among

the most impressive of the initiation masks are the exquisitely carved human faces of west coast African tribes.Supernatural spirits of an almost demonic nature that imbued fear were constructed from a variety of materials using natural forest products. These materials were

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“CONFLICTED”

I do not pass judgment

Bass wood inlayed with Cocobolo Wood


sometimes painted in brilliant colors using local dyes made from jungle plants.

Masks as Protection from Evil Spirits

In many cultures throughout the world, the elder or shaman wears a mask to protect him from revenge

seekers.

The mask represents a traditional spirit from the past who assumes responsibility so the shaman is not personally responsible. Ancient traditions of secret societies wear ancestral mask to conduct rituals at night. The masked ceremonies are intended to prevent

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“DRAMA”

CAN’T STAND IT CAN’T DO WITHOUT IT

NARA WOOD, BESWAX AND OIL

wrongdoing and to maintain the sanctity of the community. Realistic masks

represent ancestors who enjoyed specific cultural roles. The social order of the tribal community was maintained through the use of ancestral masks in some of the DAN and Ngere tribes of Liberia and the Ivory Coast

The use of a variety of materials in creating masks is demonstrated by the masks of Western Melanesia. A variety of these mask forms mostly carved in wood,

ranging from small faces to large fantastic forms including shell, fiber, animal skins, seed, flowers, and feathers. These masks are richly decorated with earth colors of red and yellow, lime white, and charcoal black. They often represent supernatural spirits as well as ancestors and therefore have

12 “I KNOW YOU”

Passion changes

Nara Wood and Acrylic


both a religious and a social significance.

Urban mask carving represents the rituals that link the past and the present giving a sense of historic continuity that strengthens our social bond. In the past, masks typically were recognizable as dead chieftains, some relatives, or friends. Today, the carversplace creates mask caricatures of faces that represent emotions such as fear, passion and conflict.

Nonhuman Spirit Masks

In western and central Congo (Kinshasa), in Africa, large, colorful helmet like masks are used as a masquerading device when the youth emerges from the initiation area and is introduced to the villagers as an adult of the tribe. After a lengthy ordeal of teaching and initiation rites, for instance, a youth of the Pende tribe appears in a distinctive colorful mask indicative of his new role as an adult. The mask is later cast aside and replaced by a small ivory duplicate, worn as a charm against misfortune and as a symbol of his manhood.1

Believing everything in nature to possess a spirit, man found authority for himself and his family by identifying with a specific nonhuman spirit. He adopted an object of nature; then he mythological traced his ancestry back to the chosen object; he preempted the animal as the emblem of himself and his clan. This is the practice of totem, which consolidates family pride and distinguishes social lines. Masks are made to house the totem spirit. The totem ancestor is believed actually to materialize in its mask; thus masks are of the utmost importance in securing protection and

1 Oyekan Owomoyela, A History of Twentieth Century African Literature, City Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.

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bringing comfort to the totem clan.

The Papuans of New Guinea build mammoth masks called hevehe, attaining 20 feet in height. They are constructed of a palm wood armature covered in bark cloth; geometric designs are stitched on with painted cane strips. These fantastic man–animal masks are given a frightening aspect. When they emerge from the men's secret clubhouse, they serve to protect the members of the clan.

The so-called “totem” pole of the Alaskan and British Columbian Indian fulfills the same function. The African totem mask is often carved from ebony or other hard woods, designed with graceful lines and showing a highly polished surface. Animal masks, their features elongated and beautifully formalized, are common in western Africa. Dried grass, woven palm fibers, coconuts, and shells, as well as wood are employed in the masks of New Guinea, New Ireland, and New Caledonia. Represented are fanciful birds, fishes, and animals with distorted or exaggerated features.

The high priest and medicine man, or the shaman, frequently had his own very powerful totem, in whose mask he could exorcise evil spirits, punish enemies, locate game or fish, predict the weather, and, most importantly, cure disease.

The Northwest Coast Indians of North America in particular devised mechanical masks with movable parts to reveal a second face—generally a human image. Believing that the human spirit could take animal form and vice versa, the makers of these masks fused man and bird or man and animal into one mask. Some of these articulating masks acted out entire legends as their parts moved.

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Carving masks is to create faces of your experience. It is to put a face on your knowledge. It is to transcend your environment and all that is within. It expresses your belief and value system.

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9630 Bruceville Rd.

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Elk Grove Calif 95757

Member of Elk Grove Fine Arts Center

9080 Elk Grove Blvd., Elk Grove, CA, 95624

(916) 685-5992 - http://www.elkgrovefineartscenter.org/

Copyright © 2009 by LaCharles James. All Rights Reserved.

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History of Mask Making