Mask Making Techniques.

The first technique i found was actually molding your own or someone else's face using paper mache. I feel i could use this technique and further the initial mould by adding features.

Franko B

Franko B performance from Tim Ashton on Vimeo.

Masks in music!

Masks are not only used in Shamanistic rituals and traditions, masks are also used by some modern bands to change their entire image on stage to create many different effects. Some are scary and fearsome with bands such as Slipknot, and some are more obscure like with bands such as Mushroomhead and Insane Clown Posse.

The first band i researched that involved masks in their performances is Slipknot.Originating from Iowa USA and formed in 1995 by Sid Wilson, Joey Jordison, Paul Gray, Chris Fehn, Jim Root, Craig Jones, Shawn Crahen, Mick Thomson and Corey Taylor.

Each member of the bad wear a unique mask, each symbolising a completely different persona and identity from their day to day lives. Corey Taylor (Lead vocals) wears a mask simalar to

that of Thomas Brown Hewitt AKA Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. I feel this has been chosen to amplify the the grim and brutal atmosphere of their concerts and musical style.

Although Slipknot are not the only band to have performed using masks and different identities, Mushroomhead also performed wearing masks.

Unlike in Slipknot where each mask is completely different Mushroomhead all wear the same or similar masks aside from the singer who wears only face paint.

I feel that this is a symbol of unity throughout the band, almost as if the band is one person performing in unison to create their atmosphere and sound. Upon researching into Mushroomhead's alter-ego's i have learnt that Their current masks, as one of their producers confirmed, are them coming back from hell after being killed in war. I feel that this could fortify my idea that the masks symbolize unity as they're all return from war as comrades through thick and thin.

Jaguar Rising -

Monumental ruins prove that the Yucatán Peninsula has been home to people for about a thousand years. Those ruins contain elaborate jaguar imagery, testifying to the fact that jaguars shared the forest and prowled the people's imaginations. Admired for its hunting prowess and strength, feared for the same reasons, the elusive jaguar came to represent beauty, power, cunning, and mystery entwined in rituals and stories.

Spread the jaguar's skin, say some Maya, and you spread the heavens of a starry night. Yet in some stories, the jaguar prowled the heavens in day as well.

According to one Maya myth, it was a supernatural being, Jaguar Sun, who rose each day in the east and prowled west, aging along the course, until finally plunging into the darkness of the west. Then Jaguar Sun fights the Lords of Xibalba (the Underworld) all night. Through his strength and cunning, Jaguar Sun wins the right to rise each day in the East.

Thus Jaguar Sun dominates both day and night.

Such duality courses through fable, myth, and fact about the jaguar. Both fear and admiration spark jaguar stories, but at least one story recognizes why this third largest cat in the world doesn't have the reputation of "man-killer."

As god created people out of mud, jaguar, curious, watched. God didn't want jaguar to know how this was done, so he sent jaguar to the river to fetch water, using a leaky calabash to fill a jar. God figured to finish people by the time jaguar returned. At the river, as jaguar was mindlessly scooping water with the leaky calabash, frog advised patching the holes with mud. Very quickly, jaguar filled the jug and returned to the god who had finished 13 of the people and 12 arms; god was in the process of making a dog.

Jaguar said the dog looked tasty.

God said the dog was to serve people and that the arms were to teach jaguar respect.

When the jaguar boasted superiority, god made jaguar stand in the distance, and one of the men harm the jaguar in the paw. The jaguar, after the human bandaged the paw, still claimed the dog as a good meal.

This time, the man sent the dog after the jaguar who ran up a tree to escape; the human wounded its paw again. That's how Jaguar learned to leave humans alone.

In spite of this story, the jaguar's powerful hunting skills strike fear and envy in people's hearts. But although these powers are alluring, the jaguar teaches that people should never try to be what they aren't, as in the story of the possum who asked the jaguar to be godfather to her son.

Jaguar, to be a good godfather, took little possum hunting at the waterhole. Jaguar leapt on a very large animal. The possum and jaguar ate their fill. Later the little possum took his mother to the waterhole where the little possum leapt upon a very large animal, but the animal simply shook himself and threw the little possum off into the mud. The little possum called his mother for help, but when she came to him, she, too, was trapped, and they both died.

Jaguar stories also teach that power, by itself, is not enough.

Three jaguars were dying of hunger but didn't want to look for food. Rabbit asked, "Why are you complaining so, my friends? What of your claws and fangs?"

The jaguars protested against the work of hunting.

Rabbit offered to carry the jaguars into the forest if they would climb into a net. Once they were in the net, rabbit tied it shut, then found a long green guava stick and beat the jaguars. "You are built like great hunters, but you are lazy beasts."

Thus the jaguar can be wise and foolish, powerful and weak.

Other contradictions stalk the stories as well. For instance, while The Jaguar Sun has the wisdom and mystery of day and night, life and death, other stories give a jaguar deity the power to eat the sun.

One Maya story says that the end of the earth will come when jaguars ascend from the underworld to eat the sun and moon, maybe the universe; an eclipse will foreshadow this final event.

Sometimes this has almost happened, but the people made noises, singing and honoring the gods until, appeased, their Jaguar Sun reappeared.

Perhaps the stories and details about the jaguar are contradictory in part because people themselves are contradictory. Sometimes humans protect the jungle and share in its bounty. Sometimes people foolishly take more than is needed for food, consuming their environment - maybe even themselves.

What could happen to make a being - jaguar or human - consume itself and its world? Perhaps the answer is in your mirror. But that is another story...

Wollerton Hall / Lakeside Exhibition

Yesterday our class took a trip to Wollerton Hall, and to an art exhibition in Lakeside. The exhibition shown at Lakeside was very relevant to our 'identity' project brief. Showing some very different art styles mainly composed from photographs and video.

Some aspects of the art involved i

n the

exhibition posed some very strong inspiration towards my ideas of my final outcome, including looking at how the photographs were taken, or the textures and materials used such as fur or hair.

Afterwards we headed to Wollerton hall. At Wollerton hall there were many stuffed animals that could be photographed, alongside some interesting architecture and textures within the building itself, even some of the old furniture dotted around various room could be used by classmates that may be using a power animal that holds regal, no

ble or intelligent properties.

Through my visit i did not find much i could use to relate to a Jaguar, although i did find some animals that each have traits that could be similar to that of a Jaguar such as a

wild dog, a lion and a hyena. I chose the Wild Dog because of it's fearsome appearance, the lion because it is feline like the Jaguar, and in many ways similar in nature, and finally the Hyena, due to it's cunning nature and sly tactics to catch it's prey.

The Jaguar

While at home browsing the internet i have taken some time to study the Jaguar somewhat, through Google and Wikipedia.
I have found that the Jaguar is the largest and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere. The Jaguars habitat ranges from Mexico, through Central America and into South America, including much of Amazonian Brazil, the latter of these habitats (Amazonian Brazil) i found most interesting, due to the fact while watching a video in class on meditation and meeting your power animal i was imagining a very dense and humid rain forest environment.
Through reading more about the Jaguar i remember distinct keywords such as 'powerful' and 'strong' mentioned a lot through all pages, i could use these keywords in the production of my mask by adding 'powerful' an 'strong' features to it, such as bright colours or fearsome teeth.
I have also noticed that the Jaguars appearance is not solely the orange and black spotted configuration that we always assume. There are also the Melanistic Jaguar (pictured below) that is a jet black colour, almost like a panther.
This could change my entire forethought of my design to something new, and different. Something more unexpected than the stock orange and black seen throughout many peoples expectations.

My Power Animal.

In this post I will explain how and why I chose my personal power animal for my Shaman mask design and finally flip-book and short animation.

As you may have gathered by the picture I have chosen the Jaguar as my power animal. There are many reasons for this, including the information I have found through the website provided in our project brief. (Animal Spirits)

Jaguar's Wisdom Includes:

• Seeing the roads within chaos
• Understanding the patterns of chaos
• Moving without fear in the darkness
• Facilitating soul work
• Empowering oneself
• Moving in unknown places
• Shapeshifter
• Psychic sight

This list at first may seem a tad farfetched and cryptic, but in Layman's terms it is quite simple, for instance 'Seeing the roads within chaos' could mean that the Jaguar can find the path with least resistance in situations where a choice is available. E.g Finding the best route to and from points A and B, or realising that something is a bad or good idea where others may not by noticing subtle hints.

I also find my own meaning in the term 'Moving without fear in the darkness'. To me this says that the Jaguar is confident in doing what has to be done in places unknown to him, or new to him. E.g I find it easy to settle into new environments and i rarely am shy of speaking to new people or speaking my mind when appropriate.

The next on the list that i find stands out as suiting my personality, yet possibly the most cryptic is 'shapeshifter' now i realise that this is the most cryptic of the list, but i find that this could mean that i can easily make friends and that i am a very social person, changing my attitude to accommodate other personalities and make friends.

Shamanism - Power Animals

Image: Goldes shaman priest in his regalia.

(taken from wikipedia)

Shamanism is a set of traditional beliefs that spans peoples of Asia, North America, South America, Siberia and Africa. Shamanism varies throughout the different tribes and countries, but many common beliefs are shared between them all. One of these is the belief of communication with the spirit world, including the spirits of a persons 'power animal'. 

In my first project the ideas of power animals will be main subject of research, alongside research of different shamanic beliefs and ideologies with the goal of finally creating a power animal mask and acting out a personal performance to create still images for a flip-book, and a short animation.