Artist's Statement

Over the course of this semester I have focused on the art of mask making by exploring the form of the mask, the function and, most recently the emotional content behind masks as a literal and non-literal form. My research, writing, sketching, and mask making tactics have been both enjoyable and therapeutic as I unveil the secrets that hide behind my own “mask.”

At the beginning, I was interested in the details, patterns, and shapes of the Venetian style of mask making. Then I became interested in the function that masks serve in other cultures, particularly the African culture. The book, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, especially inspired me. The visual representation of Gods in masks led me to think about my own idea of “God,” and even what that means to me.

As I continued my work with the project and dealt with some of my own emotional stress, I started to think about masks in a less literal sense, and explored the idea of masks within faces, and the idea of what a mask literally does. A mask is literally a form that covers some portion of the face, but it does not cover the eyes. I then thought about a face that is not wearing a mask, particularly my own face and thought about how you do not need a literal mask to hide your emotions from the world. But these expressions cannot veil the “window to the soul.” So then I thought about the way masks avoid the eyes, and are they avoiding the eyes? Or are they framing the eyes? What about the eyes are unapproachable to the concept of masks? As a disguise, what are they hiding? What do we want to hide from the world? And are we successful at hiding? Do the masks help or hinder us in our struggle? These questions have inspired my writing and my work as an artist, and I feel as though I am only on the surface of this concept.

Kristen Kieffer

On Thursday afternoon, I saw Kristen Kieffer, a visiting artist in the ceramics department. She was an amazing artist who makes elegant and detailed works of art using mostly porcelain. She is a potter, so her work is functional, but it has so much detail and care put into every step, so a mug or flower box done by her is a completely unique piece. It was amazing to watch how fluidly she was able to throw on the wheel, and it was inspiring to watch her process and find out where her inspiration comes from.There are a number of alterations that she demonstrated for us in the studio that she uses on her pieces such as: darting, stamping, and slip trailing. Darting is a term used mostly in a fashion world, but clothing is one of her inspirations. She cuts away and then seams the edges back together to create a new shape in the form just like the process of making a corset. Stamping on her pieces gives them a new texture in beautiful patterns. She showed us both how she makes her own stamps, and how when she does the stamping into a mug it can change the profile of the inside and the outside. Slip trailing is how she gives a raised texture to the piece by squeezing think slip (a mixture of clay and water) onto the surface of the piece. All of her work was beautiful and exceptionally detailed. It was also great to listen to her talk about her work and her sources of inspiration and to see her sketchbook.The images were taken from http://kiefferceramics.com/ where you can read more about the artist and even purchase pieces!

Galeries in Chelsea

On Tuesday, November 11th, my Concepts and Processes class went to New York City to visit some galleries in Chelsea. It was a really fun trip, we got to see a lot of artwork. My favorite experience of the trip was in the Kent Gallery, an exhibit of Charles Gaines titled Manifestos. This work was created using music, four manifestos: the Black Panther Manifesto, the Perspective for Conscious Changes in Everyday Life Manifesto, the Socialist Congress Manifesto and the Zapatista Manifesto, were written into musical format based on the letters within the words that were written. All the letters A-G were played as their musical equivalents, and the letter H was used for B-flat, as this was the code used in the early Baroque period. All other letters, punctuation, and spaces were played as rests. The music that was produced from this system was a bit random, but it sounded so beautiful, soothing, and relaxing. The most interesting part of that for me is that as speeches, these manifestos would have been delivered with force and passion, yet the rendering played by the piano quintet (one piano, two violins, a viola, and a cello), was just the opposite.

I also enjoyed most of the other exhibits we saw, some of the work I did not like so much, but I appreciate the fact that I got the chance to see it anyways. But among the work I did enjoy, these are the names of my favorite artists from the trip: Beth Campbell, Ben Durham, and Storm Tharp at the Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery; Petah Coyne at the Galerie LeLong; Ernesto Neto at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery; David Barnett at the Denise Bibro Gallery; and Christa Parravani at the Sara Tecchia Roma Gallery. There were many others, but these were my favorites which I found tobe the most inspiring to me as an artist.

Some of the information paraphrased about the work of Charles Gaines, as well as the image example of his work, was taken from the following website: http://www.kentgallery.com/exhibitions/current.html

UMass Amherst Visit

*This post was written last week, but I have not been able to get it up because the Internet was down*

This weekend I went to visit my cousin at UMass Amherst, and I had a really good time. UMass is famous for their Marching Band, and I got to see them perform on Saturday afternoon, and they were spectacular! Between the band, the color guard, and the twirlers, there are almost 400 students who all perform in unison, which creates a moving visual art piece on the football field. They sing and dance as well as marching and playing music, and they are so well coordinated. The band was truly a work of art, I had a great time listening to and watching them perform.

I did not do much work on my mask this weekend because I was away, but I am happy with the state it is in. I changed my mind a little bit for what I want it to help me with. I decided I want it to act as a connection between my father and me. He passed away from a heart attack when I was twelve. I decided that it does not literally have to cure me of an illness like the original purpose of the masks I researched. This meaning is also personal and purposeful to me, and it seems more appropriate based on the personal background the idea came from and it is also more connected to my idea of God. I think this form of the mask is like a sketch of what I would want it to be like in another material, like a wood carved mask.

My God Mask Developement

After our meeting on Monday, I've decided I should try subtractive sculpting, but I am going to use clay, so that if I make a mistake, it will not be very costly and I can get some extra practice if necessary. I went to the clay studio on Wednesday, but I didn't have enough clay for the full size mask, so I just worked with a small amount. I realized that I would have to buy more clay, but I have to wait until Monday, because it has to be done in the morning, and I have mostly morning classes. At first I was upset that I would have to wait to get more clay, but then I remembered that in the mask book I have been using as a reference said that a miniature mask would be worn concealed beneath the clothing of the person who had the problem. I have decided that I will keep working with the small amount because I have it, and then it will be one more aspect of my complete project. I still want to work on a larger scale, I will just have to wait a little bit longer to start it.

As for the "cure" my God mask is going to provide for me, I have been thinking about it a lot, and I have come up with a simple idea. Just as with my first mask, my inspiration came from my boyfriend. He lives in Falmouth, MA, and I don't get to see him very much. I miss him a lot, so the mask I make is going to be a cure for my distance from him, to help me not miss him so much when I can't be with him and remind me that we still love each other even when we have to be separated. I don't really need a mask or an item to carry around for me to know this, but it is the power that any God that I believe in would possess if I had to choose one. I will call it the cure for homesickness by binding loved ones together throughout times of separation or long distance.

The Iron Pour

This Friday night I went to the Iron Pour. It was a really fun event in which the metal students show off their skills for the whole school. When I got there, the main event had not yet started, but there were other sources of entertainment. There were fire dancers, food, face painting, and a band was playing music. There were a lot of people there, some of them were even in costume. Then there was a large fenced off area where some sculptures were set up. The sculptures were made of wood, braided hay, and carved pumpkins. The metal students were fueling a fire in a bin, and they kept pouring pieces of iron in to heat them up and melt them.

When the main event of the pouring of the iron began, everyone flocked to the center area. It was actually very beautiful to see the sparks fly from the hot molten iron landing on the sculptures. The sparks were glittery and looked like the sparklers you play with during the fourth of July. Some of the sculptures caught on fire with contact, and some just looked to be glowing red, but did not actually burst in flame. Some of the things were also allowed to burn, and others were put out or cooled down with a hose of water, I'm sure for safety reasons. One girl was roasting marshmallows for people for people in the audience. It was really fun to see all of the sculptures change form through the flame, and the iron pieces, once cool, took on some very organic shapes and were beautiful to see.

Visit to the ICA

Ok, so I just watched the Red Sox lose game 7 to the Tampa Bay Rays; they will not be the World Series Champions this year, and I am totally devastated! But, on an art note, I can talk about my trip to the ICA today. This afternoon, I went down to the ICA to see the Tara Donovan exhibit, and it was absolutely mind-blowing! I have never seen anything like the works she has on display, and I will most definitely never be able to look at normal objects, like tape, toothpicks, straws, or Styrofoam cups, the same ever again. The way she was able to manipulate these ordinary materials to make such beautifully extraordinary work with them, I just fell in love with every piece I saw.

Not only is her work flowing, organic, beautiful, and unique, but it also seems to defy the laws of physics. My favorite piece in the show was titled Haze, 2005, and was made purely out of translucent plastic drinking straws. What surprised me the most as I read about it was that the only thing holing the entire volume of straws up were the corners of the walls. The straws were placed across an entire wall, but it is only their pressure against each other that allow the rest of it to hold up! The most mesmerizing part of this wall sculpture was the way the light and shadows reacted within the hollow tubes of the straws as you walk past it. It reveals a sort of reflection in this way that makes you look closer to discover the simple elements of the material and the composition of the whole.

There were plenty of other sculptures that I seemed unable to take my eyes off of, and I strongly recommend this exhibit to everyone, especially Mass Art students who can view it for free at the ICA.

My images were taken from Google images.