Native Stripes

Materials Used:

wood, Montana;
sheep spine and ribs, Wyoming;
velvet (Mgambo) seeds, Hawaii;
black sand, Hawaii;
painted plaster cast of my face;
small grouse feathers, Montana

This copper, white, and black striped mask has, for me, a perfect design. When I started “Native Stripes” I truly had no idea where it would lead me, what would develop creatively through process. I played with different designs for several days and eventually this design seem to simply fall into place. It looks very Native American to me, but no particular tribe. I like to imagine that if there were, in imagination, such a tribe as the “Sheep People,” this mask might be used in ceremony to honor their ancestors or other special clan members. Who knows?

Imagination can take us anywhere. The large wood base offered me a playground upon which I could explore different relationships between the materials that chose to be a part of the eventual creation. Materials include a painted plaster cast of my face, sheep bones I found while exploring in Wyoming, velvet seeds from a Mgambo tree I long ago discovered on one of my yearly trips to Hawaii.

This mask somehow evokes the element of FIRE to me – passionately expressive in it simple open-mouthed call for ceremony.