Bridge 1 Memoir Mask

For this assignment we had to create a mask inspired from our written memoir that we wrote for out seminar class. Our memoir is about a memory using one of the 5 sense, I choose sight. My memoir is about recovering dream I used to have as a young child about sharks, therefore my mask needed to relate to this. In order to get an inspiration for my mask I started of with researching images online to create a mood board.

As you can see in my mood board I wanted to incorporate devils as I mention in my memoir how sharks are the devils pets. Using the images on my mood board I started drawings in my sketchbook of designs I would place onto of the mask. Unfortunately I was not aware that we were not supposed to use colour, as you can see in my drawings below I could not have made them more colourful!

I did my first three drawings as just either a devil or sharks as I wanted to work out which drawings I like the most before I merged them together. When I Merged them together I decided that I didn’t need to make anther final drawing as I liked the one a lot and wanted to start on making my mask. This is when it got difficult. I decided as I have never made a mask that I would follow the technique that Lynn shows us in class, it was a simple technique but whilst I was making it I realised that it wasn’t going to look great as I thought it would end up looking rather boring, especially as it had to be in black and white where as my final drawing looks best with colour.

Realising this I decided to do some further research to change my idea. Somebody in my class suggested to me that I perhaps make it look as though I was in the sharks mouth. I then took a look back at my mood board as realised that majority of the pictures of it were of sharks faces and that I had got off track of that when making my design sketched as in those I focused on the hole shark. With all of this I then came up with a mask which consists of many panels and plenty of paper brads which resembles a sharks head. I gave up on the devils idea as I decided it was not what I wanted to be the focus from my memoir as it isn’t about devils it is souly about sharks. I made my mask so that there would be something to see at every angle. On the front side theres the sharks mouth, on the left and right side are its scales, on the back is the fin and on top are the sharks eyes. And I named my mask Sharkqueena !