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labricoleuseIn the balcony-level lobby of the USF's Randall Theatre there is a small exhibit of masks from the Festival's costume collection. The masks are from past productions, and are exhibited on headforms with small placards detailing which production, what year the piece was made, and of what materials. The headforms are suspended on long gold hooks attached to the wall opposite a bank of large windows. I believe this exhibit will be on display for the duration of both the summer and fall seasons (2006).
I photographed most of the pieces on display.
This helmet's a good example of stiffened industrial felt construction, with the raised "binding" probably created by applying saturated thinner felt with Sculpt-or-Coat. What's remarkable about it though is that amazingly lifelike eagle head on the brow! Check out the level of detail on it! I'm guessing the head itself was cast, but that the wings spreading out to either side were built up with pieces of perhaps cut leather.
A WTF-crazy mask-on-a-stick from a past production of Romeo and Juliet (Summer 1998). The placard only lists it as being comprised of Veraform (thermoplastic) but my conjecture would be that it also contains elements of shaped and stiffened leather, industrial felt, ethafoam tubing, and Mardi Gras beads. But i'm just guessing on that. The angle of this photograph and the play of the camera flash off the spandex really illustrates the positioning of the seams on the mannequin head. I think these are plain old $2 foam wig heads covered to look more professional. In real life, the seams were nearly unnoticeable.
One of the "fairies" from an earlier production of Merry Wives of Windsor--this one's particularly interesting to me since Merry Wives was on the roster this summer as well. Completely different fairy-costume concept altogether! I'd guess the base of this is Veraform covered with a suede-look fabric. Perhaps it was the designer's concept for the trimmings to look "fakey," but if i'd made this, i'd have pushed them to let me paint into that silk autumn foliage so it didn't look quite so dining-room-centerpiece-ish, and hit those plastic walnuts with some matte spray. The feathers have that dull Rit-dyed look to them as well.
Now this one's impressive. (From the same production of Merry Wives.) Individually-painted grapes of varying size! I'm guessing they're lightweight little pellets of paper clay or styrofoam. It's possible they lucked into buying these bunches of grapes and maybe only painted into them a bit, but i doubt it. And check out those horns! Are they crinkley Sculpt-or-Coated paper on a wire frame? How are they not crushed all to bits? My overly-critical eye leads me to think that i want a more subtlely-shaded paint job on the tips, and just a couple of tiny spirals of floral wire sproinging out of there for realism's sake, but overall, i really just want to know what's up with the interior construction of the horns.
This mask was the centerpiece of the exhibit. According to the placard beside it, the mask was commissioned by a Cedar City resident, from renowned mask artisan Joseph McLaughlin. Mr. McLaughlin's work is perhaps best-known from the masquerade ball scene in the film Amadeus. This mask is around six feet in diameter at its widest point, and is composed not only of peacock feathers but also those of some dozen other species, including owl. I sure would love to see the back of this one, and check out exactly how its support structure is rigged!
All in all, this is a really cool exhibit, though fairly small and due to it's installation location, easily missed by many theatregoers i'm sure. I enjoyed seeing it, very thought-provoking and some little construction elements here and there that really shine.
I photographed most of the pieces on display.
This helmet's a good example of stiffened industrial felt construction, with the raised "binding" probably created by applying saturated thinner felt with Sculpt-or-Coat. What's remarkable about it though is that amazingly lifelike eagle head on the brow! Check out the level of detail on it! I'm guessing the head itself was cast, but that the wings spreading out to either side were built up with pieces of perhaps cut leather.
A WTF-crazy mask-on-a-stick from a past production of Romeo and Juliet (Summer 1998). The placard only lists it as being comprised of Veraform (thermoplastic) but my conjecture would be that it also contains elements of shaped and stiffened leather, industrial felt, ethafoam tubing, and Mardi Gras beads. But i'm just guessing on that. The angle of this photograph and the play of the camera flash off the spandex really illustrates the positioning of the seams on the mannequin head. I think these are plain old $2 foam wig heads covered to look more professional. In real life, the seams were nearly unnoticeable.
One of the "fairies" from an earlier production of Merry Wives of Windsor--this one's particularly interesting to me since Merry Wives was on the roster this summer as well. Completely different fairy-costume concept altogether! I'd guess the base of this is Veraform covered with a suede-look fabric. Perhaps it was the designer's concept for the trimmings to look "fakey," but if i'd made this, i'd have pushed them to let me paint into that silk autumn foliage so it didn't look quite so dining-room-centerpiece-ish, and hit those plastic walnuts with some matte spray. The feathers have that dull Rit-dyed look to them as well.
Now this one's impressive. (From the same production of Merry Wives.) Individually-painted grapes of varying size! I'm guessing they're lightweight little pellets of paper clay or styrofoam. It's possible they lucked into buying these bunches of grapes and maybe only painted into them a bit, but i doubt it. And check out those horns! Are they crinkley Sculpt-or-Coated paper on a wire frame? How are they not crushed all to bits? My overly-critical eye leads me to think that i want a more subtlely-shaded paint job on the tips, and just a couple of tiny spirals of floral wire sproinging out of there for realism's sake, but overall, i really just want to know what's up with the interior construction of the horns.
This mask was the centerpiece of the exhibit. According to the placard beside it, the mask was commissioned by a Cedar City resident, from renowned mask artisan Joseph McLaughlin. Mr. McLaughlin's work is perhaps best-known from the masquerade ball scene in the film Amadeus. This mask is around six feet in diameter at its widest point, and is composed not only of peacock feathers but also those of some dozen other species, including owl. I sure would love to see the back of this one, and check out exactly how its support structure is rigged!
All in all, this is a really cool exhibit, though fairly small and due to it's installation location, easily missed by many theatregoers i'm sure. I enjoyed seeing it, very thought-provoking and some little construction elements here and there that really shine.
