Medusa

Inspired by the myth of Medusa, who I always thought has been much maligned, I chose to depict her in a moment of serenity and peace. Instead of a nest of snakes, I have sculpted one snake wrapped around the stem of the mask and coming up over the face.

This mask is primarily paper mache as well, though the stem is a piece of found wood (a fallen branch I found on a hike, then trimmed to size).

On the forehead, the head, and the side, the sculpted plates are formed out of paper clay; the side-plates are cracked to suggest aging--as if this was a found object of great antiquity. The surface of the mask, as with some of my other pieces, is metal finish as well--here the look is that of aged brass or gold. Glass beads are embedded in the relief work of the head plate.

The body of the snake is paper mache also, but then covered in a snake-print tissue paper; glass beads form the eyes.

This piece is one of my favorites: one of those rare moments when I was able to pull of what I had imagined ...