BoBo

Masked Man

A collaboration; whether it be a dance, writing of a story, or a unique combination of two people who at a specific time and place become one on one thinkers and doers. Such was the case last week as my home tour was being sewn up, a rather opportunistic opportunity came my way.

My son had a geography assignment, that was a choice to make, plan & execute. To my surprise, he did in fact choose the more challenging of the two projects. A "mom"........ can you come here?

And like I have said many, many times..... " No, you come to me & do not yell down the hallway".

Thus began our interlude with a wad of paper, internet access, and an idea for something a little bit unordinary.

I have been doing projects for what seems like most of my life. I was an intrigued art student when I was younger. That interest took me to scores of art classes, summer museum art classes, highschool art electives and always a thought or idea away from another project. I was indeed lucky to have a teacher that knew just when to push, comliment & challenge my ever creating mind.

Now, knowing this my children have always seemed to pull me into their latest project. So, without further adu;

I give you the BoBo mask. The BoBo mask is a tribal mask from Africa and worn by it's people.

The goo ..... aka paper mache

Recycle that reading material!

 

The basic shape of the head of the mask. A plastic gardening container.

The beginnings of the BoBo....... the best place to shop? Other than your artist supply store, is the $$$ Tree.

I cannot stress this enough, a treasure trove that awaits the creative mind.

However, the wire used in this was needing to be flexible as well as rigid, so I scooted down to the family ranch and picked up a few bundles of baleing wire!

Starting to take shape. The base by the way was a dollar store plastic planter.

Still shaping, molding and forming. I have to say my little one did enjoy this process. The Bo Bo idea was one he chose, not really thinking of how & where we would go with the idea. When faced with the challenge we sat down, brainstormed and the put paper and pencil to work.

Aaah...the face is starting to come together.

Another view of the animal that is emerging in my family room.

The inside portion of the mask that fits on top of the head.

Unfinished, but to show the base for the structure itself.

After Drew lined the inside with paper and smoothed the inside so he could sit the mask on his head. No emergency room trips for this one, wires will not do!

In the process of painting the mask. Drew suggested that we use traditional colors of other variations of the mask. Traditional tribal muted colors were used.

Not bad for a little paste, paper, and paint. A side view of the color, texture & pattern.

Another angle of the mask. It did turn out to be quite substancial in size. All in all; with horns, and mouth included the shape of the mask was around 3 feet long.

My, what big teeth you have........

The morning before the project was due at school. What a 6th grade project it turned out to be! The raffia was two hula skirts via $$$ Tree. I purchased these because they had a nicely finished edge at the top of the skirt. I doubled the row of raffia on each side for added fullness. Then with scissors in hand Drew cut the excess off to the length he desired. The entire supply list for this project cost around $8.50 USD
Some of the supplies were already in the recycling bin. Other materials were recycled in different forms, the finishing touches were purchased raffia, paint, and jute for the mane forlock of hair.

Mission accomplished!!! Now on to school to turn this in BEFORE it gets torn up!

One final pose! Good luck with that grade Drew!!

Leslie Rowlands Designs LLC