Art appreciation 101 at York College requires making a sculpture at home. I wanted to do more than a mask and my wonderful sister Suz volunteered to be the model.
Suz sat patiently while I added more and more plaster to her head. I estimate it took over an hour to sculpt the helmet and another half hour with a hair dryer to set it. What Suz didn’t know was the process of creating it would be much easier on her than when it came time to remove it from her head. Let’s just say she lost some hair over the ordeal. 😉
Once I tore that mask off her head (not exaggerating) and removed the lining I could tell my vision was coming together. I love my sister to pieces and wanted this to have a real meaning for her, other than just pain.
I walked all over my parents property and down at Beaver Hole looking for the perfect vines to add to my piece. I had a name for it already chosen. “MeSuza” after the Greek mythology goddess, Medusa. I was fortunate MeSuza didn’t turn me to stone for ripping so much hair off of her head.
Stone Cold
I hand-carved and painted each snake, with a total of eleven in all. Each one was unique. None of the snakes have pieces glued to them. The tongues and rattles are all carved out of the native vines of Dover, PA. The mask portrayed a winter scene, cold and barren with the snakes slithering in and out. The inside was snakes in a summer setting. The mask represented both seasons as a sculpture in the round. At every angle a different snake looks back with an evil glare, inside and out. The snakes that are not vines are hot glue that I drizzled onto the mask then painted. I can’t even begin to guess how many hours I put into this piece, but it was worth every second!
To wear the helmet, some snakes had to be removed. When it’s not on a human head, the snakes can be moved around for a new look. I received an A+ on my sculpture and a 4.0 in the Intro to Art course. 😉
Summer of snakes
The model who wears it the best! Love ya Sis!
Tesla is no longer afraid of MeSuza!
Future posts of art work to come!
~P.
girlboxer1970 
you are very lucky your sister could sit for you I tried once just to have a mask done and could not stand it. The plus side of Talin’s blog is occasionally reading comments I see some by people i think I like what they say and check out their blogs and here I am I may very soon be hitting the button to unfollow there but in the process I have found a few of you who have something interesting to say.
I hear you….I’ve found some excellent bloggers through Talin. I did unsubscribe but like someone said to me, “It’s a train wreck and you can’t stop looking.” lol Thanks for you comment & for reading. My sister was a real trouper! ~P.