Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Paper maché Madness.


Each spring or summer growing up in the late 1970s and early 80s our local public library system would hold contests for kids. Art, costume or, in this case, a mask contest all intended, I assume, to encourage the children of the bustling community of Nanaimo, BC to get more involved with the books that we were reading. The idea was to create a mask representing characters from books, but I guess they were a little laid back on that stipulation. I have no idea what literary tome I told them my paper maché gorilla mask ( far right ) was from ( the novelization of King Kong perhaps? ), but at least it wasn't out-of-place next to a non-bookish, very fun duct-tape Cylon from the tv show Battlestar Galactica.
Shortly after this I removed the face from this mask and replaced it with a much more fierce teeth baring version. Even back then I was always one for revising work I wasn't 100% happy with. I still have both versions of this monkey mask stored away in the bowels of the cavernous Mullaly Archives Complex, although the paper maché is a little worse for wear.

Two years earlier in 1979 I had entered a library costume contest with this smashing outfit that I ended up using for Halloween that year as well. Once again I pushed the boundaries of non-bookland with this made-up masterpiece.

3 comments:

Todd Franklin said...

That Cylon mask is great - you'll have to dig that out of your archives one of these days.

Glen Mullaly said...

Not sure if I was unclear, but my mask was the gorilla one on the right. I agree though - that Cylon was great! Maybe the kid who made it will read this post and let us know what happened to it!

Glad to hear you're back. How was the trip?

Todd Franklin said...

Oops silly me I guess I didn't read as close I should have. The trip was a great adventure. Thanks for asking!