The Glass Castle

Recently for my mask making class we had to make masks based on stories from our heritage. After making the mask we would then photograph it and collage it into a final illustration. I researched my Polish background and found very little, but I did come up with one story: The Glass Castle. This is the story of a princess who lives in a castle on top of a mountain of glass. Many knights try and reach the top, but all fail to climb the mountain or are devoured by a giant eagle who watches over the castle. Finally a young, unpretentious man climbs up the mountain, grabs onto the eagles feet and flies to the top of the mountain. In the courtyard of the castle he encounters a tree the grows golden apples, fruit which wards off the dragon who gaurds the castle. Finally he makes it to the princess who he marries and they live happily ever after atop a glass mountain.

Here's the sketch for the mask:

Then I built the mask/headpiece out of wire, masking tape and plaster gauze, and painted it with acrylic paint. The glass mountain was built out of watercolor paper.

 

Then I photographed myself wearing the mask.

I painted individual pieces in watercolor to scan into the computer

and collage digitally.

Finally I took the whole thing into Photoshop and pulled it all together.

 

I think the end result is kinda unsettling.