En norsk versjon
M A S K S
Working with children can be fysichally exhausting,
but mentally it usually works as some kind of therapy.
Originally I´m educated as an illustrator and graphic designer.
Just employed in the kindergarten I found it natural to consentrate on the
creative part of it. Immidiatly people fancied the paper masks I introduced.
The procedure is simple: Take a plain sheet of paper (A4, US-letter). Fold it once.
Then you can cut out half a face. Unfold it. You´ve got a face with two equal halves.
Firstly, to fasten the masks I used thread, but it didn´t work well. The masks slided
and was teared apart. Later I found out that tape worked a lot better. Take care to
tape only on the skin, (avoid getting it in children´s hair, it may make them panic).
My masks got immensly popular. Most asked for were the Batman, dragon and
all kinds of animal, like cat, hare, lion and wolf. Humanoid types came later,
like knight, pirat, witch, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and soldier. Robot, crocodile,
bee, elephant, devil and giraffe are other examples of short time hits.
I never intended to learn the kids the art of cutting out paper masks,
but by studying me while I worked, two of them very soon learned
the secret. They also learned by watching eachother. In about
two months, all who wanted to mastered the skill. They
were from three and a half to six years of age. I´ll say
the boys quite clearly were the most enthusiastic.
I started to exchange masks, with the kids who
could produce such on their own. My wardrobe
closet soon filled up. Personally I think the
children´s masks are a lot cooler than mine.
Their expressive qualities are stronger,
they´re clean, simple and caricating.
Behind the masks on these pages are:
Christian,
Others who might be represented
Kristian,
Fridtjof,
Celine,
Eivind,
Simon,
Kaja,
Mia
are Ceselia and Kaja M. In most
cases I don´t remember
who made the mask.
