Native American Art: Masks

Mask (Spirit of Brown Bear). Tingrit, Alaska. 1875. Wood.

This mask was made long ago in the land that is now known as Alaska. The people who made it admired the strength of the brown bear. They believed that the mask could bring the spirit of the bear to them and make all the people strong.

This mask was carved from wood and then painted. The design is symmetrical. Symmetrical means that both sides of the mask are the same. The mask in this lesson and the next were created by Native American Artists.

This Iroquois mask tells a story about a good spirit. The spirit has a broken nose and a twisted mouth. These masks were used in healing rituals that invoke the spirit of an ancient hunch-backed healing man called “Old Broken Nose.” The Iroquois people live in the eastern United States and Canada.

False Face Mask. Iroquois. c. 1950’s

This mask is carved from wood. The design is asymmetrical. Each side of the mask is different.

1. You can create a design for a mask. use paper or your ipad to sketch out your idea.

2. think about what kind of mask you will make. could it be an object, plant, animal or a person?

3. WIll your mask be symmetrical or asymmetrical?

4. When you have your idea, sketch it out. then add details and color to your design.

5. when your are finished with your design, upload an image of it to seesaw. we will begin constructing our masks during the next class.