Mask Museum in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
While in San Miguel last month, i had the brilliant opportunity to visit The Other Face of Mexico, a mask and folk art museum featuring over 500 masks on display, video of indigenous dances, and a gallery of over 200 masks for purchase.
The museum is run by Bill and Heidi LeVasseur of the Casa de la Cuesta bed and breakfast hacienda. (Coincidentally, Bill is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, too!) You have to contact them for an appointment to see the museum--it doesn't have standard hours. Admission is 50 pesos (under $5).
Bill has collected indigenous masks for 22 years, traveling to remote villages, recording video of the dances and talking with the mask artisans about their craft and culture. He's a fount of amazing info on indigenous Mexican cultures' maskmaking and performing, and clearly loves his subject. Here are some of my notes from the museum and Bill's talk about masking in Mexico:
Of 170 million Mexican citizens, 12 million of them cite their tribal affiliation as their nationality, rather than "Mexico."
No mask is considered authentic unless a dancer has worn it in performance; the masks are "baptized" by use, and an unworn mask is considered incomplete.
Dancers are always men, even if the mask is for a female character.
The masks' origins can be sourced by the woods used to carve them.
Some of the media used in various masks in the museum: Christmas bows and tinsel garland, boar tusks, donkey teeth, compact mirrors, coconut shells & gourds, various woods, mache, vintage top hats Padding is wads of paper or old socks/towels. Some are tied onto the face with long cords. Some have eyes that close when they move, like babydolls do.
Some masks are made in a smaller-than-face-sized scale, to make the performer seem larger in stature.
Inscriptions on the masks are often dedications to the lovers of the mask artisans.
The indigenous masked dances are for several different occasions: historical dances, performance of Christian stories, occupational dances, agricultural dances, entertainment.
Christ is never masked in religious dances.
We weren't allowed to take photos in the museum itself, but selections from the museum's collection will be featured in Deborah Bell's forthcoming book, Maskmakers and Their Craft: An Illustrated Worldwide Study (out Sept 3, 2010). We *were* allowed to take them in the gallery of masks for sale, so i have some images from that area, as well as photos of masks i purchased. The gallery was much more cluttered than the museum, so a lot of the pix are just stuffed with masks to look at!
I loved this devil and bird.
It's Evil Tartaglia, in a way.
I like the contrast of the gourd guy and the carved devil.
Many of the masks had supra-ocular eyeholes.
Love the eyeholes in this guy.
This big face had sub-ocular holes.
In addition to masks, several of these shoulder-hung horse-puppets were also on display.
Bill does workshops with Mexican children about maskmaking and their indigenous heritage.
Look at these cool masks kids made from scrap trash!
Masks I Bought
I bought this guy. The painting is more intricate than photos can capture.
Here's his info from the gallery catalog:
Danza de Los Viejitos/Dance of the Old Men
Viejito/Old Man
Savina, Michoacan
Manuel Valencia Chavez, mask maker
Ethnic Group: Purepecha
Also bought this one--info below.
Danza de Senor o de Las Sonajas/Dance of the Rattles
El Senor (Sr. Santiago)/ Leader of the Christians
Naranza, Michoacan
Ethnic Group: Purepecha
Tiny-face masks made of coconut shells!
(bought at the Artisan's Market, not at the museum)
If you ever find yourself in San Miguel, totally make an appointment to see this museum! It was one of the highlights of my stay, and so creatively inspiring and educational.
Also, Bill LeVasseur travels and does presentations on indigenous masks at universities--he'll be at Villanova this fall. I'm thinking about seeing if i can do some kind of partnership with our Latin Cultural Center to get him to come to our school soon. If you would like to book him, you can contact him via the Casa de la Cuesta website.
The museum is run by Bill and Heidi LeVasseur of the Casa de la Cuesta bed and breakfast hacienda. (Coincidentally, Bill is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, too!) You have to contact them for an appointment to see the museum--it doesn't have standard hours. Admission is 50 pesos (under $5).
Bill has collected indigenous masks for 22 years, traveling to remote villages, recording video of the dances and talking with the mask artisans about their craft and culture. He's a fount of amazing info on indigenous Mexican cultures' maskmaking and performing, and clearly loves his subject. Here are some of my notes from the museum and Bill's talk about masking in Mexico:
Of 170 million Mexican citizens, 12 million of them cite their tribal affiliation as their nationality, rather than "Mexico."
No mask is considered authentic unless a dancer has worn it in performance; the masks are "baptized" by use, and an unworn mask is considered incomplete.
Dancers are always men, even if the mask is for a female character.
The masks' origins can be sourced by the woods used to carve them.
Some of the media used in various masks in the museum: Christmas bows and tinsel garland, boar tusks, donkey teeth, compact mirrors, coconut shells & gourds, various woods, mache, vintage top hats Padding is wads of paper or old socks/towels. Some are tied onto the face with long cords. Some have eyes that close when they move, like babydolls do.
Some masks are made in a smaller-than-face-sized scale, to make the performer seem larger in stature.
Inscriptions on the masks are often dedications to the lovers of the mask artisans.
The indigenous masked dances are for several different occasions: historical dances, performance of Christian stories, occupational dances, agricultural dances, entertainment.
Christ is never masked in religious dances.
We weren't allowed to take photos in the museum itself, but selections from the museum's collection will be featured in Deborah Bell's forthcoming book, Maskmakers and Their Craft: An Illustrated Worldwide Study (out Sept 3, 2010). We *were* allowed to take them in the gallery of masks for sale, so i have some images from that area, as well as photos of masks i purchased. The gallery was much more cluttered than the museum, so a lot of the pix are just stuffed with masks to look at!
I loved this devil and bird.
It's Evil Tartaglia, in a way.
I like the contrast of the gourd guy and the carved devil.
Many of the masks had supra-ocular eyeholes.
Love the eyeholes in this guy.
This big face had sub-ocular holes.
In addition to masks, several of these shoulder-hung horse-puppets were also on display.
Bill does workshops with Mexican children about maskmaking and their indigenous heritage.
Look at these cool masks kids made from scrap trash!
Masks I Bought
I bought this guy. The painting is more intricate than photos can capture.
Here's his info from the gallery catalog:
Danza de Los Viejitos/Dance of the Old Men
Viejito/Old Man
Savina, Michoacan
Manuel Valencia Chavez, mask maker
Ethnic Group: Purepecha
Also bought this one--info below.
Danza de Senor o de Las Sonajas/Dance of the Rattles
El Senor (Sr. Santiago)/ Leader of the Christians
Naranza, Michoacan
Ethnic Group: Purepecha
Tiny-face masks made of coconut shells!
(bought at the Artisan's Market, not at the museum)
If you ever find yourself in San Miguel, totally make an appointment to see this museum! It was one of the highlights of my stay, and so creatively inspiring and educational.
Also, Bill LeVasseur travels and does presentations on indigenous masks at universities--he'll be at Villanova this fall. I'm thinking about seeing if i can do some kind of partnership with our Latin Cultural Center to get him to come to our school soon. If you would like to book him, you can contact him via the Casa de la Cuesta website.