My inspiration to create this mask came from looking at some very cool pictures of African masks (here and here).  As I looked at the pictures, I imagined creating a mask in the same style.  I used a combination of what I saw and my imagination to create this mask.
        There were a couple of reasons that I decided to carve the mask out of wood.  One reason is that I really enjoy working with wood.  The other reason I used wood is because  that is the material out of which African masks were traditionally made.
        The main theme of this mask is connecting present art back to its original roots in Africa.  Masks similar to this were used in tribal celebrations throughout Africa.  This theme is very similar to one of the main themes of the Harlem Renaissance
        The artists of that time also wanted to connect to their African Roots.  While most of the artists of the time did this through painting, I decided, as a few of the Harlem Renaissance artists did, to do a sculpture.  There were a lot of very famous paintings with the same theme of connecting to their roots in Africa.
        Creating this sculpture was very difficult.  There were a lot of different things that I had to take into account.  This included difficulties making the eyes, mouth and nose.  First, I started on the outside of the mouth and nose, working downward.  After a while, the chisel wouldn’t work very well so I used a saw.  I finished the mouth and nose with a chisel.  Then I cut off the top part.  After that I started on one of the hardest parts, which were the eyes.  The difficulty with the eyes was that I was going up against a very narrow piece of wood which could easily break.  After finishing the eyes, I started on the inside of the mouth, with which I also had the same problem.  Finally, I sanded the flat part of the mask and stained it with a dark oil.
        I really enjoyed creating this sculpture and thinking about the African art that inspired so many great Harlem Renaissance artists.

-Scott Boiko