Sugar Skull-John Moreno
Artist statement
What exactly is a sugar skull? Sugar was brought to the New World by Italian Missionary in the 17th century. A sugar skull is sculpture that is part of a holiday in Mexico known as Day of the Dead. The Day of the dead is a day that honors both young and old deceased family members and friends. Sugar Skull are skulls that they make out of sugar and placed them on their loved one's grave.The skulls are not always made out of sugar, the skulls can also be made out of clay or paper mache’. Sugar Skulls are also part of Mexican Folk Art. What exactly is Folk art? Folk art is art that has formed and grown in an isolated region. Folk art is not influenced by any outside factors such as social trends and changes.
My inspiration for my sugar skull was one of my favorite television shows and my background is inspired by medieval times I am also using relative colors that sugar skull artist would use while decorating the sugar skulls. The show depicts many mask and so I decided to create my own. My background is the Salvadorian flag colors and on it, it has two drapes, both a red and yellow. Back in Medieval times the king had various drapes that represented either himself or the kingdom. I created my drapes to balance my background and I contrasted the dark blue with a yellow. My mask will be at the centered one the white color on my back ground. The skull is part of Mexican folk art because the skull is made out of paper mache’.
My mask itself will have various colors and designs. The eyes of my mask are a pattern that are based off the eyes of one of the characters on the show. In orders to make such eyes I had to use a very small brush to not just only make the eyes but also other smaller detail. The larger brush for coloring in the bigger area that would take too long with the smaller brush. Although my skull cannot be a true Mexican folk art it is unique to me because it stands for something I like and love to watch. For my background the repeated Blue White Blue repetition stands for The Salvadoran Flag color, with two drapes on both sides. In order to get the form of a real skull I used aluminum foil and pressed it against a real skull. Then after I got the mold for a skull, I used paper mache’ and added some more definition to the cheek bones.