I collected my first mask by Crisencio Molina Maldonado from Tom Kolaz in 1994, fully a decade before either of us had any idea of this carver’s identity or ability. Briefly, Tom purchased this Canine mask from a Yaqui “Moro” (dance troupe manager) after it had been danced in a cultural demonstration in Litchfield Arizona (outside of Phoenix) in January 1994. Because the mask had not actually been used in a formal ceremonial setting, but yet it was danced by a traditional Yaqui dancer, it fell into an unusual category. Tom offered to sell it to me because he knew of my interest in masks that were specifically carved to order for child performers. The mask had been carved by a Potam maker, “Maldonado Molina,” in 1993. Many years later it occurred to me that this was a mask by Crisencio.

This mask does have some design details that we have encountered in later masks by Crisencio. For example, the quality of the hair on this mask is very fine, with 23 tufts around the chin. The absence of any cross is a variable feature for this carver, as you will see in the masks that follow. Furthermore he likes extended tongues.

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I bought my first Goat Pascola mask by Crisencio from the Morning Star Traders gallery (Tucson) in 2006. It is magnificent.

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I had purchased my first Payaso (clown) mask by Crisencio in 2006, from the Morning Star Traders gallery in Tucson, Arizona. Since then I have bought six more. These clowns will be the focus of today’s post. Here is the one from 2006. Isn’t this a wonderful mask!

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Today I would like to begin with a few comments about my decision to collect all of these masks, even though most of them were new and undanced at the time of collection. In March of 1989 I examined the Yaqui and Mayo Pascola mask collections at the Heard Museum, in Phoenix Arizona. A few were very old and worn while others seemed not only new and unused, but also novel in design. I was allowed to take photos of these masks for my personal study, and over the years I would occasionally look them over. With experience and the passage of time, I became increasingly aware that these masks provided a priceless record of the arts and culture of these Peoples. On the one hand, the masks reflected aspects that were constantly changing and to some extent these changes seemed to reflect a quest for novelty. Yet to an educated eye, after my long study of Yaqui culture, these masks also revealed the  persistence and continuity of this culture. New and undanced masks appeared to be such low-hanging fruit, inexpensive and artistically “sweet,” so I embraced this opportunity.

This week we will examine additional human faced masks by Crisencio Molina Maldonado that have have faces of red or brown color, rather than the more traditional black background color. Maybe these represent Indian faces?

I purchased the first three of these in 2006, from the Morning Star Traders™ gallery in Tucson, Arizona. This one appears to be the appropriate size for a child.

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This week we will examine some more human faced masks by Crisencio Molina Maldonado. I will start with one that resembles the child’s mask at the end of last week’s post. I consider this mask, which Tom Kolaz purchased from the artist for me in 2010, to be a masterpiece.

This mask has the brow hair divided into two bundles, while Crisencio usually makes a continuous brow that spans both eyes (a unibrow).

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Today I will introduce you to the Pascola masks of Crisencio Molina Maldonado. Crisencio was born on 9/19/1957, in Pitahaya, Sonora. Presently he lives in Potam. As a young man, he was trained by his father to perform as one of the deer singers during Yaqui fiestas. His father, whose informal name is Miki Maaso, was the lead Deer singer and Miki’s compadre, Luis Maaso, was the Deer dancer they sang for, when this group traveled from Sonara to participate in Tucson fiestas at the Barrio Libre community. Later they performed at Old Pascua. Some anthropologists recognized Crisencio as a valuable cultural consultant. In about 2004, my friend Tom Kolaz was pleasantly surprised to discover that Crisencio was also a talented mask maker. At that time Cresencio brought his masks with him when he attended Tucson fiestas, and I began buying his masks from Tucson merchants in 2006. Tom and I thought that Crisencio’s masks were very well carved, and that he was a superlative artist, so we began buying directly from the carver. In a series of posts over the coming weeks I will demonstrate the quality that so impressed us.

Upon my discovery of Crisencio, I purchased a number of his masks, including those with the most traditional  Pascola mask style, masks with human faces. Here is one of those.

This one has a beak-style mouth, a feature that is found in masks from the beginning of the 20th century.

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In my last two posts you have seen Pascola masks by Frank Martínez with a variety of faces. Today I will conclude my discussion of this carver with four additional masks that have the faces of goats or rams, and then three changos (monkeys and apes).

I purchased my first Pascola mask by Frank from Lupe Sinoui, the director of the Old Pascua Community Center, in 1989.  I chose it from a group of masks that Frank had probably made in that year or the one before. Later I traded it to David West, the owner of Gallery West in Tucson. Here are photos of this Goat faced mask that I took when it was still in my collection. Isn’t it handsome?

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In this second post about the masks of Frank “Chico” Martínez, we will look at animal Pascola masks with prominent teeth or fangs. The first four are Coyote masks. To introduce these I will refer again to the article by Tom Kolaz — “Yoeme Pascola Masks from the Tucson Communities: A Look Back” (pp 50- 61); here is the link.

http://www.yoemecarver.com/aiam07.pdf

That article opens with a photo of three masks carved by Frank Martínez—a “Coyote” carved in 2001, an Owl from the early 1990s, and a “Chango or Ape face from the early 1980s. I am going to show you three like that Coyote mask, and next week I will show you Chango masks. Note that all of the masks with catalogue numbers in the Kolaz article are from the collection of the Arizona State Museum (ASM) in Tucson, Arizona.

I bought the first of these Coyotes on EBay™ sometime around 2005. A tag on the back said it had been carved in 1986. For some reason the back had been varnished.

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This is the first in a series of three posts about Frank “Chico” Martinez, a Yaqui carver who lived and worked in the barrio (or neighborhood) of Old Pascua, in Tucson Arizona. He died in 2006, at around the age of 48 years. According to Thomas M. Kolaz, who knew this carver and his family well, Frank was an active Tucson carver over a period of many years, and he was a mentor to many other Yaqui carvers in this town. Tom showed masks by Frank in two articles that he published in the America Indian Art Magazine:

“Yaqui Pascola Masks From the Tucson Area,” in the Winter 1985 issue (pp. 38-45), and “Yoeme Pascola Masks From The Tucson Communities: A Look Back,” in the Summer 2007 issue (pp. 50- 60). Here is a link to view the second article.

http://www.yoemecarver.com/aiam07.pdf

I had discovered Frank’s masks when I first visited Tucson in 1989. I learned more about him when I met Tom Kolaz, several years later. Today I am going to show five masks by Frank with Human faces, along with a mask with the face of a snake and another with the face of a horse. I will start off with a mask that was originally collected from Frank by Martha Secan in 1985. Martha was a great fan of this carver, and she deliberately bought and sold his masks as a means of supporting him as an artist. She died in 2003. I bought this mask in 2014 from a Tucson woman who had purchased the mask from Martha.

Back in 1985 Frank usually painted his masks with flat colors.

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Today I have the great pleasure of showing some animal masks by Ruben Hernández. Some belong to Mahina Drees Burns and others are from my collection. I will start with three goats. The first, which is obviously worn, had been in the collection of my friend Tom Kolaz and I bought it from him in 2014. It was made in the 1980s.

This mask has obvious wear on the face, demonstrating that rough treatment can occur in the revelry of a fiesta.

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