THE LADY BEHIND THE MASKS

In my search for a site to link my Previews (see footnote #3) recommendation of the release of the book, The Dark Crystal, in celebration of its twentieth year anniversary, I explored a site titled as The Unofficial Dark Crystal Home Page. Embedded in this site is a link to the site's creator, Monica Roxburgh. Little was I prepared for what I discovered at the other end of the link!

It seemed so incredible! I was immediately reminded of LABYRINTH and my most favorite David Bowie's song from the masquerade ball. Indeed, handmade, French- styled party masks designed and manufactured by the folk at GOBLIN ART STUDIO. How serendipitious! It is such a treat discovering a site like this that I decided to create this foreword page to include such memorable sites for my visitors to be able to discover and enjoy for themselves (and maybe buy something too!).

Roughly fourteen years after the release of The Dark Crystal, Monica posted up on the net her The Unofficial Dark Crystal Home Page. In a May, 1999 article at her Labyrinth site she posted up an article in which she states " . . . The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth were the two films I saw as a child that made me want to make creatures for film, and learn how to puppeteer. The masks from Labyrinth were the masks that inspired me to become a maskmaker."(*1) As a consequence of this new found inspiration Monica has gone on to become experienced in both the art of manufacturing puppets and of masks.

Her quest in discovering the world of puppetry has lead Monica up an interesting and challenging road that only strengthened her interest and refined her skill in the art. One outgrowth of her interest in discovering all she could about the manipulation of puppets has been the development of a website, THE ANIMATRONICS RESOURCE SITE (though she states that she is still in the research phase of this art). Also, she has assisted in the development of the website, THE TELEGOONS, which is a site devoted to the memory of the British puppet show. She has worked with Mike McCormick (Puppeteer and creature designer), whose movie credentials include Return of the Jedi, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth, as puppet builder for the Peter Ettinger film,The Phoenix. (*2) She has worked as a set designer for II TEATRO CALAMARI creating puppets.Through her internship with OTHER HAND PRODUCTIONS Monica enhanced her puppetry design and construction skills as well as the development and performance of her own work, DREAMBOOK . Perhaps her crowning achievement in the world of puppetry has been the development of her own puppet creations called THE DARK PUPPETS.

While the Dark Crystal's primary influence on Monica Roxburgh is in the area of puppetry, the more popular movie starring David Bowie as a king of goblins, LABYRINTH, set the stage for Monica's fascination with ornamental masks. While in college she began her voyage into mask making that in time grew into what is now a successful internet store that supplies masks of all descriptions to customers throughout the United States.


In the process of developing this page I emailed Monica in regards to some questions that I had for which I could find no information in search of the web. Herein are my questions and Monica's replies.

You went to alot of work putting together the Dark Crystal site. What was your motivation for throwing up the site.

I was in college and teaching myself web design and with free time to spare, it made sense to share my research in my maskmaking BFA with the web. At the time there were no Dark Crystal sites and only a couple of Labyrinth sites.

How long have you been making masks?

August 8 (2003) makes four years in business and before Goblin Art I had begun my mask making in about 1997.

Do you do all the masks yourself or do you have a creative team working on them?

I do most of the work myself, with some assistance from my fiancee and occasional interns. Sometimes before Halloween and Mardi Gras I might get a bit of part-time help, but NO mask leaves the studio without several hours of my time going into it.

Got any special creations upcoming?

I really want to find the time to make some goblinish art dolls and sculptures.

What do you consider your crowning achievement in the world of masks or of puppetry so far?

The fact that I am actually supporting myself with my art!



The Dark Crystal


A Dark Puppet Tale

Goblin Art Studio

Animatronics Resources



LABYRINTH
The Unofficial Home Page




Footnotes:
*1: Quotation from LABYRINTH: My Visit With Labyrinth/Dark Crystal Designer/Builder Mike McCormick. Article by Monica Roxburgh dated May 26, 1999. To read the article

*2: ditto.

*3: Previews-this is the publication put out monthly by Diamond Distributors. This is a catalog of the upcoming comic books and related items of interest that are presented to the fanbase for pre-ordering. To see click here

Images takened from Monica Roxburgh's sites are © Monica Roxburgh

Other artwork on this page © 2003 Jerry Copeland


Page created August 2, 2003
Page revised August 7, 2012

Copyright 2006 Jerry Copeland

This feature page first appeared in Split/Image Online in August 2003 and is reprinted here with minor alterations.

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