Behind the mask:

Who is behind the mask that appears every year at MXTW? What inspired their creation? Do they have anything to do with the yearly slogan? Is there any relation between them and the target stories chosen?

The answers are: currently Ashley Flinn, many things, yes and no, and no and yes.

Who is Ashley Flinn? Also known as Flinn, she was a participant in MXTW in 2002-2004. Her favorite playwright technique is Müller. She has been an assistant director nine times (2006, 2009-2016). She created her first MXTW mask in 2009, and has been making them every year since 2011. She also has been in charge of MXTW’s graphic design and has been the webmaster since 2010. Outside of MXTW, Flinn runs a letterpress and graphic design business called Two Crow Press. So, if you have ever greatly admired the look of MXTW’s branding, help support an alum and an incredibly talented artist the next time you are in need of party invitations or a really rad birthday card for your favorite person.

The inspiration for the masks initially came as abstract pictures Jim would send to Flinn. The pictures were from his trips to Europe and the subject matter included art, nature, and the mundane occurrences of life. Up until two years ago, the mask was made before the slogan was chosen (more on that in a future blog post; stay tuned!). This better suits Flinn’s creative process. Having a concept is easier for her to work with, she says, thanks to her art degree.

Once she has a concept, Flinn gets to work with pencil and Sharpie. After a few hours of sketching, a few favorites are picked out and played with until a final design is chosen. A pen drawing is made, which is then magicked into being inside Adobe Illustrator. As a vector image, the mask can be tweaked, emailed to Gwethalyn and Jim for notes, and reworked until it can finally be saved as [insertyear]MXTWMASK.PNG

Flinn works to balance her personal style, which tends towards organic shapes and a lot of detail, with the established MXTW aesthetic, which is more simple and geometric.

Because the mask is designed way before a target story is chosen, there is no real direct relation between the two beyond them both being associated with the goings on of MXTW. Regarding peoples’ tendency to draw connections between the two, Flinn said, “People often interpret the masks to be elements of the story, which is fine… People are pattern seekers, and a mask can be read a ton of different ways.” If you never have, maybe attempting to come up with a narrative that places the mask within the landscape of the target story could be a fun game you play with yourself this year.

So what exactly was the inspiration behind this one? Given the this year’s slogan, Flinn wanted two faces rather than just one. She played with the thoughts of various dichotomies such as dreams/reality, interior/exterior, me/you, and thoughts/speech all while thinking about demonic possession, speech bubbles, negative self talk and (of course) devouring. Visual inspiration came in the form of Incan skulls, river stones, and messing around with head feature proportions.

Big, huge, giant shout outs to Ashley Flinn for her dedication to and hard work for MXTW! Give a cheer wherever you are, and let anyone you disturbed around you know why you could not internalize your enthusiasm for such a spectacular individual.

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• BONUS FACTS:
  
  • 2015 is the only mask with a nickname, which is Doublemouthpebbleeyes. The target story for that year was Wizard of Oz. After that story was picked, Flinn realized the mask was “a sort of portrait of Sam Brownback”. 
  • Flinn’s favorite mask designs are the 2018, 2017, and 2013 years
  • Flinn never got to perform in her favorite technique! 🙁 Her voice was recorded and played during the piece her group wrote, however. She says it was super spooky.
    • She also got to provide sound effects and dying cat baby screams in the Muller piece for the Ugly Duckling (2003).