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Craftsman Vasile Şuşca - the tamer of “devils” | Singularities

Keywords: Maramures traditional mask, natural materials, tradition


Craftsman Vasile Şuşca - the tamer of “devils”


Title: Craftsman Vasile Şuşca - the tamer of “devils”
Category: Singularities
Country: Maramureş
Period: XX Century
Provided by: Edunet
Source: https://www.emaramures.ro
Photo Gallery: http://www.adrianpetrisor.ro/vasile-susca/

Description:

Vasile Şuşca is a craftsman from Săcel, Maramureş and has become known all over the world due to the traditional masks he has been making for about 30 years.

These masks were used in Maramureş for the winter holidays, they were worn for Christmas and New Year's Day and the ancestors from Maramureş believed that they drove away the evil. They are still used during the winter holidays, when groups of carolers carry on the old Romanian customs.

Vasile Şuşca graduated from an art high school, he painted, but he also practiced the profession of tailor and furrier.

An acquaintance of the artist, former director of the Popular Art School from Sighetu Marmatiei, which Vasile Şuşca attended, suggested him to make masks from the remaining materials, pieces of leather and others. First he studied the mask and the traditions of Maramureş, then with his imagination and talent he made thousands of folk masks.

To make his masks, the craftsman uses natural materials such as sheepskin or goatskin, ram's horns, cloth, hemp, beans and walnut shells, etc.
His masks are very expressive and very successful, he participated with them in exhibitions, fairs and shows, he appeared in newspapers, his works are exhibited in museums, but also on the walls of houses around the world
.


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