Text Box: Text Box: Artist Isaac Johns Handmade masks and costumes Text Box: Born in Morgantown, West Virginia, Isaac Johns helped make his robot costume for the Kindergarten Christmas play, and soon after, moved to New Orleans, where costuming is more the norm. At age eight, or so, he made a suede fringe mask for the first annual French Quarter Mask Market, and was encouraged to continue mask making by all of the artists, including Mike Stark and Tim Steele, who gave Isaac pointers in leather mask making. Mr. Johns worked for eight years as a designer with Patrick Seargent Design Studios in New Orleans, apprenticed with printmakers Stanley Fontaine and others, and designed the poster for the Howl Orleans Festival three years in a row. Although best known for his award winning costumes (including first prize in the 1995 New Orleans Maskathon), his leather masks are astounding. After deciding on a design, Isaac makes the pattern and cuts it from one piece of leather. He then painstakingly bends and folds it, almost as in origami, and completes his masterpiece with an airbrush paint or stain finish. For more art pieces, see Greatmask.com.