Every mask is the beginning of a story. Every mask invites a dance, because each mask is inhabited by a being waiting to reveal itself, whether a universally recognizable archetype, or an eccentric, very personal inner persona that can inform the creator in surprising ways. In traditional cultures, such as Bali, sacred masks were viewed as a means for the divine - the gods, goddesses, ancestors and animal powers - to communicate and bless through ritual theatre.
When I find myself imagining a new mask, or one just surfaces in art making, I often wonder "Who is this, whose voice is seeking expression here?" Making the mask is a process, but it's only part of the process - those who will use the mask complete the journey. And because the "spirits of the masks" come from the Mythic Realm, there is really no end to the journey at all. Just a new telling.
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| Casts of class members, Kripalu Institute, 2008 |
I've evolved several classes I use to teach others to make and use masks, which are:
"REVEALING THE MYTHIC SELF" (The Art of the Mask)
A Workshop or ongoing Class open to all interested participants of any age. The format can also be adapted to accommodate children or young adults.
"THE MASKS OF THE GODDESS" (Discovering the Goddess Within)
This Workshop is open to all women who wish to explore archetypes of the Divine Feminine through mask making, mythology, storytelling and ritual. This is an immersion studio workshop that is best within a 4 day format, or as an ongoing class.
In both of these classes or workshops, as a participant, you will learn to:
-Sculpt a professional theatrical mask from your own face, learning casting techniques
-Explore personally significant stories and symbols.
-Explore personally significant stories and symbols.
-Learn approaches to storytelling with masks, community performance and ritual theatre.
"Our work was not to re-enact the ancient goddess myths, but to take those myths to their next level of evolutionary unfolding. Artists are the myth makers." Katherine Josten
A picture is worth a thousand words, so my approach to these classes in sacred mask making follows. I begin with a non-denominational "Shrine" which participants create, bringing with them things to put on the shrine that are personally significant, sacred, and symbolic. We begin often with an "Invocation", and a guided "shamanic journey". After we've become acquainted and created a potent Circle to work in, we proceed to "getting plastered", working in pairs as we take casts of our faces that will become plaster positives from which masks will be constructed.
Preparing casting materials
Making casts of faces
"Meditative Muses"
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Now construction of the mask begins over the plaster positive of participant's face - material here being used is leather, which affords a flexible, life-size mask.
CONSTRUCTION of masks can be pre-planned, or entirely intuitive, and participants often bring found objects to attach to their masks. And as the masks form, the next phase begins - what is the Story of the mask, and how might that story be revealed, told, or performed?
What is the mythos of the mask, what voice does it have? How is it personally revealing, and how might it be transformative? Is this the beginning of a personal "Pantheon", is there more than one story, is this a "Saga"? What happens when the mask is "put on", symbolically as well as literally?
How does the mask want to move - write - sound?
With our Circle of Masks, the class can begin to answer some of these questions (if time allows) with an overview of ways to work with the masks, and the great archetypes, in formal, informal, and sacred ways.
Comments about "Masks of the Goddess" (2000 - 2005):
"Kali is so much about contemporary life. The demons of insatiable greed are devouring our planet again. We need to call upon the spirit of Kali, because those who await the future are being denied their birthright. Kali is the catalyst for saying "No more". It's time to embrace the sword of Kali and cut away the delusions that are destroying our world. Drissana Devananda "Pele to me is about the great elemental builders of our planet. Long before people walked upon any lands, the Creatrix of Kilauea brought forth islands from the Earth's hot, molten core, slowly cooling through the ages. Human beings are recent arrivals, and the fires of Pele burn through the eons, stirring up the Pacific, and shaping our very atmosphere." Karina McAbee
"Corn Mother's story is about the wealth that comes from the hard work of forgiveness. How can we be fed, feed each other, how can we create peace, if we cannot learn the lessons of forgiveness? That is the beginning place we will need in order to evolve into a Rainbow Nation. To me, the Rainbow as actually a circle. Half the rainbow disappears into the ground, into an underworld realm, where it exists beneath the Earth, dark and hidden, but at the foundation never the less. Like the Corn Mother." Christy Salo
"Lilith rules the liminal landscape between the subconscious and the conscious mind, and can help make that information conscious and usable in your life. Lilith is the bridge, and "What you believe" is just a shell that keeps you imprisoned. Lilith is about breaking the shell, because sometimes you have to fall apart to be put back together, that's the only way to be re-integrated." David Jeffers
"I remember lighting a candle to symbolize my commitment to my journey through the despair I felt at menopause. That's Hecate to me. She will not help you to avoid a thing, but She will bear a light for you on the path, which is really the path to mature empowerment." Damira Norris"Persephone's myth is about moving into a new state of being. All the soul riches, the knowledge, the art, everything was running down the drain into Hades and it stayed there. It stopped circulating. This was the myth of the descent of Inanna as well; everything went down to Ereshkigal, the keeper of the Underworld, and got stuck there in the universal unconscious which could be said of our collective predicament today. We can see that they are pathfinders to the unconscious. That's a very important myth for our time." Elizabeth Fuller
With gratitude to Nancy Solomon for the kind use of her photographs (copyright N.Solomon 2010) |
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