The journey so far

Ah, this is where I enter text. So, I don’t know how many masks I’ve made so far. And I’m not even sure all of them are masks. I’m lost in it and loving it. New possibilities continue to emerge out of massive mistakes and occasional surprises. Shifting from creating to describing invoked my inner procrastinator. Shy of any deadlines the art remains in an intuitive landscape that defies description and recoils at any attempts. The process asks for attention, not description. That’s for afterward.

I’m not sure how I began naming each mask. I think it was when I decided to post them on Etsy. Looking again at the faces I recognized an identity. The art was not a representation of my skill. Instead it was some kind of channeling of faces I’ve encountered along the way. Faces all basically look the same, two eyes, a nose and a mouth, generally arranged in the same way. But culture, style, age, mood (the list goes on) are in constant change. And then it became clear that the 101 masks were to expand my skill and technique, 101 Ways I See You was the project.

afterthought: Not long after I posted this, my best friend invited me to join her at a local art fair. I carted along many of the masks, and had a book showing the remainder. I watched as a fairgoer flipped through the book. I overheard “these can’t be from the same artist.” And I said, “they are.” Still flipping, she said, “then they can’t be from the United States.” I smiled!