Mask Making Workshop, November 10-13, 2016

Patricia Ballentine with almost finished "Green Woman" mask

Getting started:  casting a face with a partner

Time for the other partner

A meditative moment within the (quickly) drying new cast

And off it comes!

Yes, that's you!  The negative cast waiting to be filled with plaster

Getting Plastered!

An Alter for the process

Cleaning the new plaster positive from the cast

Now we have a perfect cast of each face

Shaping the vegetable tanned leather over the plaster cast

Shaped on the plaster cast, a leather mask

Mask has been fixed, textures added, and given an undercoat of paint

The finished mask after the last coat of paint

Finished!

Thinking about what Story the mask may tell

Stories abide!

Circle Studio...........Opens its Doors!

Finally  finished my long (and expensive) project this summer.  A space on my property (in central Tucson) where I can teach small (up to 7) classes and workshops, where others can also offer small classes or workshops (including writers retreats).  A space for small weekend exhibits, and not just my own work.  A space for retreat groups to use, and I can offer then housing for their retreats at my rooms and casita.  A space to fill with creative energy.

I, and many artists, can no longer afford to rent storefronts and warehouses to have have the innovative galleries and arts districts I remember from other times - in other cities where I lived, among them New York and the Bay Area, and even in Tucson.  Tucson's art district is mighty  slim compared to what it once was, even though the population has doubled in the years since I first came here - all thanks to gentrification and real estate speculation.  There are a lot more restaurants and wine bars, a whole lot less galleries, althernative bookstores, etc.    So, a number of us have decided to just "get off the grid", and turn our homes, gardens, back yards, etc. into spaces to share our work.  A friend of mine, for example, who is a playright has turned her carport into a sometimes theatre, and "The Carport Theatre" stages productions about 3 times a year. 

Yesterday friends came by and we had a bit of a "Consecration" party for the space, so it can begin to manifest creativity, conversation, abundance, and friendship, and the grace of the Goddess, Creator, and Spirit.  A place where it can.........Circulate.  Circle Studio!