Mask- Work

Explore Your Personas and Come to Know Yourself More Deeply

What is Art Therapy?

Art therapy is a technique rooted in the idea that creative expression can foster healing and mental well-being. Making art helps us explore emotions, cope with stress, boost self-esteem, and work on social skills. It allows us to consider ourselves as artists and our lives as novels. How exciting is that? Imagine taking the most insecure, wounded, fragile part of yourself and transforming these aspects into beauty, comedy, wisdom, and love. Our so-called weaknesses become our strengths and shifts our perceptions. Creating opens our energy channels and transforms pain and old conditioning in our psyche into empowering insight, happiness, and well-being. Eventually, we can step back from the subjective nature of our experiences and become the witness. This is freedom!

What is Mask-Work?

Mask-Work is a form of expressive art whereby a three-dimensional, wearable, papier-mache face is created and its character is explored and brought to life with a voice, physicalization, personality, and psychology. The purpose of making the mask is multi-faceted, but mostly we make it to express and explore our own inner personas. The mask becomes an extension of the one who creates it.

Mask-Work opens us to the many facets of our being which enables us to dive deep into our stories, our traumas, our beliefs, our strengths and vulnerabilities, and our inherent wisdom. The purpose of expressive arts (as opposed to making art as a commodity), is to delve into process- not product. We do this in a safe, creative, playful, and meaningful way. We may not always find it easy to befriend and express ourselves, but doing so through a mask can be exciting, endearing, hilarious, and revealing.

Mask work connects us to our "alter egos" to engage in deep conversation with ourselves. When we create a mask, the mask becomes an archetypal aspect of us. Having a conversation with the mask is the same as having a conversation with ourselves. But because the mask is external and somewhat theatrical, it is easier to engage in dialogue with the mask. This is where a skilled coach/expressive arts facilitator (like myself) can guide you into unchartered territory and shed light on the parts of the self that are unconscious. Whether you are working with your mask or one that I made, you can engage in the mask work and learn more about yourself to heal, grow, overcome, and get empowered.

Mask Offerings:

Un-Masking Sessions:

Unmasking Session: Choose one of my masks that you are most drawn to, put it on, and sit in front of a mirror. I will guide you through a series of character development instructions and questions. These sessions are powerful experiences whereby you (the client) surrender your character and allow the wisdom of the mask to help you better understand a situation in your life. These 1 hour-long sessions are experienced in person at my studio in Guelph (although I can also come to you. We will need access to an open, private room and a large mirror).

Cost: $120

About Masks

Used for protection, disguise, entertainment, and ritual practices, the earliest use of masks (700 B.C.) was for religious and shamanic rituals and ceremonies.

The tradition of theatre masks goes back to the ancient Greeks, who used masks both for practical needs and dramatic performances. They were also used in commedia dell'arte (Italian theatre), and Japanese theatre and have a long history in almost every culture throughout the world. Masks can be beautiful or grotesque, but they are always evocative.

The use of masks is varied and unique and can be found on the theatre stage, in the artist's studio, in a religious rite of passage, or a therapeutic environment. Psychodrama, for example, uses a dramatic approach to artistically and skillfully "play out" certain scenes in a person's life through role-playing, enactment, impersonation, and improvisation. In this environment, masks can be used to assist people in dealing with different (often traumatic) aspects of their lives.

Ultimately, masks illuminate what lies beneath the surface and help us realize that we are complex personas born out of fortunate and unfortunate life circumstances. By bringing these disconnected aspects of self into the light and playfully animating them (acting them out), deep healing, understanding, and self-acceptance can occur. So if you are open and ready to dive into your creativity and befriend what dwells "beneath the mask", let's play!

Welcome to my Cast of Characters!

I am a mask maker and sacred clown. When I make a mask and develop its character, it becomes an aspect of myself. Each mask is an extension of my personas. Each of them is unique and each has a certain "flavour" and personality. I love them all as they are my wise and wacky friends and teachers. I confide in them and ask them for advice regularly. They make me laugh, cry and fall in love. They offer me beauty, insight, courage, and humour. I refer to them as "sacred clowns" because they are truth-tellers, they are child-like, they are wise gurus and they are ubiquitous shit disturbers.

They are created with papier-mache, mixed media, and acrylic paint. Once completed, I put the mask on, sit in front of a mirror, look into my own eyes, and delve into a dialogue. I ask questions like- Who are you? What do you want? Where do you live? What is your message for Barbara? I take the mask into a breath, a sound, a word or sentence, a gesture, and a gait (walk). I put my character and ego aside and I let the mask emerge uniquely.

Eventually, I sit in front of a camera and let the mask say what it wants to say. To my surprise, they offer me guidance and advice. They are wise and loving and sometimes ruthless with me. They are an endless source of creativity, expression, and self-exploration.

While none of the masks on my website are for sale, I am happy to create one for you and/or provide a mask and characterization workshop for small groups of people (which typically takes place over the span of a weekend).

Please remember that masks are tools for therapeutic work. They serve to reveal truths and insights about the wearer and the human condition. Some masks are serious, some are playful, some are tragic, some are light, some are ruthless and some are quirky. But ALL are a reflection of the human experience so wear and explore masks at your own risk!

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