MASK MAKING WORKSHOP
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The past several months have confronted us with demons, fears, and shadows — both personal and collective — on an unprecedented scale. We have faced things we could have never imagined and faced them back with aspects of self we never knew were there.
Fool House Art Collective
In this 2-hour workshop, we will create our very own Kolyada masks to bring shape to the facets of ourselves we may not be able to put into words or not know how to bring out into the open.
One of the greatest powers of creating a symbolic object like a mask is that it allows us to explore emotions and experiences in a community without sharing details that may be too difficult to reveal in front of others. Playing with a mask opens up healing opportunities to lay aside the identity that we inhabit day-to-day to discover new ways to play, release, connect, grieve, and celebrate with ourselves and each other.
Peering deep into the magic and wisdom of the coming winter season, we will ask: How do we create the monstrous? How does it create us? And most importantly – what strength, joy, and hope can we find when we dare to look beyond the fear?
In this workshop, we will:
+ Talk about the history and tradition of the Kolyada masks and the power of ritual masks in other cultures
+ Go over various meanings and associations of different Kolyada characters (and brainstorm your own!)
+ Cover the basics of mask construction, safety, and comfort
+ Introduce you to working with a range of different materials, such as wood, cloth, leather, etc
+ Guide you in creating a mask that is uniquely special and powerful to you
Natalya Kolosowsky
Founder & Art Director
The founder and artistic director of the Shadow Tender project — a multidisciplinary performance project that uses wearable sculpture performance to interrogate psychological mechanisms of demonization at the root of extremist nationalistic policy
Natalya was born in Akademgorodok but grew up in the Sonoran desert, which created a life-long interest in bridging seemingly opposing cultures, histories, and perspectives.
Natalya received her classical ballet training under Kee-Juan Han and went on to study and perform in circus arts, butoh, physical theater, and puppetry throughout the West Coast of the United States. She has worked for and collaborated with a number of organizations over the years including Flam Chen Pyrotechnic Theater, Salzburg State Theatre, Michael Curry Design, Degenerate Art Ensemble, and many others. Her work has been showcased at a variety of venues in the United States and abroad, including the Museum of American Illustration in New York, The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Prague Quadrennial, the A. A. Bakhrushin Theatre Museum in Moscow, the Taipei National University of the Arts, and the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She holds a BS in Psychology and a BFA in Visual Communication from the University of Arizona, as well as an MFA in Costume Design from the University of Oregon.
To learn more about Natalya, please visit her online portfolio here or connect with her on Instagram: @natalya_chaos
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This workshop is open to all levels of makers and crafters. All tools and materials will be provided. Participants of the October workshop are enthusiastically welcome to wear their masks as part of Fool House Art Collective’s Kolyada Procession in January of 2023.
We thank our sponsors for their support
