Ritual Mask Making and Mask Play
alchemical play
Each mask is molded, painted and animated, becoming a threshold experience between the unconscious and the conscious. Mask by mask, this “archaeology of the soul” uncovers its own myth, its creator’s own path.
– Reinhard Winkler
Across ages and cultures, masks have served as portals to the spiritual realm, vessels to embody archetypal energies, and tools to explore the multifaceted aspects of self.
Through this profound creative process, we awaken our souls knowing, and embody the deep wisdom and healing that surface. We expand our edges as we discover new stories and possibilities that we can take with us into our daily lives.
Mask making is a blended expressive and contemplative art process that requires no specific talent or previous experience, just an openness to experimentation and play.
Mask Making
With closed eyes, we trust the deep knowing of our hands and allow the mask to emerge from the clay. Through papier-mâché and colour, it gradually takes form. Breath and movement then begin to awaken this new being to life.
The process is one of discovery rather than artistic accomplishment. What living presence is asking to be given a face? What part of ourselves might be ready to step into the world and be seen?
The Mask in Nature
Some masks are newly made and have not yet found their place in nature. Others are old companions that we may feel called to encounter anew.
Each person sets out alone with their mask, allowing it to discover its own unique place within the landscape. Once the masks have found their places, we visit them one by one as a group, witnessing each mask as it inhabits its new home and reveals something of its particular way of being. Rather than Mask Play transferred into nature, the focus remains on each mask’s individual relationship with place.
Mask Play
During a Mask Play weekend, we transform the room into a black box theatre and invite our masks to participate in a series of ritual, improvisational mask plays.
There is no predetermined story or role to perform. As the masks enter the stage and encounter one another, spontaneous relationships, stories and constellations emerge through movement, gesture and improvised music. We approach what appears on the stage as symbolic happening, a kind of living image theatre.
The stage becomes a mirror of life.
I have been studying ritual mask making and mask play with Veronika Glaser for the past 10 years. Veronika in turn worked at length with Reinhard Winkler who developed this approach in Germany.
Together, with my long time collaborator Tatjana Popov, we lead mask making retreats and opportunities for mask play on both the stage and in nature.
Check our Offerings Page for upcoming workshops
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