» Masquerade: Exploring history, creativity and the culture of face coverings
Community explores history, creativity and culture of face coverings
The mask has taken on a whole new meaning in the wake of COVID-19. Wearing our masks daily can make one aware of how much we rely on facial expressions to communicate – or how expressive eyes can be. On Friday (Dec. 18) at 6:30 p.m., Twirl, A Play & Discovery Place, and Taos Center for the Arts will present an exploration of the topic with an online event called “Unmasking the Mask with Twirl’s Amber Vasquez and Liana Bayles,” featuring prerecorded performances and appearances that look at the rich creativity, history, culture and emotional significance of mask-making and wearing. Amber Vasquez Thomas, early childhood coordinator and integrative arts educator for Twirl’s Play & Discovery Space, said Twirl’s Mask Gathering project explores the rich tapestry of mask-making and wearing. During this event, which is part of both the Mask Gathering project and TCA’s ongoing “Where We Meet” series, we’ll look at how humans have engaged with masks throughout history and offer tools for checking in on feelings and an outlet for expressing them. The evening will include artistic expressions of mask-wearing through performances and appearances from local artists and collaborators, and a montage of masks created by the Taos community.
Tempo caught up with Vasquez Thomas and asked her about the performance.
Where did the inspiration come from for this performance?
Twirl’s “Mask Gathering” was dreamt up by the Twirl team, intending to look at masks in a creative and fun way rather than through a polarized lens. We were looking for a way to inspire, create, play and learn about masks during our current circumstances. We looked at mask uses culturally, historically, theatrically, practically and, of course, the social and emotional nature of mask-wearing. As Twirl built the Mask Gathering Explorations, we examined the expanse of insightful and interesting information about the human evolution of mask-wearing.We felt that this was something we wanted to share with the community beyond our usual pre-K thru 5th-grade audiences. We not only wanted to share Twirl’s thoughts and voices, but include a true collaboration of artists, scholars and experts from our community and we created the “Unmasking the Mask” event, in collaboration with the Taos Center for the Arts. We intend the event for the entire community. Liana Bayles, Twirl STEAM educator said initially we scheduled the event to be live, hoping to have a drive-in theatrical experience and lined up a number of people to perform. But with the changing health guidelines we had to stay creative and transform our presentation to be covid safe. We have asked all of our collaborators to film their sections and send them to us. We have been editing the show to create a semi-live event that will include candy for the eye and ear! The most challenging part about this was coordinating all the various clips submitted to us and then editing them down for time and content. We then assembled them together in a larger, cohesive montage.
Who is involved. How do you hope it will be received?
We often associate Twirl with families and younger audiences. We hope to make this production a larger community oriented event. We are striving to make it interesting and appropriate for all ages. We are bringing together the voices of the community, with artistic and academic expression of mask wearing. The Young Writer’s group from SOMOS will present poetry. Author John Biscello is presenting an excerpt from one of his books that is a futuristic look at how mask-wearing could get out of control. Academy of Performing Arts director Kathleen Martin will dance under mask projections. Internationally renowned artist Izumi Yokoyama will talk about how Japanese mask culture shaped her as an artist. We have an incredible lineup of experts talking about how masks play a role in their work, for example, Amy McConnell Franklin who is an expert in social/emotional learning will talk about the uses of emotional masks. We have an inclusion from The Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Astrophysicist Nicole Lloyd Ronning from Los Alamos National Labs will look at the use of practical masks in astrophysics and space travel. Culminating this project is an encouragement for the community to make masks. We will have creations from professional artists and the work of school children who have all created beautiful masks.
To learn more about the event, visit twirltaos.org/mask-overview. To sign up for the event, visit tcataos.org/calendar.