Workshops & Classes
Upcoming:
To stay informed of upcoming workshops and classes please subscribe to the Wildland Roots Newsletter.
I can also create a mask-making workshop for your school, organization or community group in the Portland, Oregon area.
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Photo by Mellissa Berry, digitally edited by Wildland Roots
Masks & Adornment -
A Rewild Portland Free Skills Series Class
A Rewild Portland Free Skills Series Class
2–4:30 pm, Saturday October 30th, 2021
North Portland, Oregon
North Portland, Oregon
A slideshow presentation on the history and cultural context of masks with a particular focus on the animistic traditions that lie beneath Halloween and other rites of fall and winter, followed by a hands-on adornment workshop with Ivy Stovall (Rewild Portland instructor and Echoes in Time kids program director).
More info on Rewild Portland's 2021 free skills series.
Mask-Making with Burlap, Bioplastic, and Natural Earth Pigments
North Portland, Oregon, October 2021
An original mask-making technique using a cornstarch-based bioplastic recipe to stiffen and shape sheets of reclaimed burlap over rigid face-forms. We will also make paint from natural pigments, then embellish the masks with color, natural fibers, and other natural objects.
Class offered in collaboration with Rewild Portland.
Mask-Making with Burlap, Bioplastic, and Natural Earth Pigments
Echoes in Time, Monmouth, Oregon, June 2019
Green Anchors, Portland, Oregon, August 2019
Green Anchors, Portland, Oregon, August 2019
I developed a completely new maskmaking technique for this workshop, using a cornstarch-based bioplastic recipe to stiffen and shape sheets of reclaimed coffee sack burlap over rigid face-forms. The mask workshop was held in conjunction with a natural paint class by Scott Sutton of Pigment Hunter, using pigments collected around Oregon. Other materials used included cottonwood bast fiber, blackberry stems, wooden beads, scrap leather and fur.
Woven Masks
Echoes in Time, Champoeg, Oregon, 2015, 2016, 2018
Echoes in Time, Monmouth, Oregon, 2019
Echoes in Time, Monmouth, Oregon, 2019
In this class my students wove masks and hats based on traditional Scottish and Irish straw costume designs, but adapted to use local materials (common cattail/common bulrush, Typha latifolia) and raffia fiber.
The masks and hats were a part of Echoes in Time's end of week Mask Night celebration.
Photo by Peraza Media, 2014
Basic Paper Mache Masks
Peninsula K-8 School, Portland, Oregon, Spring 2014
Assisted by Peninsula School SUN volunteers.
A ten session SUN after-school program for grades 3-8. Students learned basic mask-construction using the foil+tape+paper mache method* and designed their own wearable animal masks. For their final project, many of the students wore their completed masks as part of the Peninsula school's entry for the 2014 St Johns Parade.
*Method from Bruce Mars of the Dell'Arte school.
Quick Cardboard Masks
Peninsula K-8 School, Portland, Oregon, April 2014
Assisted by Peninsula School teachers and parent volunteers.
A Peninsula K-8 School Family Night activity. Families spent an evening together cutting out and assembling cardboard animal masks from provided patterns*. Many students and family members then wore their completed masks as part of the Peninsula school's entry for the 2014 St Johns Parade.
*Patterns adapted from those by Douglas Witt
Photo by Peraza Media, 2014
Photo by Peraza Media, 2014