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Fluid Tranquility

Materials used:

  • sand on a canvas base;
  • painted plaster cast of my face;
  • tree forest lichen, Hyalite Canyon, Montana;
  • crab shells, Plum Island on the eastern USA coast near Boston;
  • dogfish shark egg pods, also from Plum Island;
  • white snail shells, Hawaii;
  • sand dollars, Rosarita Beach, Mexico;
  • sea urchin body shells and spines, Hawaii;
  • small shells, Hawaii

This wall mask, “Fluid Tranquility,” is truly one of my favorites. Not only does it LOOK like a mermaid, but also contains nature elements of the OCEAN, oh so near and dear to my heart. The crab shells and dried shark egg pods I picked up during a six week writer’s retreat on Plum Island some years ago, while I wrote a book about theatrical masks and character creation workshop processes. To the crab shells and egg pods, I have added sea urchin spines and urchin body shells, and a few white snail shells… all special bits from the Big Island of Hawaii. I am now so fortunate to be able to spend every January on the Big Island, where a solid part of my heart lives with the Pele goddess and the volcanic activity that built, and continues to build, that sacred chain of islands in the midst of the Pacific Ocean.

This mask artistry piece is entitled “Fluid Tranquility”… because it seems to be actually fluidly MOVING, to me, as I envision all its ocean parts in their original, alive state, gently or not-so-gently swaying with the ever changing tides and currents. When I think of the transformative ocean, its soothing, rhymic wave patterns and its underwater creatures, I am filled with a peaceful tranquility. Sometimes, all I have to do is stand in front of this mask, observe the extreme ocean-ness of it, along with the bit of whimsical forest floor lichen “hair” of a mermaid/sea creature, and BREATHE…….. And I am momentarily blessed with the gift of an imaginal and fluid tranquility. This is what I truly wanted to share by putting this private mask into a public domain – I am hoping others will resonate with the same energy as I do when I witness this feminine mask, and, therefore, can be "changed": uplifted, charged, soothed, held in the arms of Ocean Energy through this goddess and the Element of Water She represents.