The Cool Art of Masks

Masks have been around since ancient times and have been worn for performance, entertainment, to disguise, conceal or protect the wearer. They have been used in ceremony, storytelling and dramatic enactment.

The wearable image of a face created in a mask can be used for it’s expressive potential in enactment and ritual. Masks are a universal art form that generally evokes power, magic and mystery for both the wearer and the viewer.

Crating a mask from scratch or decorating a pre-made mask can lead to exploring one’s persona. Mask making invites the artist to explore the persona they reveal or conceal from the world.

Through the art of mask making we can access our creativity and boost our self-confidence. Masks can bring consciousness to how the we see our self or what we fantasize we would like to be. Since masks have an outside and an inside, we can consider portraying how we really feel on the inside of a mask and how we feel others see us on the out side of the mask we create. Mask making can be a profound, revealing and personally liberating experience.

In closing, masks can be used to tell our personal story or to enact a dramatic global/political tragedy or to heal us spiritually, emotionally and/or physically.

To see Party Masks:
 Party Masks (Twenty to Make)

Doll Making - The Art of Empowerment

Doll making is an ancient art that serves many purposes. Civilizations throughout the ages created figures in their own images because they believed their “dolls” held symbolic meaning and supernatural influence.

The first doll makers believed their lifelike creations linked them to having and controlling life.  

Women can have a profound experience when they engage in creating a doll for them self or someone else. Doll making is a potent tool that can be used for self-growth, manifestation and healing.

To venture into this art form the artist can look for doll making supplies in unlikely places such as the kitchen, bathroom, garage or basement. Once the items have been gathered the artist can begin assembling them or she can get together with other women for an afternoon of doll making.

The dolls created could become an encouragement or self-affirming doll or it could bring clarity to something that is going on inside of the individual and provide an opportunity of empowerment.

To see Creative Cloth Doll Making click on image:
 Creative Cloth Doll Making: New Approaches for Using Fibers, Beads, Dyes, and Other Exciting Techniques

Milagros Art

Milagros art is usually made from aluminum sheet metal or recycled aluminum cans, but can be made from a vast variety of materials such as felt, paper, clay, glass, wood, found objects, etc.

Milagros are small metal charms that can depict religious symbols or other symbols found in many areas of Latin America, particularly in Mexico and Peru.These charms can also be found in Europe and are referred to as Exvotos, which means offerings.

The word “Milagro” means “miracle”. Milagros often depict arms, legs, women praying, farm animals and a wide range of other symbols that are typically nailed or pinned to a cross or wooden statues of various saints. Sometimes these charms are hung with ribbon or threads from altars and shrines and they can also be worn or carried for protection or good luck.

Often women create Milagros Art as an expression of love for a loved one or to attract something to themselves, such as money, a new job, a new car, a new home or to complete a task or an endeavor they have embark on. Some women create Milagros to remind them of a loved one or a triumph they have experienced in their life. Milagros can also be used to make unique colorful jewelry.

To see Jewelry and Accessories from Everyday Objects click on image:
  Jewelry and Accessories from Everyday Objects: 19 Unique Projects Inspired by Found Objects and Ready-Made Materials

Haute Trash Fashion - The High Fashion Art of Recycling

Trash fashion is created from debris; it is the conversion of trash into useful and fashionable objects.

Haute Trash Fashion Shows are high fashioned events created to bring attention to our landfills, which exceed their capacities thousands of times over and have become virtual cities unto themselves. Haute Trash Fashion events raise awareness for the need to recycle.

Many communities throughout the US hold their version of the Haute Trash Fashion Show to bring attention to and raise money for abused women, children and animals, as well as continuing to raise consciousness for the importance of recycling.

There is 3.5 million tons of toxic and dangerous plastic floating between San Francisco and Hawaii; this is twice the size of Texas. 80% of this toxic stew originated on land and could have easily been prevented.

Trash fashion shows illustrate the ability to reuse and recycle through creative and humorous exhibitions. They reshape societal views on beauty, recycling and ultimately trash.

Outfits are designed from discarded materials such as construction fencing, food packages, beverage containers, inner tubes, aluminum pop-tops and other salvageable materials.

Creative citizens and local artists create their own unique designs from nearby dumpsters, using satire to highlight this unconventional approach to going green. If you are an inclined designer with eco-sensibilities show off your talent at a local or national Haute Trash Fashion Show.

To see The Hip Handbag Book click on image:
 The Hip Handbag Book: 25 Easy-to-Make Totes, Purses, and Bags

The Art of Knitting

The origins of Knitting are hard to trace simply because fibers are biodegradable, however there are several theories. Some assume knitting began in Persia and others believe it started in Israel, Jordan and Syria. While others are convinced knitting started in the mountains of North Africa, Japan or China. Another theory is knitting grew out of the knitting of fishnets.

Women choose to pick up knitting needles for different reasons. Some women long to create while others want to make visual expressions of love for the people they care about.

 Knitting can also have a spiritual quality that allows women to feel more in tune with their spiritual self.

Something comforting and magical happens for some women when they knit because knitting is about the hands creating something visual, which gives the brain a brake. This break can assist in solving a problem that is being experienced in another area of life. Knitting can allow the subconscious to be tapped in a way that is normally unavailable to us in our busy lives and knitting can be done almost anywhere and any time, it is socially accepted without appearing to be rude.

Today yarn is created from so many rich and lavish colors, natural and synthetic fibers that permit knitting needles and the hands to create beautiful lively colored sweaters, throws, scarves, hats, etc.

Why not take a break from your busy life by picking up a pair of knitting needles and some yarn to create something rich in color that is soft and silky to make you feel good?

To see the Cha Cha Scarf Knitting Kit click on image: 

 Cha Cha Scarf Knitting Kit Copper Pennies By The Each

Impressionism Art Movement

Impressionism is a movement in art developed in France in the late 19th century by a group of artists who rejected traditional principles and practices taught.

Impressionists learned alternative brush-strokes and the use of color to represent an intellectual idea of a subject. Building on the use of more brilliant color, wider tonal range and broke brushwork permitted a more authentic play of natural light on objects. This new role of light and color as organic elements of painting natural scenes was to question academic theories of composition, drawing and the hierarchy of subjects. To capture the momentary and transient aspects of light he Impressionist chooses to paint outdoors rather than in a studio environment.

Mary Cassatt was a woman among a hand full of male Impressionists who were at the forefront of the Impressionism movement. She was and American painter known for her bold compositions and fine detail in scenes of mother and child in day-to-day living. A mix of strong lines and soft palettes characterizes Mary Cassatt’s work. Some of her best-known paintings are The Morning Toilet (1886), The Bath (1891), The Boating Party (1894), and Mother Feeding A Child (1898).

Every woman’s life is an Impressionism painting because of the beauty (brilliant color), trials and tribulations (wide tonal range and broken brush-strokes) she experiences during her lifetime.

To see Ladies of Leisure III by Olivia Maxweller click on image:
 Ladies of Leisure III by Olivia Maxweller, 22x30

Art Therapy For Women

Art therapy is based on the idea that creative activity can be healing and has proven itself to be noteworthy in assisting women with their healing. 

Generally speaking women who experience disorders, diseases or disabilities will benefit greatly from art therapy. A wide variety of physical and mental symptoms including, but not limited to pain, anxiety and tension can improve or even completely disappear with art therapy.

It is a known fact that chronic stress is harmful to both the mind and body. To achieve relaxation and relief from stress art therapy can be used alone or with other relaxation exercises to help relieve stress and anxiety.

Women who are experiencing or who have experienced a traumatic incident or illness can come to terms with their feelings and work through anger, resentment and other emotions by participating in art therapy to rejuvenate their spirit.

The creative process of art is what sets art therapy apart from traditional therapy. Every woman can benefit from art therapy even without the aid of an art therapist. Art therapy is something that can be done on your own for self-discovery, empowerment, to express yourself when you find it difficult to do so, etc.

Engaging in a creative activity is very powerful because it can give women a sense of control over her feelings.

The benefits of art therapy are broad and can help improve the quality of living by improving all women’s emotional, physical and mental states. If art therapy can aid you in improving the quality of your life in someway it is well worth considering, especially if it can be a catalyst for your healing.

To see an Art Kit click on image: 

 Colossal 315-pc. Art Kit