MASK-ING CREATIVITY
Sonda Hawley
"Where do you get your ideas?" people often ask writers and artists. And they will say, "I have no idea." I think creativity stems from the question "What ifŠ?" Listen to children: "What if we play house and what if I'm the mommy and you're the daddy and what if a monster lives behind the garage?" they'll say.
I asked Jan Kadletz, the Muncie artist whose encrusted masks will be on display at the Farmland Cultural Center, what was the source for her ideas. Some years ago, she said, she had a mask form and her idea was to use up some old junk she had around the house, so she just started sticking stuff on it.
But then the magic of "What ifŠ?" happened. What if she made masks that were the faces of the oceans? She had grown up beside one ocean and lived for many years beside another; she loved them and missed them. And so Jan bought some exquisite beads and began a new mask-a work of art.
She picks real pearls, coral, handmade American lampwork glass, and crystals, among other things, to create her faces of the seas and rivers. Jan also draws on the years of studying English Literature and her travels and conversations with her husband, who taught Greek at Ball State, to layer and give texture her masks, creating small worlds within each, worlds she celebrates in the quotes she puts with each. Some of the beads Jan applies are no bigger than the head of a pin; on other masks sea shells form an elaborate headdress. .
Her newest work, which she hopes to have ready for the show, is based on another love, classical music. After Jan had completed a series of "ocean" masks, she started with rivers and is using Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelugen as her inspiration for her mask of the River Rhine. In one of the four parts, Rheingold, gold hidden under the river is stolen to make a ring of power. Jan plans for her mask to be completely golden in color.
Jan has explored other artistic mediums-decorative painting on walls, paper mache', and stamping. What they all had in common is her lively sense of adventure-her need to explore the question "What ifŠ?"
Come and see these intriguing works of art. Jan wants you to laugh and say, "I can see why she called it that," find hidden symbols (including at least one fish in every mask), and delight in the beauty of her materials.
The opening of this show of opulent, glorious masks entitled By the Sea: Oceans of the World Reimagined as Masks" is Saturday, June 14, at the Farmland Cultural Center at 103 North Main in Farmland from 4-7 p.m. Twenty masks will be on display through June and July. The hours at the Cultural Center are Tuesday-Friday, 12 -3 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Call (765) 468-7631 for more information.
CALENDAR: You are cordially invited to the opening of By the Sea: Oceans of the World Reimagined as Masks" by Jan Kadletz Saturday, June 14, at the Farmland Cultural Center at 103 North Main in Farmland from 4-7 p.m. Twenty masks will be on display from June 10 through July 26. The hours at the Cultural Center are Tuesday-Friday, 12 -3 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Call (765) 468-7631 for more information.
