Wendy Drolma Masks

The Lord of Wild Things

2011-11-11T10:48:00.000-08:00

I love the experience of allowing a new mask to morph into existence. I'm taken on a fantastic journey which begins with my willingness to let go of preconceived ideas. My latest began with a simple idea...the merging of two leather circles of the same size into one mask. This starting point was sparked by my recent interest in the sacred geometry of crop circles. A crop circle is a large pattern created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat or rye. Over the last couple of months I've looked, with great interest, at dozens of images and am absolutely awestruck by the extraordinary complexity and precision of these formations. At least as remarkable as their beauty and execution is their unknown origin.

To give you an idea of scale, here is a picture taken of a field in Wiltshire, England 2010.

Having heard about crop circles in the past, I was genuinely intrigued. Though back then my reaction resembled what I felt when I heard stories about UFO sightings...amazement tempered by not knowing what to make of the various theories ranging from natural phenomena and man-made hoaxes, to the paranormal. The fact that no one could say for sure how they were made, or by whom or what, had the effect of devaluing the lesson they had to teach me. That is until recently. Timing is such a funny thing. Part of the magic of crop circles is that their power can only be fully accessed through a shift in one's awareness. It's precisely within that shift that a deeper understanding of oneself emerges.

This mask, Cernunnos (The Lord of Wild Things), began, morphed, and came into being as the crop circles whispered to me, "Abandon your expectations, nothing is as it seems." Here's to the power of shifting dimensions.

ps - click on the image for a larger view.

Let me tell you about JohnnyB...

2011-10-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of years back JohnnyB asked me to make a mask for him. Not in the usual sense, JohnnyB wanted a mask dedicated to and called by his name. Somehow this request did not seem unusual coming from him. Though I don't know him well, he's the embodiment of dark whimsy and liking his boldness, I agreed with the condition that he must be patient. All of the masks in my collection arrive when they do and this would be no different. Since then he's asked me a couple of times about his mask and all I could offer was a somewhat bewildered apology wondering myself when would the time come. Recently, he wrote asking "Where is JohnnyB?" adding that if I needed a Muse he was available late, late at night over Gotham. With this he sent me a photograph of himself, white faced with a red heart and black spade painted one around each eye. He was winking and had his arm around a woman all dressed in polka dots. Well...sometimes I just need a little push! JohnnyB this mask is for you. It wears your name proudly and with great mischief is ready for whatever new adventure awaits. Gotham needs a hero with a face my friend. You're it.

Below is a left and right side view of JohnnyB. These images are of the same mask. JohnnyB is made up of two masks merged together and protruding forward creating the three dimensional shape of a spade. When not being worn this mask rests comfortably on a table top.

With minor alterations, I'll be adding JohnnyB to the Garden of Stories Collection (on my website) over the upcoming month.

Loving my new website.

2011-05-17T12:40:00.001-07:00

Seems it takes me about two years of ruminating to become fully aware of needed improvements to the navigation of my website. It's an organic process with lots of reflecting and waiting for the right design to suggest itself. Recently, through an acquaintance on Facebook, I discovered what's referred to as "one page" site design. When you visit my new website you'll understand right away what that means. It's so simple and easy to get around (scrolling up and down) that I couldn't resist using this model as a way of navigating.

For ease of viewing, I've divided the masks into six (formerly three) Collections. Within each Collection new masks have been sprinkled here and there. In the upcoming months, I'll be adding an additional video (see "Video" link) featuring my new studio/gallery in Phoenicia, NY.

Another new addition is my Newsletter. Here's a link if you'd like to sign up http://tiny.cc/rcig4 Though I don't do many mailings, I'm excited about finally being able to manage my email list effectively. I hope you'll stay connected but no hard feelings if you'd like to opt out, there's an unsubscribe link at the bottom of this note for that. For those who remain, thank you for being a part of my mask adventure. Rest assured that never, under any circumstances, will I share your name or email information with anyone.

I want to thank Jason Pepping for his incredible work creating this website and for always being patient in response to the hundreds of nitpicky emails he received from me requesting changes. Jason, you're a star!

I hope you enjoy visiting my site and please, please, please feel free to let me know if you experience any glitches getting around. I'll do what I can to improve things based on your experience.

Endless possibilities...http://www.wendydrolma.com

Warm regards, Wendy

Studio Party

2010-06-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, June 19th at 6pm, I invite all and sundry to join in the party at my mask studio and gallery in Phoenicia. Be social and come revel in the age-old art of putting your best face forward. Wine and music will light the way as we explore different personas from my collection of handcrafted leather masks. #8 on the Boardwalk.

Curses like chickens come home to roost

2010-06-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

I'll make this intro brief because the letter I'm about to share is a bit daunting in length. Still, I hope you'll read it through as it's written by someone I hold very dear in my heart. Though I've never met him in person (he died the year after I was born), over the last 12 years I've read, over again, much of his published writings. His name was/is Sri Krishnaprem and the letter transcribed below was written by him, nearly 60 years ago, to his close friend, musician and spiritual seeker Dilip Kumar Roy, from a tiny ashram outside the small village of Almora, India. Prem, an Englishman by birth left for India, built an ashram at the foothills of the Himalayas and lived there with his guru Yashoda Mai for the last 40 years of his life.

Although the headlines and characters have changed and the name you call things might differ, I feel that the heart of what he's saying touches deep into the heart of what matters today.

Important note: I've read enough of what he's written to know that by "Krishna" he's not speaking of a little blue man.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Almora,
July 21, 1940

My Dear Dilip,

It was a great pleasure to have your long letter and poems after quite an age. How long it seems since we met at Allahabad! For my part I have not been out of this Ashram, not even as far as Almora town since then, but I have sometimes enjoyed your presence via a gramophone.

You ask what I think of the present state of the world. If I say it is an illusion, you will probably misunderstand me as is nearly always the case when that word is used. You will think I mean nothing at all which is certainly not my meaning. If I say that it is part of the Divine Lila, then the feeling that "it must be all right" will surely arise and, except in a somewhat ultimate sense, it is NOT all right. If I say it is the work of the Asuric powers, we are involved in a hard and fast dualism starring (as the films say) Hitler as the chief Asura. It is hard to know what to say without being liable to be misunderstood in some way or other.

To start with, the war that is raging is not the real war. It is the troubled wake of a ship that has gone on out of sight; it is the trail of slime behind a snail; it is the pathway of dead ash left by a forest fire or--as He says in the Gita--"By Me already have these men been slain." The ship, the snail, the forest fire--these have already gone on ahead in the inner worlds. Because we have eyes for nothing but material things we do not see them but see only the dead ash they have left behind. Therefore I say: it is illusion because it is not what we think it is. It is not that "coming events cast their shadows before"--but that inner realities throw their shadows behind and beneath and we--who live in those shadows--take them for realities. This war is not being fought nor will it be won or lost. It has been fought and won, though what that victory will taste like to us, poor fools, when we, wandering along in our trail of ash, catch up with it, is more than I can say. The victory of Krishna is certain, but if, as is usual, our hopes are set on falsities, that victory may be but dust and ashes in our mouths. This war is part of the Divine Lila. Is it therefore "all right--God's in heaven" sort of thing? The question should be: "all right for whom?" For those whose life is rooted in Reality it is "all right," but for those of us who cling to falsehood and mere outwardness it is not at all all right.

You are appalled at the bitter waves of overt suffering that are sweeping over huge areas of our world. Many people think that Hitler has caused it--were it not for him it would not be. That is quite false. It is we, we, we who have been piling up that sorrow. When we take a photograph the image is impressed upon the sensitive plate, but not till it has been treated with developers does that image appear. This suffering is the photograph upon our sensitive psyches. We exposed them (as the photographers say) to a false view of the world, and now that false view is being developed in hateful black and white. But it was not less there when not manifest to any eyes but those that see within.

Why should you be so surprised that, as you say, "the Asuric (Titanic) powers should succeed so signally" when we--men in general--have given them such lodging space in our hearts? Why does a cholera outbreak sweep a whole great city? Let us try and understand that without being put off by shallow modern half-truths about germs and such like. Let us see such a thing as it really is, yathabhutam, as the Buddhists say, and we shall understand this present outbreak.

These Hitlers and what nots are mere puppets worked by strings which neither they nor others see, great waves that dash upon our breakwaters to overwhelm them or to recoil in baffled fury. The force of Hitler is the force we have given him, we who project on others the devil that lurks within ourselves. He has risen on the wings of our hatred and fear just as, in dreams, monsters created by ourselves rush on us with our power. Remember the profound Puranic story of how when Brahma created the Rakshasas they rushed on him to devour him. Just so does a figure like Hitler, clothed in the projections of a whole world's secret wishes and fears, rush upon us. Like the Gadarene swine of the Gospel, he is the vehicle of all the devils we project from ourselves and in the end his fate will be that of those swine who "rushed down a steep place into the sea." For (and this I say subject to the limitations of my knowledge of him) he has or would appear to have accepted those projected devils and clasped them to him. No man is forced to accept such projections against his will. If he refuses them resolutely they cannot cling to him but return whence they came. Curses like chickens return home to roost. He, however, who accepts them, forthwith becomes their servant, gaining, like Marlowe's Faustus, powers for the time being, but ultimately being rent in pieces by the devils to whom he has given himself. This, unless my vision of him is quite wrong--and I have striven to judge with as much detachment as possible--is what will happen to him. An inner disruption, a tearing in pieces of his psyche, is certain, and, since inner events are reflected outside, it is even likely that that inner disruption will have its outer embodiment so that the pitiable man will perish miserably at the hands of the passions he has given himself to be the servant of.

It is just no use being appalled at what we now see. Things are not worse because they become manifest and these horrors were with us all the time. In the (sometimes) pleasant and fair life of peace in our great cities--East or West--these ghastly figures were standing at our elbows, lying under our feet unseen by most and yet there, as much there as they are now. I am not talking philosophy, but just fact.

You write that sometimes, when you were depressed lately, you felt like the Mayavadin that "this world is too beastly a place to be open to redemption." But this view is superficial. You start by taking this world as a thing in itself and then suppose that the Mayavadin condemns it or rejects and condemns it. But what the real Mayavadin means (and only he should count) by this world is nothing more than a wrong view of Reality and such a wrong view is undoubtedly beastly and must be rejected. Incidentally, don't imagine that by the word view I mean a mere mental view: I mean something much deeper than a creed held by that little corner of our being which we call our conscious mind.

(deleted paragraph here in which he trailed off into talk about England)

Let us not give way to the childish longing for a "miracle". Instead of longing for Divine intervention, like some people who long for American intervention, let us fight our own battle (those of us who are removed from physical fighting just as much and even more than those who are not) and we can be utterly confident that in proportion as we offer in our souls any foothold for the Divine values, to that extent the unconquerable Divine Power will manifest. Those of us who are removed from the overt conflict have a greater opportunity (and therefore a greater responsibility) for seeing things as they are and then of hastening the only thing that matters: the ultimate and inevitable triumph of the Divine.

In any case the really awful thing is not the WAR but the state of the world psyche (of which we are parts) which made that WAR occur as inevitably as a certain state of the physical body issues in a rash upon the skin. Do not blame the Asuric Powers as stupid people blame governments. Those Powers work in and through us for our being is much greater than appears and though our feet tread this dark earth, our heads are far beyond it and the Divine Sun and Moon themselves are our eyes.

It is time I stopped! Thanks again for your poems of which I particularly liked the translations from the Kavirpanthi and the Sufi.

Love always Dilip, and please don't publish this letter. Yours ever, Krishnaprem

Mask showing - New Orleans

2010-02-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

If you find yourself in New Orleans this upcoming Mardi Gras season please come and visit me at the Mask Market located at the French Market along the river at Decatur and St. Peter Streets. I'll be showing a fine collection of handcrafted leather masks from Friday, February 12th through Monday, February 15th (11am-6pm on all four days). Come celebrate the mystery and intrigue of this beautiful city. I'd love to see you there.

The Location of Meaning - An Open Letter of Gratitude

2009-10-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm grateful for my life, for the work I do and, as a result of it, for the many interesting, creative, and fun people I've met over the years. I'm thrilled by the response the masks receive and, since the very beginning, how interested and curious those I meet are about my creative process. Regardless of the particular mask that strikes their fancy, people often ask me the same question--What inspired me to create it? In my fantasy, I have a short answer, something compelling and, given the fast-paced show environment, able to be expressed in under 15 seconds. In reality, I often feel incapable of adequately responding because, to my way of thinking, it's an impossible question; my answer would have to include a detailed account of my entire life and would go on and on long after the show was over and everyone had gone home. Still, with some time to write and with deep gratitude for the genuine curiosity of those who ask, I'll attempt a response.

Showing my work as I do, I have plenty of opportunity to watch people look at, try on, and let the masks speak to them. I often wonder what movie plays behind their eyes that I cannot see. In a sense, the same question they ask me is one that I silently ask them--Why this or that mask? In his book After Babel, George Steiner writes that in expressing something, "We normally use a shorthand beneath which there lies a wealth of subconscious, deliberately concealed or declared associations so extensive and intricate that they probably equal the sum and uniqueness of our status as an individual person." The same is true for a handmade object. It's the nature of the creative process that it cannot be captured in explicit language. Like a poem, the object itself is its own best expression; to describe it further in language is at best gilding the lily, at worst fogging the glass.

What do you see when you look at the masks? What feelings are evoked in you? Perhaps the masks are trying to convey their “style” more than anything else. To you, what does that style say about me? And...what does your attraction to a mask’s weight, its line and form, the material it's made of say about you? Any power the mask holds exists, most fully, in its ability to stimulate the asking of these questions.

What I think of as the defining moment, the seed of my decision to choose masks as a form of creative expression, happened twenty years ago as I stood inside a shop at South Street Seaport in NYC and stared, for what felt like my entire one-hour lunch break, at a wall of primitive-looking clay masks. The masks spoke to me as if in a dream and what I heard was "we are rich and deep and full of mystery" and I fell in love and, in that moment, I felt chosen in return. I left there with a secret, so full of excitement because I'd been searching and didn't know, until that moment, for what. Since then, as with any affirming, long term relationship, I've learned to listen better, to accept the ebb and flow, and to see our relationship with new eyes daily. It's a rigorous practice and with it, my understanding of and ability to articulate my feelings about the masks has evolved. So too has my style. It's an ongoing dialogue full of details.with light and dark places that reach out, recoil and melt away.

I create masks because I thrive on the challenges it presents and, as the saying goes, I'm committed to following my bliss. What sparks the creation of a particular mask could be something as seemingly insignificant as the shape of a fallen twig or the way dew drops hang heavy along the lower edge of a wild rose branch in winter. On the other hand, it could be something as complex and beautiful as Ernst Haeckel's illustrations of radiolaria.

Below are two images. In the first is pictured a class of marine invertebrates, illustrated by artist and biologist Ernst Haeckel, known as Siphonophores. In the other is a black leather mask I created called Daedalus (in Greek Mythology, the great artificer). I've put these two images side by side as a way of showing the process of metamorphosis and how what follows, from initial inspiration, is a kind of channeling of conscious and unconscious insights that, in the end, give rise to a finished mask. So much ground is covered between here and there that the mask's assumed "personality" is sometimes a surprise even to me. As I worked, the mask developed into something unfamiliar, though not unrelated to Siphonophores and, as it turns out, the name I settled on, Daedalus, with it's unusual ae spelling, became a strange and distant homage to artist and illustrator Ernst Haeckel. In thinking about it, I'm reminded that the connection is always there but it's often something very subtle.

So, where is the location of meaning? Is it somewhere along that road, is it in my head, my hands, my heart, is it in the fallen twig, or is it located in the movie that plays behind your eyes when you look at it? At its root, I believe the masks are an expression of my awareness of and interest in these questions, in the constantly shifting location of meaning. I revel in the giving of my attention to this subtle dance.

Annual Summer Showing - NYRF

2009-06-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

The New York Renaissance Faire

Each year, beginning the first weekend in August and running for eight consecutive weekends only including Labor Day, I attend and display my work in my permanent booth at location #29 Lakeside. If you're interested in joining in the fun, saying hello and seeing (and trying on) the masks in person please check out the NYRF website at http://renfair.com/NY/. The show is located in Tuxedo, New York (35 miles north of NYC). Directions and complete information about the event can be viewed on their website.

Look forward to seeing you this summer.

Chinese proverb say...take look, all connected.

2009-06-23T21:29:00.000-07:00

I began working on this Thangka in December 2008. Though this may appear to be a divergence from the masks I'm known for creating, I don't think so. Perhaps the genuineness of a mask is concealed very deeply inside of it and in transcribing it, shifting domains is often helpful. In this way, meaning manages to float to the surface for those who wish to translate.

A purrfect fit

2009-06-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

The last word I would ever use to describe the masks I create is adorable. Still, it was the word that came to mind after making this sexy little headpiece and putting it on for the first time. Here's how it goes, a leather strap runs across the forehead (and ties behind the head) and another strap, with two leather cat shaped ears (silk velvet lined) perched upon it, drapes over of the head. For pricing or to purchase this headpiece Bastet or either of the two wrist cuffs shown below (minus the beautiful model Anyssa) please email me at wendydrolma@gmail.com

Pictured below are two new cuff styles. Both are leather. This first pair is my button stud cuff set (solid brass studs and O rings), silk velvet lining. It's soft and so nice to wear.

This next pair is velvet lined as well with a satin silk ribbon tie closure. Nickle silver "D" rings.

The Creative Process - New Work

2009-04-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

Thankfully, this winter has been easier than last. During the summer of 2008, I created a mask that I call Daedalus (now included as part of the "Classic Collection" on my website http://www.wendydrolma.com/) which has inspired a series of newer masks and has kept the creative juices flowing during those long, cold days of January.

Before I tell you about these newer masks there's something I want to tell you about the way I work--I'm slow. I do not decide to add a mask in as part of my published collection until I've had plenty of time to sit with it and feel my way through the creative process. As the saying goes, ideas are a dime a dozen, they occur suddenly and are often, in their original form just a stepping stone. When it comes to working through them, I'm critical and I take my time. I say this to let you know that, along with this, goes a fair amount of self doubt. My "aha" moments are repeatedly tempered by the truest test I know of how a mask is developing. At the end of the day I walk away from it and upon entering my studio the next morning I allow my first impression to mean something. If, when I see it again, my senses confirm the ineffable "Ah yes, that's it" response I know--so far so good. Those are happy moments, full of delight, in which I feel like an explorer in sight of new land.

Starting in the summer of 2008 with Daedalus my most recent creations came about in much the same way. There was no shortage of pitfalls along the way but there was and is something about creating this new work that has felt liberating for me in terms of the practical concerns I address during the creation of a new mask i.e. it must fit comfortably, be nicely balanced and not too heavy. This is not to say that these masks do not satisfy in that regard, only that, this time, I didn't feel boxed in by these considerations. Below are two examples. The first image is a mask I'm calling Phoenix. The mask pictured in the photo below that I've named Lotus-Eyed.

Bruce Museum Outdoor Crafts Festival 2009

2009-03-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

On the weekend of May 16th and 17th I will be participating in an outdoor showing on the beautiful grounds of the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT. During the afternoon there will be musical performances and children's activities offered. Come and enjoy the day, see my new work and bring a picnic or purchase lunch at the festival. For more information please visit their website at http://www.brucemuseum.org

We All Wear Masks

2009-03-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

I have always loved to watch people. I notice those around me; I read their faces and watch their body language as if for clues. I see the masks we wear every day. If I can see the mask, then perhaps I can see what’s underneath it. I learn so much from watching people put on one of my masks. Although for some, the experience is threatening, for others it holds a deep, mysterious attraction. I like to witness them experience a juicy chance to pretend that anything that goes on inside can be truly hidden. It’s odd to me how ironic the mask is—revealing and concealing are no more than two sides of the same coin. My face is a mask; the mask, an instrument of revelation. It’s difficult to tell the two apart. Nearly two decades have passed since I created my first leather mask. My ability to explain this act to myself has deepened over time. For now, the Why? question seems to have transformed itself into a statement: We all wear masks! We can’t help it. Without them, we would cease to be what we are—human. And so, when the mask calls, we answer. And before we know it, we realize that how we answer is yet another mask, and so on and on…

Thank you for visiting my blog.