The masks some of the figures wear are layered with meaning from creatures in nature to a child ’ s imagined world . As children , we make and wear masks to be anything we want or need to be and we could do anything in them , from being a super hero to a bird in flight . As adults , the layers and meaning deepen and grow and these masks are a way to represent the different personas that we need or desire to be in life . They become an identity that one can live through or hide behind in our roles – I am a daughter , a sister , a friend , an aunt , a wife , a mother , artist , an Indian .
The latest evolution of my wax work has taken me to a common wax one that we may not think much of but while getting my children ready for school last fall we were pulling together pencils , folders , colored pencils and crayons . They had to have 4 sets of 24 crayons each and we had leftovers from sets of the past years , some colors had never been used , and we were combining them together so we ’ d know how many new boxes would be required .
Left : Under the Skin , Crayola Crayon , 8 x 6 feet x 1.5 inches , 2015 Right : Detail , Under the Skin