Exciting Masks Update

Davita's Harp sold at the first performance!

Jakob Daw sold at the closing performance!

Baba Yaga was purchased as a donation for permanent display at Milagro Theater!!!!!! It just happened Tuesday!

I will soon post the exciting details!!!!

Jakob Daw

Jakob Daw

Jakob is possibly my most favorite Potok character in the book.

He is a lovable but rather strange character. He seems able to charm everyone with his mystical stories and his gentle manner.

Davita tells us, “He was a small man, not much taller than my mother, thinly boned, with delicate features and white hands and narrow shoulders. He looked fragile and infirm.” 

At first glance his stories seem odd, bizarre. I find them allegorical, mirroring events from his own life. The stories are haunting, as are the events of his life.

Jakob’s stories often speak of birds with large dark eyes and short wings. His imagination seems to somehow help him turn his pain into stories that are both deeply political but also painfully personal.

Jakob doesn’t just write stories…he tells them. Words emerge from his lips and take flight. He uses his stories to connect with Davita who lovingly calls him “uncle.”

Unlike the other masks, I needed Jakob's face mounted on backing so I could surround his head with birds... a key element to his stories. His goatee is made with antique typewriter keys I "won" in an eBay bidding war. I lost 2 other bidding wars before scoring these. Dollar store glasses frame his eyes and comprise his nose.

Scroll down for information about the performance schedule....through April 9. It is a show you don't want to miss!

Meet Davita's Dad- Michael

Michael

Davita's father is a passionate man. He loves his wife Annie and daughter, but he is utterly devoted to his quest for social justice. As a reporter, he is committed to reporting on the political climate.

Michael and his wife Annie believe Communism holds the answers for economic and social justice in America.. Politics is religion in the Chandal household. They frequently host house meetings to promote Unionism. Their passionate politics come at a price however when unsympathetic landlords evict them frequently for their political activism.

Eventually Michael finds himself in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.  A supporter of the Republican leftists, he covers the battles in Guernica where he demonstrates his selfless activism.

I chose to use the flag of the Republican leftists of Spain for half of Michael's face, including his nose. The hat band came from an old hat at least 40 years old and is studded with a communist pin (picture of Lenin.) Carrying the communist theme a little farther, I gifted him with a red star left eye. I used calligraphic pen nibs for his hair and mouth. A few old typewriter keys make up his sideburns.

This  and the other masks will be on display at Milagro Theater in SE Portland throughout the run of Jewish Theater Collaborative's production of Davita's Harp. Scroll down to earlier posts for information about this production...or go to the Jewish Theater Collaborative website: 

http://www.jewishtheatrecollaborative.org/davitas-harp-mainstage.html

The Door Harp

The Door Harp

I have always been fascinated by these old world instruments, but I never bought one for myself until I first read this book…sometime in the late 1980’s after reading Davita’s Harp.

Nearly everyone who leaves my house feels called to drop the balls against the taught strings,  but the real gift is that every coming and going is punctuated by music. 

Door harps are not “played” directly, rather music emerges when the door is opened and closed. The “song” is always different, unpredictable, sweet.

Jakob tells a story about a bird flying across the ocean, but he is pained by “bits and pieces of broken dreams that kept piercing his troubled heart like shards of glass.”  

The bird hears music but then becomes exhausted, loses interest in the strange music and becomes diminished in size. When this small bird finally approaches land he is drawn to a new and enticing melody emerging from a house. The bird is greeted at the door by a little girl. Taking this as an invitation to enter her home, the bird flies inside and creates a nest inside the music making door harp.

The story concludes; “sweet but not false, a comfort but not a deceiving caress; a music of innocence.” The bird, now tiny, builds a nest inside the door harp, and “there he lives to this day…” 

I dreamt of building a door harp entirely out of glass. What was clear in my dreams….dissolved with the morning light and instead became Davita’s homework assignment.

Here is Davita’s Harp….as I believe she would have constructed it.

Meet Davita's Mamma: Annie!

Annie / Channah

Davita’s mother is a fascinating character. She possesses a great intellect; able to speak German, Polish, and English, she also studied Torah, Gemora and Mishnah in Hebrew. Words were important to her and she was a constant resource to her ever questioning daughter.

Annie is a “lapsed” Jew, devoted to social justice through the Communist Party and the Labor movement. She falls into depression periodically, yet she remains a strong woman with a central core that allows her to survive tragedy after tragedy despite her internal pain. She finds eventual comfort in her Judaism and discovers that it is compatible with her commitment to work for the rights of others.

I couldn’t help but “collect” her words as I read through the book:

“Everything has a name , Ilana”

“Everything has a past. . . . If you don’t know the past, you can’t understand the present and plan properly for the future. We are going to build a new world, Ilana. How can we ignore the past?” 

“Magic is a very old idea, Ilana. If you want it to rain and you say certain words, and if each time you say those words it rains, that’s magic. Words or things that control other things or people or nature. That’s magic.”

I wrote Annie's words in the strands of her hair using a kemper pen and gold ink. Writing this way is a challenge because it is very challenging to use this nearly invisible ink. It strikes its gold color when heated. Basically I was writing blind!

Annie also has some bird charms in her hair.....You'll need to read the book and/or see the play to make the connection ...it isn't immediately obvious.

Her eyebrows speak other strong affiliation with communism which for awhile serves her much as any theology might...but eventually she returns to Judaism. Her nose is a mezuzah scroll. As she becomes reacquainted with her "yiddishkeit", her ritual practices increase.

Davita : The Character Mask

Davita

Davita is different from most of my masks because she is primarily constructed from fused glass. She has dollar store glasses with rhinestones and her eyebrows contain txt from the kaddish, a prayer she wasn't supposed to recite (because of her gender.)

She has some of Jakob Daw's birds flying in her hair (dichroic glass) and a menorah pendant because she was so taken with both lighting a Chanukiah and shabbat candles.

Here's what is mounted on the information board below the mounted mask:

I like Davita!

Ilana Davita Chandal is Chaim Potok’s first central female character. 

Despite her youth, she seems to have an old soul. She seems wise beyond her years and despite an inner strength that she demonstrates with frequency, she is still a child. We see her vulnerabilities.

Bright, curious, and a passionate reader; Davita is our narrator. We see the lives of her parents and other adults through her innocent eyes.  

She is natural feminist, questioning the limitations imposed on her just because of her gender. As readers, we feel her joys and her sorrows.

Ilana Davita is who she is. There is no pretense. She is a voracious reader and  eventually becomes a writer.

She is drawn to the stories her mother and Jakob Daw tell. She embraces her devoutly Christian aunt but is drawn to her Jewish roots.

Davita’s father introduces her to the magic of a door harp which becomes her constant “companion” and source of comfort during numerous family household moves. 

Scroll down to earlier posts for info on getting tickets for this wonderful production...You can also visit my masks while you are there!

MYSTERY MASK REVEALED

CHAIM POTOK

I was so honored to be asked to create character masks for Davita's Harp. I had wanted to create a mask of the author Chaim Potok (z"l) but didn't have enough time. Last week I learned that his wife Adena would be in attendance at Sunday's matinee...and would do a talk-back with the audience following the performance. I knew I had to make a mask for her. I set to work, barely getting the backing glued on before Shabbes! He was completed this morning....a few final touchups on the mouth and glasses.

I had a vision of what Mr. Potok looked like and I set about making the mask...then I worried I might not even be close.....
I think I have an approximation. (See the photo below)



This afternoon's performance was wonderful. Meeting Adena Potok was an additional treat. She was impressively articulate with delightful responses to all our questions.

If you haven't gotten your tickets yet, please do. Last night's performance as well as this afternoon's matinee were sold out!
Scroll down to my previous post for website ticket purchase information.

Davita's Harp Masks!!!!!

My Masks are up in the lobby of Milagro Theater on SE Stark Street right here in Portland!

 info for show times and tix can be found on their website: jewishtheatrecollaborative.org

I'll be posting photos off my masks Sunday, after the opening.

Going to the Birds!

I'm going to leave you guessing.....these birds are part of Jakob Daw's mask!

One more snippet.... Jakob's eye, pre-firing...... 

Baba Yaga & Davita in development

Working hard to get both Baba Yaga and Davita into the kiln tonight..... They are shaping up!

Baba's teeth ! poor oral hygiene, I guess. Oy!

Baba and Davita need eyes and noses.....Baba is going to have some pretty amazing hair.....

Davita finally has some hair!

Scroll down to the earlier posts to learn about this project!

...stay tuned!

Davita Continues To Evolve

Once the hair is in place, Davita will make her first appearance in the kiln. 

The white glass you see is the base glass for the piece. The purplish glass is actually a clear iridized glass with a tinge of pink-purple. It is a striker glass so the color should intensify a little when exposed the heat.

Once the base layers are set I'll begin working on her main features.

Just in case you haven't been following the blog...I am making a set of masks to be on display during the run of DAVITA'S HARP in the Page to Stage production by Jewish Theater Collaborative directed by Sacha Reich.  

The Masks Begin In Earnest! Davita

As mentioned in earlier posts, I am making a set of masks that represent characters from the Book "Davita's Harp" by Chayim Potok.

Yup, that's Vaseline! I'm prepping the pattern to "waterproof" the edges before cutting it on my ring saw.
I can cut most of this by hand, however the deep narrow cuts are impossible without the help of my ring saw.

The weather was stupendous today...about 60º in February!!!!!
I moved my cutting table and saw outside....I'm dog sitting, so my dutiful assistant brought his hedgehog along to cheer me on!

This was outdoor studio view today!

New Masks on the Horizon

Davita's Harp by Chayim Potok

I'm just wrapping up the drawings for my next set of masks.
                        Oh what an honor this is! 

Sacha Reich is the director of the Stage-to-Page version of Potok's book Davita's Harp. This wonderful production will be staged by The Jewish Theater Collaborative (JTC) here in Portland, Oregon at Milagro Theater.

Sacha saw my masks at the A.R.T. lobby last spring and asked if I would be interested in creating masks featuring the main characters of this book.  I am grateful for such an invitation. Of course, I said yes!

I have to say, it is a bit like studying Torah. One must "turn it, and turn it, and turn it again" to discover the layers of meaning and glean from the white spaces between the words and the lines.

I confess to having fallen in love with these characters. I have read and re-read the book. I sat in on the first reading by the actors, attended a book talk, and then returned to re-read again.

It'll be another few days before I can cut the glass and get everything rolling. First I have to work on Davita's eyes, Annie's lips, and Jakob's nose. This is the challenge for me. DRAWING!

Once I can get past this phase, I am certain I will discover new challenges....but for now I'm just going to pretend that it will be smooth sailing from this point forward.

I'll post photos of my progress and will also share how I thought about each character as I construct the masks.

I'll speak more about JTC in future posts, but for now I'll just direct you to their link because you must get tickets to this production!
http://www.jewishtheatrecollaborative.org