It all started when...

When I took a mask making workshop. My mask making partner did not press the plaster impregnated gauze onto my lips, but merely put a piece over them. The result: I had no mouth. 

She was very apologetic, but I said it must have something to do with the meaning of the mask. Later as I sat in my studio alone, holding the mask in my lap, a well of sadness surged up my legs and encompassed my whole body. I realized in my childhood of abuse, I had no voice.

This mask was the beginning of using body casting for my own personal healing and transformation. As it impacted me, I began to share it with others….mask-making and breastplate workshops.

Some of the most powerful to witness and facilitate were making breastplates with women who had experienced breast cancer and mastectomies and making masks with Indigenous People in Maine.