We all wear masks. In some ways this is a necessity for functioning in our multifaceted world. Occasionally our masks present a very different persona than what might be lurking underneath. Today we will explore these masks and investigate our interior and exterior self. Please find some paper, scissors and drawing materials. Draw a simple outline of a face and cut it out. Start with the outside of your mask and draw or write how you present yourself to the world, maybe including emotions/adjectives or any descriptive words. Now turn your mask over and do the same thing but identifying parts of yourself you don’t often reveal or that you choose to  “mask.” Be aware of any emotions which surface as you make your mask. Sometimes walking away, then returning to an art piece a few hours later can be an enlightening activity. Art making can be very powerful because we have less defenses built up through this form of communication.

Yesterday’s Project: Did you reveal a secret through your artwork? Was it a cathartic feeling to let go of this information? Sharing your secret with a person you trust is usually a great outlet, but often your own artwork can serve as a vessel to contain feelings that might be too overwhelming to keep inside of yourself. The website http://www.postsecret.com is one of the most visited sites on the internet, due to the power of revealing a secret. On this particular site, people mail their secrets through a postcard to a person in the D.C area and he posts many of them on this site.