Bid to win this Poetry and Sunsets MasquerAID Mask Collection by Courtney Anderson Brown & Christopher Metzger!
Artist: Courtney Anderson Brown and Christopher Metzger
Title: "Michigan Gems" / "Tree With Light In It" MasquerAID Masks
Year created: 2020
Medium: Mixed-Media
Description of piece:
“Michigan Gems” by Courtney Anderson Brown This mask features a scene from the shores of the Great Lakes, which are the gems of Michigan. I would frequently walk along these shorelines during quarantine, The sky never seemed bigger than on a starry evening. On the reverse side is the phrase “That Woman from Michigan,” which applies to the political side of Covid-19 in Michigan, when President Trump tweeted critically about Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s lifesaving decisions about stay at home orders in Michigan. Those of us in support of Whitmer made t-shirts and accessories with this phrase, adopting it from a negative source into an encouraging mantra. Courtney writes, "Being a woman from Michigan myself, I am inspired by strong woman leaders like Gretchen Whitmer who keep doing the next right thing and moving forward regardless of overwhelming personal and violent threats." This mask features hand-painted lace, cut foil and vinyl designs and 3 different 100% cotton fabrics. Ties are 18 inches long of Ivory Herringbone Twill Tape. Sides are open for filter insert. “Tree With Light In It” by Christopher Metzger “I’m drawing inspiration from Annie Dillard’s, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, in particular a passage in which she reflects on patients who are blinded by cataracts, have their vision restored through surgery, and learn to “see” again. “When her doctor took her bandages off and led her into the garden, the girl who was no longer blind saw “the tree with the lights in it.” It was for this tree I searched through the peach orchards of summer, in the forests of fall and down winter and spring for years. Then one day I was walking along Tinker creek and thinking of nothing at all and I saw the tree with the lights in it. I saw the backyard cedar where the mourning doves roost charged and transfigured, each cell buzzing with flame. I stood on the grass with the lights in it, grass that was wholly fire, utterly focused and utterly dreamed. It was less like seeing that like being for the first time see, knocked breathless by a powerful glance. The flood of fire abated, but I’m still spending the power. Gradually the lights went out in the cedar, the colors died, the cells un-flamed and disappeared. I was still ringing. I had been my whole life a bell and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck. I have since only very rarely seen the tree with the lights in it. The vision comes and goes, mostly goes, but I live for it, for the moment the mountains open and a new light roars in spate through the crack, and the mountains slam.” Annie writes of her time at Tinker Creek, a time of voluntary solitude, during which she begins to “see” the world around her more intensely. During our quarantine these past 10 weeks I feel a connection to her reflections this time; a time from which we might emerge ready to “see” our own lives a bit more intensely. The mask itself draws from the “tree with lights in it”. Arches watercolor paper, folded to the shape of a face mask with the tree in silhouette, against a painted sunset wash, gold crystals in the tree branches. Paper and paint, materials made from the earth connect us back to Dillard’s writing, and at the same time the design process; tools used to explore and share what we “see” in the text, translated into clothing.”
Artist bio:
Courtney Anderson Brown is a freelance Costume Designer and Wardrobe Technician. She is currently an MFA candidate in Costume Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2014, she received a Bachelor of Arts from Northern Michigan University in Theatre, French, and English. She seeks out projects with an emphasis on family structures, LGBTQ+ history, women’s equality, and environmental focus. Courtney enjoys the challenge of designing for new works and Up-cycling. Over the past 8 years, she has worked in a variety of venues including university theatre, tours, Off-Broadway, Equity houses, theme parks, regional and community arts centers, and high school drama programs across the country including NYC, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nebraska, and Maine. Recent Costume Designer Credits include: Titus Andronicus, Mamma Mia!, The Cherry Orchard, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Peter and the Starcatcher, A Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
Christopher Metzger is a Brooklyn based designer working in all facets of live performance, film and television. Design credits include: Little Gem (Irish Repertory Theatre), Suor Angelica and Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Montclair State University, Cali School of Music), La Traviata (Philharmonia of New York), Harlequin & Pantalone, with Bill Irwin and The Dorrance Dance Company, West Side Story (Sioux City Symphony), Tosca (Opera Roanoke), Outlying Islands (Sugarglass Theatre; Dublin, Ireland), Elijah (world premiere, Bristol Valley Theatre), Sehnsucht (Jack Arts Center), The Healing (world premiere, TBTB), and Mothership (New York City Ballet, Choreographers Institute), and Three Sisters; directed by Mark Wing-Davey (NYU). Christopher is an Associate Artist with Wheelhouse Theater Company. Productions include: LIFE SUCKS. (2020 Best New Play, Off-Broadway Alliance), Happy Birthday, Wanda June, Enemy of the People, and DANNYKRISDONNAVERONICA. Christopher is also the resident costume designer for the Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance Company. His work has been seen around the world including; Beijing International Contemporary Dance Festival, Indianapolis City Ballet, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, American Dance Guild, and Danspace Project. Christopher’s designs for, Ru, werefeatured in the September 2014 issue of Dance Teacher Magazine.
MasquerAID is a fundraising effort from Costume Professionals for Wage Equity and features artists that have been hard at work creating one-of-a-kind works of art for you to take home! Own a piece of theatre history and help the many entertainment workers who have been financially impacted by COVID-19.
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