Bid to win this I Love You Embroidered MasquerAID Mask by Melissa Gilbert
Artist: Melissa Gilbert
Title: "I Love You" MasquerAID Mask
Year created: 2020
Medium: Mixed-Media
Height (inches): 1
Width (inches): 1
Depth (inches): 1
Description of piece:
When a mother can’t hold you with her arms she holds you with her words. Love itself is an action. There are unlimited ways to show love, to participate in love, and to receive love. Today the easiest way is to wear a mask. I have lived on the opposite side of the country from my family for over a decade now. My mother religiously sends me cards and I’ve lost count of how many are floating around between books, in boxes, framed, or standing on my shelf everyday reminding me that I am loved. These cards are what influenced the creation of my mask. The front of the mask is embroidered with the closings of cards I have received over the years from my mother and sister. Some go back to before 2010. It was such a wonderful feeling to go back through all those cards from holidays, events, and even just Tuesdays and to see the physical manifestation of my mother’s love over time and distance. When a mother can’t hold you with her arms she holds you with her words. With each “I Love You” that I embroidered I was able to surround myself in memories. At times like this when distance is our greatest weapon and masks our strongest armor these words are a talisman. Each time this or any mask is worn it is an act of love. It is saying to our neighbors that though I cannot hold you I love you.. All of the “I love yous” are embroidered in white on white. You can’t see it from afar, but it’s there, entwined in the fibers. Words of love in an act of Love. The thread was my mother’s, she sent it to me so that I could use it – in an echo of my childhood. My mother used to have hobbies and then she had kids. One of those was cross-stitching and it felt so appropriate to use the embroidery floss that my mother gave up, for love, to create a new object of love. The interior of the mask includes the names* of friends who have been impacted by Covid-19. People for whom I wear a mask. The names include those who are at high risk: a nurse, a cancer patient, older individuals, carers. It also includes names of those who have survived the disease and sadly those who have not.These are the names that will only be seen by the wearer. I don’t need to know why someone is wearing a mask, but I know that when they do it is for Love.
Artist bio:
Originally from Bullhead City, AZ, Melissa has had a life-long passion for theatre and performance. She discovered her love of costuming during her undergraduate years at Randolph-Macon Women's College, where she received her BFA in Costume Design in 2010. Since that time, she has worked in theatres in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Indiana. Melissa received her MFA in Costume and Scenic Design from the University of Iowa in 2015. While at Iowa she began her research of Carnival Arts which culminated in a trip to build costumes for Notting Hill Carnival in London, UK during July/August 2014 which was fully funded by grants through the University of Iowa. Previous costume design credits include The Wizard of Oz, The Cat in the Hat, I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change, (Shawnee Summer Theatre) The Luck of the Irish, Makeover: A New Musical, Quiet Witches, Four Stories, She Stoops to Conquer (University of Iowa) Spring Awakening, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Randolph College). Scenic design credits include Below the Pacific and Order Now (University of Iowa).
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.