Cassie Murkel, 8, paints her animal mask in a class taught by artists Elizabeth Kinahan and Miki Harder.

by Karin L. Becker, Special to the Herald

“Anything goes” was the attitude held throughout the Durango Arts Center’s Creativity Festivity, where the only rule was that you can’t say “I’m bad at something.” The monthlong festival centering around kids in art concluded its workshop series with a mask-making class Thursday in the Paint Bar. Seven kids, ages 8 and older, were faced with the task of creating an animal mask. Ravens or elephants were the choices.

“However which way you want it,” instructing artist Elizabeth Kinahan said, when she was asked what color to paint the ears.

She taught the class with Miki Harder; both artists have animal obsessions — ravens and elephants — which figure prominently in their work. Harder’s Web site notes that she is an illustrator, welder, painter, sculptor and is best known for her ravens.

While she helped kids tape the two cardboard cutouts to make a sturdy mandible, Kinahan demonstrated how to paint the elephant’s trunk so it would blend in with the face.

Cardboard cutouts served as the template for each mask.

The purpose of Creativity Festivity is to get kids to make something.

Other classes offered during the Creativity Festivity were Recycled Sea Turtle Puppets, Animal Origami, Scarab Beetle Workshop and Rock Owl Paperweights, with levels for children ages 6-11.

Illustrator Cindy Coleman and sculptor Amy Vaclav-Felker also taught classes during the festival. All four artists were chosen for their dedication to animals in their art.

At the end of the one-hour workshop, almost all of the children had completed their projects; some were proudly hiding behind their clever masks. Whether the masks are the start of a great Halloween costume or the beginning of the next Snowdown: Animal Kingdom, these kids were noticing the beauty in animals.

Karin L. Becker teaches composition at Fort Lewis College. She can be reached at becker_K@fortlewis.edu.

See the Durango Arts Force Web site for more arts-related information.

Tags: activities, art

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