Art News

Behind the Mask

The Art of Transformation is the title of a collaborative exhibition by local mask makers Annie Heitmann and Penelope Sienna, which opens next Thursday at Caddies in Lismore.

Both women are also mixed media artists and they have created a diverse collection of prints, photographs, assemblage and collage for this show.

Penelope is currently studying a Diploma of Fine Arts at Lismore TAFE and her work explores the art of transformation through street photography and mixed media depictions of performance art. Her work is a tribute to fringe theatre, eccentric individuals and the colour and magic they bring to the streets.

Annie has completed a Diploma of Fine Arts at Lismore TAFE and is now a freelance artist and teacher with a background in street theatre, puppetry and clowning. She has even studied traditional Commedia del Arte leather mask making with Italian mask maker Paolo Consiglio.

Her current series of works, which includes some of her magnificent masked creations, reflects her eccentric relationship with discarded objects and a passion for storytelling as a tool for transformation.

The Art of Transformation will be opened next Thursday, September 2, at Caddies from 5pm, with a live masked storytelling performance of 'The Duckling Who Became a Swan' from 5.30pm. The exhibition is on show until September 30.