In my Transformations Facepainting company, we’ve set a goal for ourselves this year to match the way we paint faces to suit events with special themes, working to alter both the imagery we use and the style of the facepainting. It’s a way to be more supportive to the goals of these events and also a way to push ourselves into new directions. Earlier this October, we painted at the Summit Medical Group Sports and Healthy Living Fair ( http://www.summitmedicalgroup.com/about/ ), which is designed to get kids inspired to do sports and other physical activities to stay healthy. Jennifer, Britt and I decided we’d ask the kids and adults we painted about what physical activities they enjoy doing, what kind of active games they play outside or if they play any sports ‚ and then we’d turn their answer into their face design. It led to a lot of new, off-the-cuff designs. We had fun, we tried new things and learned from each other’s experiments, and we had people standing around to watch and see what new idea we’d come up with next — which is a large part of what we want to achieve with our approach to facepainting as a performance art, to make it as exciting to watch as to participate.
I was particularly taken by the work that Jennifer and Britt did. There’s a playfulness to the designs they painted that perfectly matched the “active play” concept of the Health Fair, and which seemed so appropriate to the kids we were painting. Whereas I was too concrete in my use of figures, both Britt and Jennifer let their figures bend and float on the face for a lyric, “childlike” effect — in the style of the illustrations of Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold ( www.faithringgold.com/ ), or the floating figures of a Chagall painting. Although the individual faces were quite beautiful, especially as they both use colors so well, the impact of this playful approach was best seen over the collective effect of the day’s faces, so I’ve put some of the fotos together as a slideshow.
a girl on monkey bars
Jennifer's "Swan Lake" - such a nice idea I tried it myself at my next event
One of the things I appreciate most about having a company of talented artists is the inspiration I gain working beside them. Britt painted this girl jumping rope early at the event, and I made a point of trying the idea myself so that I can remember it and use it again.
From "Tar Beach" by Faith Ringgold
Sounded like it would be a very inspiring day artistically….and the pictures prove it. Nice job everyone. Would have loved to have been there. I used the let me surprise you approach again at a large event today. It really was a fun day. It works especially well for me with the nose designs like Margie Kanter has inspired. I start with the nose body and get the kids guessing as I add body parts and details. Happy painting, Robbie Pack, CT
These pieces are so amazing and inspiring….thanks so much for sharing…
Mickey, Nice to hear from you. Your daughter is doing some really beautiful work for us.
Such delightful body language in these little figures. I’ve often wondered how long a child might hold out not washing his face, to make the creation last.
I’ve come to see facepainting as a “gestural” art, looking for the essential line or shape to communicate the content, especially in relation to the inherent curves of the face — and it was the playfully expressive body language of their simplified figures in the faces painted by Jennifer and Britt that I responded to when I saw their work.
We do hear tales from parents of kids refusing to wash their faces, and even more tales of how this ephemeral art that we do becomes a lasting part of the collective family memory via photos on the refrigerator.
Thank you (and your team) for making the world a happier place, face by (amazing) face.
Chris- you continue to be an inspiration! I love your work and enthusiasm- thanks you for continuing to share and inspire! MJ Matthews