The Making of a Mask is a very personal experience, for it does not follow any tradition, it can be whatever you want it to be, whatever you dream or envision it to be. The Mask I made was from plaster and gauze. It can be made with the eyes closed or open. Closed, if you wish to look within yourself, or open, if you wish to see the world in a different way or if wish the world to view you in a different way.

When I was preparing to make my mask I had a waking dream. In it I was a young woman running through a forest, and I was wearing leggings and moccasins. I was also wearing a mask, and because it was me wearing the mask I could not see what it looked like. As I ran past others in the forest, they would stare at my face and then jump out of the way. I heard one person exclaim "What a fearsome mask!", and another reply, "Don't be afraid, she has many faces and some may be fierce, but she has a gentle heart".

Once my mask had dried, I was still unsure as to how I would paint it, I had not yet envisioned what it would look like. I sat quietly in my room reading a novel, Lizardskin by Canadian author Carsten Stroud. There was a part in it that took me to another place. As I read his words about Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, I began to picture my mask. These were two powerful Native American chiefs in history, and I was somehow touched by the visions the author's words stirred deep within me.

When I finished painting the mask, I included a yellow lightning bolt across the left eye on a black background and I painted the right side deep red and beneath the eye the I Ching symbol in blue for my drumbeat, which is Rising Thunder. In the Tao of Drumming, Thunder stands for inner strength, the quickening, and life's lessons.

I called my mask "Eyes of the Grandfathers". I adorned it with beads, eagle feathers, buffalo hair, deer bone and hide, and every once in a while I put it on, and see things a little differently than before.