Check out Ann Curtis’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ann Lyneah Curtis, Ann Curtis.

Ann Lyneah, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Having been drawn into portraiture at an early age, my love of the human form -and it’s under structure- became the impetus for my expanding art. At age 18, I moved from my home outside Rochester, NY., to New Orleans where I drew portraits for tourists on Jackson Square for two years. This led to other gallery and street venues, ultimately bringing me to Texas.

I attended college in both Corpus Christi and San Antonio for a total of three years. While I did not complete a degree, this didn’t thwart my being hired for numerous teaching jobs and workshops around the country. Then one day I jumped ship and joined the Renaissance Faire. By now, I was thoroughly entranced with “life casting” portraiture. I’d developed a style using plaster gauze bandage as my initial mold using clay as the finished art piece. I quickly learned how to cast not only faces, but hand and body molds as well. My style is quite unique in the (small) world of casting from the human form. To this day, ”Masquerade Life Casting” is a thriving business of custom portraiture.

Through our Life Casting workshops in Md., I became associated with the amazing “Hutton Collection” of historic Life/Death masks. My husband and I were honored to be hired to recast over 20 of the damaged and crumbling plaster faces. Among these were Washington, Lincoln, Marat, Sir Issac Newton and the famous pugilist, John L Sullivan, whose face cast was in over six pieces. My years of applied knowledge made recasting this piece to perfection one of my proudest moments.

At the height of my craft, three years ago, my husband Derek and I veered into another art form. It seemed an easy move to look beneath the surface and begin casting and creating with bones. The beauty of bones and their macabre whimsy appeals to a creative urge inside me. A whole new level of creativity now fuels me. Interestingly, these two art forms seem to work quite well together. I find this is where I am now, with both crafts side by side; “Curious Oddities of Skin and Bones”. We continue to travel to art shows and gallery events throughout the country, including the Md. Ren Faire outside Annapolis, and Scarborough Ren Faire, in Waxahachie, just south of Dallas, TX. Derek and I met at Scarborough 33 yrs. ago. Although we no longer do the show full time, we are there the 1st two weekends of May every year as guest vendors of the realm.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I create “Ancestral Masking” with my Life casting. It evokes history by examining the genetic interplay of ancestry and its descendants with each face or hand casting. The initial mold of the face creates a unique “Holographic” illusion, with shadows and lighting making the concave cast appear convex. Here they are able to “see” their parents, siblings and grandparents. It is a delightful and often emotional revelation. The Death Mask history of this art form is the first known portraiture of humanity. It’s a “perfect” portrait, and, as someone once said, it is “warts and all…”
With the finished clay piece, this can be altered. I can do breast lifts, tummy tucks, mole and wrinkle removal, or lift a double chin. My art is a way for my customers to have whatever fantasy they want with their features. With my sculpting and artistic abilities, their life casting art can be anything from Viking to Mermaid, Spirit Mask to Etruscan Ruin.

Moving beyond and underneath the skin, my Boney Bits have become part of my artistic retinue. These are delightful art pieces, filled with fun and wonder. They feed the current drive for Cos-play wear. The bones show those willing to see, the beauty of what we all have “under the skin”.

Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
Amazon. So many people I know just go to the internet to make their purchases instead of going to the artists directly to buy locally.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Although you can see what “Masquerade Life casting” does by going to Lifecasting.net, I need an actual human to accomplish the finished piece. We live pretty far off the beaten path out in Harper, Tx. The best places to obtain a life casting would be at either the Md. Ren Faire, which runs 9 weekends from the end of Aug. thru late Oct., or for those in the Dallas area, we guest vend the 1st two weekends of May at Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie, Tx. We also sell the Bone Creations at both venues as well as through the Facebook site; “Curious Oddities of Skin and Bones”.
Another more recent addition to our shows will be the “Oddities and Curiosities Expo”. Our plans are to include the Dallas show on March 30th at Fair Park’s Centennial Hall.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lifecasting.net
• Email: ann_lyneah@yahoo.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Curious-Oddities-of-Skin-Bones-242318163009448/

Image Credit:
Ann Curtis and Derek Weaver

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