Fine Art and Jewelry
Pottery--Fiber Art--Masks--stained Glass
 

The Premier Gallery in Angel Fire, New Mexico
 

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Jacqui Binford-Bell has been involved in the art of mask making, theatrical costuming and set design for over three decades. Her credits include a stint with the New Mexico Ballet Company where she designed and executed masks for Jungle Book. She has designed raven masks for Dance Arts Los Alamos' production of A Snow Queen,  and Tulane University's production of A Midnight's Summer Dream.

A fine arts graduate of the University of New Mexico, mask making is only one of her many artistic ventures. Using the ancient art of old-world papier-mâché  she has created sculptures which draw on the same sense of merriment that pervades her masks. "Every year I work with this deceptively simple medium I feel as if I am just beginning to push the envelope of what is possible. I love seeing my imagination given life in solid form."   So, Retiring from the Mask Making? This is BIG news! Why, praytell? "The simple answer is time, money, and space. Maskmaking at my level is extremely labor intensive. Labor that is not recompensed by the money which the public is willing to pay. It all too often becomes a labor of love if not economy. And it has gradually taken over most of my house with the boxes of inventory, supplies, molds, masks in process, etc. Pushing my painting and matting and framing out of the studio and downstairs to what was once my living room." A more complex answer has to do with evolution of the creative experience. If art is not moving forward it is stagnant and dying. "It was getting harder and harder to top myself. More and more difficult to come up with new designs for the inventory. My giraffe represented the penultimate for the art. Besting him became daunting. I doubt I can ever totally give up masks but I want out of the business of making them. I want to return to an easier and simpler time when I created them to make me laugh. And I want my living room back." 

Don't miss the last of the inventory...when its gone, its gone. 

Retiring from mask making does not mean retiring from art (can that be done?). Jacqui has been reinventing watercolor, her flair for the flamboyant and vibrant is evident in that as well. 

Jacqui makes her home in Black Lake, New Mexico. When not creating fantasies, she enjoys the company of her two dogs and four cats.

Babe the Blue Ox
Paper Mache' Mask
$Sold

A River Runs Past
14 x 18 Mixed Water Media
$325

Trail to Arsenic Springs
18 x 14 Mixed Water Media
$325

Cocatrice
Paper Mache' Mask
 w/ Ostrich Feathers
$Sold

Lion
Paper Mache' Mask
w/ Turkey Feathers
$Sold

Mandrill
Paper Mache' Mask
w/ Pheasant Feathers
$Sold

Glorious Fall
11 x 14 Mixed Water Media
$200

Cocatoo
Paper Mache' Mask
w/chicken  feathers
and Ostrich plumes
$100

Pueblo in the Sun
14 x 11 Mixed Water Media
$200

Rainbow Zebra in Blue
w/ Turkey Feathers
$250

Bishops Chapel
11 x 14 Mixed Water Media
$200

Queen of Orleans
Paper Mache' Mask
with Ostrich Feathers
$85 (available in Red)

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