Closing Reception: Behind the Mask

From Bolm Arts: "Curated by Bolm Arts members Zac the Maker, Ash Oreline Carter, and Nicole Josephine Kline, *Behind the Mask* is a show about the faces we wear, the selves we hide, and the permission a mask gives us to step outside ourselves. Long before they were costume pieces, masks were sacred objects, used across cultures to summon spirits, mark rites of passage, and give form to the parts of ourselves that have no face of their own. *Behind the Mask* explores that lineage: identity, transformation, and the space between the selves we reveal and the selves we conceal. Work by members of the Bolm Arts Collective, including sculpture, painting, and an immersive installation, hangs alongside a growing community mask wall made by neighbors, students, and artists of all experience levels. Together, they challenge the boundaries the art world often draws around itself and ask who gets to call themselves an artist. Like a mask, they suggest, the title is something anyone can pick up and put on. A mask offers permission: to play, to exaggerate, to try on a version of yourself you'd never otherwise let out. This show extends that permission to everyone who walks through the door. In the weeks before the opening, Bolm Arts will host community mask-making workshops; no experience necessary. *Behind the Mask* will be on view at Bolm Arts Gallery from October 9 through October 31, 2026.