Art Hop

May Artist of the Month

Gwen Witsaman
Masks, Pastels and Prints

About the artist

Gwen Witsaman has always been interested in the art of the early cultures of Africa, Micronesia and the Native Americans of North and South America.  As a museum registrar in five museums, she had the unique opportunity to examine and handle the artworks of many worldwide indigenous cultures.

She started to make ceramic masks and pueblo pots after her first trip to New Mexico in 1986.  She has spent two vacations living with a Navajo family near Two Grey Hills in the Four Corners area.  This was a spiritual experience that gave her an appreciation of the area and the Native American culture.

When the influence of the landscape started seeping in, her pottery took on the look of the mesas and rocks of the New Mexico desert.
The masks, created from a mold of her own face, are decorated with antlers, feathers, and sea shells collected from all over the world.  The ceramic masks represent the healing “dreamers” of various cultures.  The handmade paper masks in this exhibit reflect the rebirth of the Native American culture in North America. 

She received her art degree from the College of St. Francis in Illinois and has exhibited her work, including pottery, paintings, drawings and woodblock prints, at several universities.  She was represented by a Chicago art gallery before moving to Stockton in 1991.