LAUREN RAINE holds a BFA from the University of California at Berkeley and an MFA from the University of Arizona (1987). She has also attended Otis Art Institute and the New England Institute for Art Therapy. She is a visionary painter and sculptor, mask artist, and ritualist, with work in private and public collections.

"I became interested in masks in 1989, when I participated in the New York Renaissance Festival, and the same year, as an exhibitor at the Symposium for Art and the Invisible Reality at Rutgers University, organized by Dr. Rafael Montanez Ortiz. At the Renaissance Festival I learned to make Del Arte masks. And at the Symposium I was introduced to the shamanic use of masks - a fascination that led me on a journey of continuing research and practice in the years to come. In 1999 I moved to California, where I opened Rites of Passage Gallery in Berkeley, and it was my privilege to create "The Masks of the Goddess" for the Reclaiming Community's "Spiral Dance". In 2000 I made masks for "Tragos" and "Hungry Ghosts of Albion", a film and play by Antero Alli. In 2000 I also went to Bali, where I studied with master maskmaker Ida Bagus Anom, and produced (with Anom and others) collaborative works that were exhibited (and performed) at Buka Creati Gallery in Ubud. At present my delight is to "co-create" masks and mixed media sculpture for ceremony, theatre, and exhibition, as well as teaching and speaking activities."

Recent Performances:

"Invocation - The Spiral Dance", San Francisco, CA (2006), "Restoring the Balance", Nations Hall Theatre, Tucson, AZ. (With Katherine Josten and The Global Art Project)(2004), “Goddess" (by choreographer Serene Zloof) performance at Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors, New York, N.Y.(2003), "Woman With A Thousand Faces" at Black Box Theatre, Oakland, Ca.(2002).

Recent Exhibitions:

"Hands of the Spiderwoman" - a Community Arts Project exhibited at the Midland Arts Center (with a fellowship through the Alden Dow Creativity Center, and a grant from the Puffin Foundation). "Masks of Transformation", Univ. of Southern Illinois Museum of Art, (featured speaker), "Masks, Visages & Veils" & "Sacred Icons - Symbolic and Ritual Objects" (2005 & 2006) Artisans Center of Virginia, "Liminal" (2005) , 2-person show at Turn of the Century Gallery, Berkeley, Calif. (with Rye Hudak), "Sacred Mask - Sacred Space" (2004) , MUSE Gallery, Tucson, Az., (with Catherine Nash), Matrilineage Symposium(2000), Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY.

References and Resume available upon request.