Chehalem Cultural Center presents the World Premiere of A UNIVERSAL FEELING & REVEAL/CONCEAL

Chehalem Cultural Center hosts the world premiere of A Universal Feeling, an international collaborative installation of emotion masks featuring the work of 60 artists from around the world imbuing their own artistic and cultural perspective within their contributions. This ambitious undertaking was created by Portland interdisciplinary artist Tony Fuemmeler, and is presented in conjunction with Reveal/Conceal, a showcase retrospective of Fuemmeler's work. For the past 19 years, Fuemmeler's primary work is in theatre mask-making. In addition, his repertoire includes puppetry in a range of styles and movement direction for puppets and masks, devising new works, directing theatre productions, producing, performing, and also working as a teaching artist.

A Universal Feeling headlines these two exhibits due to the international scope, conceptualization and logistical framework, along with monumental inclusivity effort. With A Universal Feeling, Fuemmeler works with the idea of how people experience and express their internal lives. It is an exploration of how emotion is at the same time a personal experience, and a communal one. The installation aspires to surface the beautiful similarities and delicious differences in shared emotions and celebrate the variance of human experience the world over.

For this project Fuemmeler designed a set of mask forms inspired by each of the six universal emotions: Fear, Joy, Surprise, Anger, Sadness, and Disgust. Each of the artistic collaborators received an unpainted papier-mâché mask based on one of the six. Collaborators were then tasked with "completing" their mask, in their own way. Leaning in on their art form, identity, style, experiences, history, aesthetic, nationality, and culture(s) they were all explicitly invited to allow to these lived experiences to inform HOW they completed their work. In essence, they were adding themselves to the mask.

Fuemmeler's project stems directly from his long-standing interest in the relationship between individual and community, the paradox of disguise and revelation in a mask, and the back-and-forth play of collaboration. There is a tension in these explored ideas within this installation, asking questions like: How do we balance a sense of self and a sense of group? How do we show aspects of ourselves even as we cover other parts? How do we release ownership in an invested way? LEARN MORE

Reveal/Conceal encompasses Fuemmeler's body of work to date. This exhibition features his enduring masks designed for theatre productions over the past two decades, but also comprises Commedia Dell'Arte masks, neutral masks, and character masks made for dances and music video collaborations like Black River Killer with Jen LaMastra for Blitzen Trapper. There will be a range of materials (papier-mâché, cast neoprene, leather, wood, corrugated plastic) and size scales with the intention the viewer can apprehend how the performer completes the piece. LEARN MORE

"When I was offered the possibility to show my work at the Chehalem Cultural Center, I was excited about the opportunity to show the full range of my performance masks over the years," said exhibit artist and conceiver Tony Fuemmeler. "That would represent a lot of collaborations and people to reflect and celebrate! I knew that each person and project I've worked on gave me new insights into my craft and materials. I also realized with having a space to show work, I could push into a new collaboration-one I'd been dreaming of for years-one where I could create the initial masks and prompt other artists to complete them. I was excited to really maximize the potential of this sort of exchange by connecting it to an idea I found really invigorating: how our relationship to emotions is particularized by our lives. It is my hope that eventually this exhibit can travel to the home city of every participant around the world."

"I have long admired Tony's work, and have had the pleasure of playing his masks onstage in several settings," said Sean Andries, Executive Director of Chehalem Cultural Center. "The ability of a well-crafted mask, full of life, to reveal the true sense of the performer who wears it has always transfixed me. When I heard about Tony's vision for A Universal Feeling, coupled with an exhibit of his mask-making journey with Reveal/Conceal, I was immediately intrigued. By collaborating with artists from many cultures and backgrounds to "finish" the masks he created for this special project, Tony has found a new way to reveal the nature of the artist within."

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