Additional Info
Name of Artist:
Maya Apfelbaum
Street:
172 Highland Ave.
City:
Greenfield
State:
MA
Zip:
01301
Email:
mayafireart@aol.com
Phone:
413-774-7322
Hub Location:
westcounty
Description:
Mystic masks, giant festive archetypal puppets (see my current pictures on this database) innovative interdisciplinary performance works (with dance, live music, spoken word, and often puppetry) have been the main stay of my art-making the last 10 years. I often explore and research themes that deeply engage me as the basis of my work, or take inspiration from dreams, sudden images or conversations. I like to direct and to work collaboratively on both visual and performing arts pieces. My B.A. thesis was titled "The Arts as Tools of Social Change" and included studies of revolutionary artists like Diego Rivera from around the world, an internship in a theatrical environmental educational program at the Philadelphia Zoo and theatre studies with the Acco Theatre, an avant-garde Arab/Jewish troupe in Israel. My M.A. degree was similarly interdisciplinary and integrated the Arts, Cultural Studies, and Ecological Issues. I developed a narrative dance piece that illuminates the relationship between humans and the largest living land species, Elephants, as part of my M.A. studies and then took it on tour to Sacred Theatre and Creative Arts Festivals and International Environmental Conferences for several years. I have recently revived this piece. I am especially drawn to themes like community building and celebration; the sacredness of different life forms and different cultures; personal story, expowerment and transformation; gender roles across different societies; shamanistic and mystical rituals; and last but not least current political issues and the history of the Holocaust. The gleanings and stories that emerge around these themes become integral to the visual and performing art I do, sometimes explicitly and other times abstractly or indirectly. I would like to be in an arts ensemble in this area, Greenfield, MA. where I could work collaboratively incorporating these themes to make powerful and beautiful works that could be widely seen. Call me if interested in this ensemble work.
