Warrior
Artist “Warrior”, also known as Caitlin Mary Harper, is the very picture of multi-talented creativity and inspired dreamer. This wonderful woman can play multiple instruments like the ukulele and dulcimer, shape and assemble authentic Appalachian mountain furniture, fashion a Crow breastplate, give a forgotten doll a home and a new avocation. She can sculpt ceramics, write beautifully about her visions, take telling photographs of her travels, and paint in oils and MS Paint alike!
Caitlin grew up in Chicago and got her undergrad from Centre College, a small liberal arts school in Kentucky. Later, she lived in Vienna as a Fulbright Research Grantee and wrote about outsider art and Art Brut. She has recently been involved in clinical studies and research for Schizophrenia and related mental illness; even teaming up with a patient for projects in inclusive artmaking! She will soon be moving to Santa Fe, NM, to attend grad school and become a counselor/art therapist (the degree is for both!). What is she work ing on right now? MASKS. Magical masks.
Caitlin, can you show and tell us a little bit about your recent explorations into mask-making?
Mask-making has been a very interesting and special process for me. I begin by making a plaster cast of my face, using those plaster medical strips doctors use for making casts for broken arms and such. I then use papier-mâché to reinforce the structure of the mask and add extra detail and ornamentation. Sometimes I’ll add antlers, horns, tentacles, ears, or tree branches to the little guys using chicken wire and papier-mâché. After a couple of days of drying, I like to paint the masks using acrylic paint. Sometimes I’ll add feathers or whiskers.
I never begin a mask with a plan. It sounds totally kooky, but when I am beginning the papier-mâché phase, I just listen with my hands to what the mask wants to become. I’m not thinking about anything in particular, but just letting the mask’s character come through. It’s a form of channeling for me.
It’s funny, because about a year after I started making masks, another artist friend texted me some information about shamanism and masks. Some North American Indian shamans use masks to channel spirit helpers. I didn’t know about this until after I started my process. It came about organically for me.
For me art is not about control, it’s about listening. I was classically trained at Centre to want to achieve accuracy and perfection, but now I see that as a form of artistic violence. You don’t want to force something to be, you want to listen to what it wants to be. I’ve always agreed with Jean Dubuffet and Paul Klee: creating should follow the laws of nature. I like to let my work organically evolve rather than strictly following a structured plan and then getting upset when it all falls apart. This is how my process works, and I guess, how my life works!
What is behind your artist name of Warrior?
I needed a strong name. A couple of years ago, I was going through a tricky time and was very sad over a loss. I started having dreams about this warrior helping a little girl. The little girl looked like a doll. She was really pretty and wore a pink dress and had long golden curls. The warrior was strong. He would take her for rides on his horse and protect her when she was in trouble. One night, he told me that when I am ready, he will come into my life as a real man, and we will get married. I think he was the masculine part of my psyche. We all have a masculine and feminine side, and life seems to go smoothest when these sides are balanced. Anyhow, I started calling my art Warrior because a warrior protects my dream world. My art is a physical manifestation of my dream world, so I need the warrior to protect me on the outside as well!
When is your next gallery showing and are your works for purchase?
My next show is on February 23rd at Space Club HQ, a gallery in Chicago. I’m curating a show of my art along with the art I make with my friend the Black Timelord. The show is called “The Baby Children of Isolation.” Isolation is a planet located somewhere between bedtime and that first cup of coffee in the morning. It’s a planet where the kooky artists dwell while they’re making their work.
My work is always for purchase! I try to keep my prices very low, so that the people can enjoy my work.
Have you done any commissions? What were their stories?
I’ve been really lucky to have people commission masks from me. I made one friend a Cthulhu mask. His face had tentacles on it! I also made a sassy tiger for a friend in a band. I used old guitar strings for his whiskers. He wears the mask when he performs sometimes. Another friend asked me to make a raven mask for her. The raven has pokey feathers sticking all over her head.
When I’m doing a commission or making a mask for someone in particular, I’ll often put on music, light candles, and think about the person I’m making the mask for in my heart. It seems to help me to feel inspired and connect with what he really wants out of his mask.
What are the meanings and significance of masks to you?
Masks are very magical and powerful. They reflect an inner world to the outer world. They are portraits of our psyches. They allow us to show our wild inner dreams or to make physical the spirit friends who help us through life.
What is on the horizon for Warrior studio work?
Hmmm … Well, I’ve been really excited about using found objects and nature objects in my masks. I’ve started using tree branches as antlers.
I’ve also started using old prescription bottles and bottling rainbows in them. I’m really excited about prescription rainbows.
I’d like to move into a new realm with my art, where my pieces act more as healing objects. What I mean is incorporating special healing herbs, spells, and spirits into the work and the artistic process. I think it would be super fun and exciting to make pieces that are crosses between shamanism and artwork.
