About

⚡️F O L K A R T I S F O L K M A G I C⚡️

I grew up in Appalachia and now live part-time in New Orleans and part-time in the small towns and wild woods of Appalachia. I am heavily influenced by surrealism; I love symbolism, mythology, native/naive ways of thinking and doing, and ritual/intentional practices. But mostly, I am a lover of narrative: I believe all things, all places, and all people have a story to them.

I started making these masks during quarantine when the French Quarter restaurant I was working in shut down and I was lonely and stressed out… I had no housemates, suddenly had no income, and no idea what to do with all my time. After binge-ing on netflix and snacks, I gave myself this project and began filling my house with all these characters. I used my leftover Mardi Gras supplies and when I ran out, I crowd-sourced fringe and other craft supplies from friends and neighbors. When I introduced these characters to the internet, people gave me high-fives and yee-haws about it and so I started selling them.

I make each mask out of papier-maché and I sew all the flowers and fringe on by hand. I draw and paint the designs on, often using stencils I’ve created inspired by textile patterns, or Pennsylvania Dutch hex design or vintage teapots or old botanical illustrations. I make all the wool tassels and pom-poms as well!

Each mask has this folk magic message written on the inside:

ALL PEOPLE

OF GOOD HEART & A PURE SOUL

CAN PERFORM MIRACLES

⚡️🙏🏼⚡️

Get out there and do what you do.

Thanks for looking,

emilie gallagher