Sedona AZ (April 18, 2019) – As part of the month-long, Verde Valley Earth Day Extravaganza, the Inspiration of Sedona will host local performance artist and mask maker Pash Galbavy in a debut presentation of Eulogy for a Home, at 1pm on April 28th at Keep Sedona Beautiful, 360 Brewer Rd., Sedona. This event is a homage to Earth Day and to the house that Pash and her family recently lost in the California, Woolsey fire. Pash will use her archetypal masks combined with stories and movement to reflect on losing a home to an extreme fire linked to climate change.
Pash’s dad and mom hand-built their house in Malibu, California in the early 70’s. Long before recycling became fashionable, they constructed their house and guest house from recycled lumber. The structures were a base for family gatherings and extended-family-member stays for almost five decades. Pash’s mom, stepdad, sister and brother-in-law were living on the property at the time of the fire.
“Losing your home and almost everything you own is incomprehensibly devastating. And yet, climate change linked fires, floods, mud slides, droughts, and storms are making this a reality for more and more people across the US and world,” Pash, a long-time climate activist, said. “All in one instant, the landscape of your memories is lost, your present and future is transformed, and your whole identity takes a shift. Besides the dramatic practical changes, the experience begs so many questions and soul searching. We’re collectively confronted by these matters as we witness immense habitat losses and plant and animal extinctions as well as massive displacement causing immigration and refugee issues globally and locally. No one and nothing is untouched.”
In her presentation, Pash will incorporate improvisation, storytelling, movement, dance, mask-art, myth, and personal and collective healing ritual to explore the internal and external causes and effects of climate change. She will consider ways of coping with and confronting the new climate realities that are affecting people and communities across the world. An open time for reflection and interaction will follow the presentation. Representatives from local organizations who are involved with various solutions to climate change concerns have been invited and will join the conversation. A mini exhibit of home-artifacts that were transformed by the fire will be on display.
Pash has worked with photographer, Jorge Vismara, musician Angela Torney, and videographers Russel Mullock and Marty Landa on the burnt homesite to try to work creatively with the losses. Pash said: “We’re planning to have a bigger show related to this in the Los Angeles area soon. There’s no better way to deal with grief than through art!” (See Angela Torney’s music video “Spark,” which was made on the old homesite with Pash’s Wise Woman archetype, at www.angelatorney.com.)
Pash is a mask maker, expressive/performance artist, contact improvisational dancer, author, and artists’ model. She has an MA in Communication Studies and is the recipient of numerous artist grants including several from the Arizona Commission of the Arts and two from the City of Sedona. She has performed at various festivals, and public and private events in the US and Australia. She has lived in Sedona off and on since the late 1970’s when she arrived here from Southern California to attend Verde Valley School.
This event is hosted by the Inspiration of Sedona (IOS), which meets on the 1st Thursday of each month at 6:30pm at Keep Sedona Beautiful. IOS is a non-profit, open meeting group that strives to work together collectively for the betterment of ourselves, our communities, and the world. Its current format involves presenting personally empowering, interactive events to inspire discovery of inner resources, and environmental conservation, for self and ecological sustainability. IOS is a member of the Sustainability Alliance, which is a coalition of local non-profits that are dedicated to illuminating a path toward a sustainable Verde Valley/Sedona Region and which also offers a free Sustainable Business Certification Program. Find other Earth Day events at: www.sustainabilityallianceaz.org.
Please be a part of the inspiration of Eulogy for a Home by joining us for this moving and provocative presentation with Pash Galbavy on April 28th at 1pm at Keep Sedona Beautiful. Free, and a $10-$20 suggested donation greatly appreciated. RSVP to reserve a seat.
For more info:
- email: info@
inspirationofsedona.org - Website: www.
inspirationofsedona.org - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ inspirationofsedona - 928-284-4021