CONWAY: Masquerade ball

RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — “Who’s behind that mask?”

That’s the question many will ask Saturday night as Blackbird Academy of Arts Inc. sponsors a masquerade ball at Centennial Valley Country Club in Conway. Dressed in formal attire, complete with masks, those attending the ball will help raise money for the nonprofit academy, which offers classes in fine art, dance, creative writing, music and theater.

Conway artist Chris Massingill is among those who are contributing items for the silent auction that will be held, along with a live auction, at the masquerade ball. Her chosen medium is ceramics, so the masks she is donating to the auction are ceramic pieces.

Massingill teaches art part time at Blackbird Academy; she also teaches art at Julia Lee Moore and Woodrow Cummins elementary schools in Conway.

“The art teachers at the academy were asked to donate one item for the auction,” Massingill said, noting that the two other art teachers are Amy Ness and Jessica Hargis.

“I started with one mask for the silent auction,” Massingill said. “I made it during one of the snow days when we were out of school. There’s always an opportunity for things to ‘go south’ when dealing with ceramics, so I always make extras. I had madethree by the time the day ended.

“Then we had another snow day, and I made more.”

Massingill now has seven ceramic masks made for the auction and anticipates finishinganother four by Saturday.

“I really love the sun mask,” she said, describing the mask that has rays extending out from the sun. “I made one, but it broke. But I made another one.”

She’s also fond of the Venetian mask with its long beak.

“You really can’t wear my masks. So I’ve made them as wall hangings.”

Massingill said she likes to make things.

“I always wanted to make art,” she said. “I grew up in Virginia, one hour out of (Washington) D.C. I had a lot of access to the wonderful art galleries and museums in D.C.”

She came to Conway for her college education. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degreefrom the University of Central Arkansas in 2003.

“I obtained a nontraditional teaching license through the Teach Arkansas program,” she said.

She’s been a teacher for five years.

“I taught in Pulaski County for a while. Then I taught at Simon Intermediate School here in Conway, and now I’m teaching at the elementary level,” Massingill said.

“Apparently, teaching 600 kids in the elementary schools isn’t enough for me,” she said with a smile. “Here, I’m teaching another class.”

She teaches one class at the academy on Thursdays for 8-to 12-year-olds.

“We work in mostly mixed media,” she said. “I have eight kids in the class, and they all really want to be there. It’s a lot of fun. This is my secondsemester to teach there.”

Massingill said Blackbird Academy hopes to expand its offerings to include ceramics.

“That one’s reason for Saturday’s fundraiser,” she said.

Massingill usually makes functional objects, such as cups and plates.

Her work may be seen at her Web site, www.chrismassingill.com.

She and her husband, Trey, who works at Axiom Corp. and plays drums as a hobby, have a 9-year-old son, Lucas, who is in the third grade at Sallie Cone Elementary School. As a family, they enjoy all things art, especially the theater.

“I’m a big supporter of Arkansas Shakespeare Theater that comes to UCA every summer,” she said. “And we just recently saw STOMP in Little Rock.”

Massingill said she is nearing completion of work that will allow her to be certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

“That’s really taken a lot of my time,” she said. “I had not made anything (art) all year until those snow days.”

She is a member of the Arkansas Craft Guild and has work for sale locally at the Historic Arkansas Museum Gift Shop and the Green Store in Little Rock, at Vintage to Vogue in Conway and at the Arkansas Craft Gallery in Mountain View.

Massingill donates art to several charitable causes, such as Habitat for Humanity and Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

“I may not always have cash to support the programs I am interested in, but I always have art,” she said.

- crolf@ arkansasonline.com

River Valley Ozark, Pages 135 on 02/28/2010

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