Hellenne Vermillion works both in clay and silk dye painting. Born and growing up in Japan, the Japanese culture taught her that there is “spirit” in all living and non-living things due to the influences of Shinto - a non-religious belief system. Together with this idea, the masks of the traditional Japanese Noh drama which hauntingly project the spirit of a character being portrayed, led her to be interested in creating “spirit” masks. Her love of working with wet clay led her to create “generic” clay masks which she fires to harden and then glues painted silk to the surface. Painted silks add color and movement to the clay base, which are then further embellished with more painted silk in three dimensional design, various threads, felted wool and other items.