Lee Michael Walczuk

Lee Michael Walczuk
leemichael@walczuk.com
1-808-968-1505
www.walczuk.com

QUALIFICATION :
40 years of professional accomplishments in the Arts
Master of Fine Arts UCLA
Multidisciplinary and multi-cultural experiences on the US Mainland, Europe and the Hawaiian Islands

I have a unique foundation in the Arts. I am dedicated to the creative process. I am driven by a spirit to promote natural healing and creative well being through the Arts. Kozmo Mimzi means to mimic the universe through the arts in a playful manner.


CURRENT POSITION :
Art Instructor at
EAST HAWAI'I CULTURAL CENTER
VOLCANO ARTS CENTER
NANAWALE COMMUNITY CENTER
PAHAO MUSEUM

FOUNDER: THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: HILO, HAWAI'I

Independent Artist

Owner, Walczuk Productions, LLC
Dba Wild Orchid Weddings & Events
Wild Orchid B & B
Wild Orchid Tours

Kozmo Mimzi
Animation Theatre founder

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE :
Hilo, Hawaii 2005-present

Magician of Masks Expo
Teen Theatre
Keiki Theatre
Reader's Theatre
on going-Hilo Library Book Week presentations
Hilo Ocean Festival artist
Abled festival artist and performer

EHCC performances:
"7"
African Silhouettes
Shakespeare's the Tempest
Saroyan's The Cavedwellers
Bali's Garuda Shadow Play
Dragon Dance
Keiki Camp Extravaganza

EHCC classes:
The Magicians of Masks
Cinema Hilo
Keiki Theatre: saturday am

Maui, Hawai'i 2002- 2005
Voices Instructor, MAPA
Hawaiian young artists Coach, World Talent
Faculty member, Hui No'eau

Wo Hing Temple Museum: Chinese Shadow Theatre Productions
New Year of the Ram
Chinese Moon Festival
Princess Busaba's Farewell
Nian "The Story of the Fireworks" Year of the Monkey

Haiku Elementary : Ka'upena, after school classes
Mask workshops and exhibition

Maui Academy of Performing Arts (MAPA)
Voices Drama Specialist
MaskPuppet and Mime Classes
Phantom : 12 original masks
Taradiddle Travels : 13 original masks
Wild Trails + Tails : original masks, puppets, design and 3-month tour of the Hawaiian islands.

Walczuk Productions
Maui County Libraries : Kahului, Wailuku, Makawao, Kihei, Lahaina, Hana, Lana'i
Stories : Gingerbread Keiki, Phaëton, Dragon Dance, Momotaro
Kozmo Mimzi, Queen Ka'ahumanu Mall : Christmas ('02, '03) and Spring productions
Korean Cultural Festival
Mask exhibit and workshop

Hui No'eau
Art Van Go Maui Project
Mall Community Arts Education Project
Animation Classes
Adult Evening Mask Classes
Summer Camp : Guest Artist and Counselor

Maui Community College
P.A.C.E. program : Adult Mask as Culture Classes

Hana, Maui
Mask-making for Youth Centre
Mask portraits for Art Barn
Physical Theatre and Masks workshops for Youth Theatre
Puppet Consultant for Taro Festival
Assistant Director for Conference of the Birds

Korean Festival: Maui War Memorial Complex 1/24/04
Korean Masks Display and Sales

Wo Hing Museum : Chinese New Year Performances

Maui Academy of Performing Arts (MAPA)
MaskPuppet and Mime Classes
Research and Development of Original Greek Production for State-wide Tour
Pinocchio-Geppetto?s Workshop Production
Magician Of Masks

Ebb & Flow : Seabury: Yellow Sound / Kandinsky
Visual Scenery, Shadow Puppets, Sound, Lights
Guest Animator in Makawoa Elementary School

Libraries : Guest Artist
Pinocchio Readings
Storyline Weekly Storyteller

Lahaina Town Council Ocean Arts Festival
Keiki Of the Sea Project

Independent Artist

Art Teacher, Actor, Puppeteer, Maskmaker, Filmmaker, Director and Acting Coach

Young Audiences Inc. 1991 - 03

Artist-in-Residence

Taos, New Mexico 1999 - 2002

Fine Arts Teacher, Taos Charter School K-8
Instructor Taos Film Initiative
Director Pierrot Players Readers Theatre
Community Arts Programs Kozmo Mimzi

Cleveland, Ohio 1991 - 1999

Art Instructor John Marshall Senior High School
Director Walczuk Ensemble
Theatre and Studio Director Archangel Crusade
Guest artist Cleveland Art Museum
Assistant to the President Dyke College
UCLA Theatre Mask Instructor Florence, Italy

Los Angeles, California

MFA UCLA Theatre and Animation
Business Manager Alpine Auto
Artist-in-Residence Los Angeles Unified School District
Art Therapist for drug dependents Project VI H.E.L.P.
Theatre Director Malibu Masques
Artist LA Craft and Folk Museum
Art Teacher Carden School
Theatre Assistant Padua, Italy
UCLA National Basketball Team Championship Member 1969
Coached by John Wooden

Europe Actor: Theatre and Film; Masks and Puppets

Senior Assistant Professor - English Philology
Warsaw, Lodz, Wroclaw, Opole: Poland

Performing Artist La 25eme Heure. Paris
Director and Performer Mouth and Trousers Theater, London

Graduate Adam Darius London Mime Centre
Student Jaroszewicz Compagnie Magenia
Student Min Tanaka Body Weather
Student Maskmaker Donato Sartori
Performing Artist La Nostra Famiglia: Venice, Italy

New York City

Scholarship student Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis
Apprentice Photographer Ed Emschwiller
Member Carolyn Carlson's First Ensemble
Member Cartoon Opera
Faculty of Multi-Gravitational Aerospace Dance Theatre
Creation of Kozmo Mimzi

The life mask is the evolution from the artist's practice of the death mask. The death mask was done to create a memory for posterity of note-able leaders, artist's or well- to- do patrons.
Today, it is an accessible, living art form.
Perfected by the Hollywood studios in the early cinema days, the life mask is the basis for every actor's make-up and special effects creations. The full body casting process now popular for epic movies has catapulted the casting process into a vibrant and affordable artistic endeavor. In the modern theatre we must go to Amletto Sartori and his legendary work with Jacques LeCoq, John Louis Barrault, Marcel Marceau etc. Sartori is the undisputed master of the modern, theatrical mask.

To Mask Is To UN-Mask.....

The healing characteristics of the art of Mask-making are inherent in the process and sensitized in the result...As one approaches the mask-maker there is trust akin to one's Doctor or Therapist...There is the release; the shedding of Psychic layers as natural as a snake gliding to new territory. The physical relaxation before the application of materials is imperative.
The total release---the "Buddha State."

The Breath as Wave,
The Heartbeat as Breath,
The Wave as HeartBreath...

The mind is empty material Being layered onto the mold of
OneSelf...enveloped in warmth, darkness, silence and
traveling to light Being unveiled by
One's Self...

The pleasure of the cool cave lifting off and releasing the Spirits to dimensions

Untouchable yet visible
Unknowable yet understandable

Negative yet Positive....

Healing yet ART.......lmw

in the shadow of the ecstatic masks lies the residue of ancient voices inherent in the realm of dreams........
AWAKEN THE SKIN AND RELEASE THE VEIL OF THE UNKNOWN
answer the call of the Spirit;
listen to the drum of the heart and walk with the ancestral confidence that belongs to human-kind.
the mask provides the WAY to release the self to unsequestered gestures of reliance and mobility.
the gifts of laughter and comedy blossom within the discovery of the inter-national genius of the mask genre......

FROZEN IN TIME ONE CHISELED MOMENT CAN EXTRICATE THE VOICES OF THE TRIBE........

Call, e-mail or telephone today and we will arrange for a complete session in the life-mask process.

Lee Michael Walczuk is an active proponent of the rebirth of the mask in the curriculum and in theatre and film.

Having spent seven years in Europe under the tutelage of the modern makers of the mask, Lee Michael now teaches and performs throughout educational forums and theatre/film venues.