Topeng Pajegan- Sean Aquino's website

The Bay Area ensemble Gamelan Sekar Jaya-acclaimed internationally for its innovative work with the music and dance of Bali-performs a dazzling array of pieces as it celebrates thirty years of artistic interchange with Bali in three concerts at the Cowell Theater. Spanning works both centuries old and newly created, GSJ will focus on themes that have helped define the fifty-member “Bay Area treasure” (Dancetera): balance, harmony, and collaboration across cultures.

Sekar Jaya’s ensembles and dancers perform in the lovely outdoor amphitheater at the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center, located near Nevada City.

Location
North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center
17894 Tyler Foote Rd., Nevada City, CA 95959
(on the San Juan Ridge, about a 25 minute drive from Nevada City)

The San Francisco Foundation Choreography commission is being presented to Sekar Jaya’s Director, Wayne Vitale, a composer, performer, and scholar who has led the group for more than twenty years; and to I Made Moja, a senior company dancer who will choreograph the new work to the accompaniment of music for gamelan jegog — an orchestra of giant bamboo marimbas. Moja is a painter, dancer, set designer, and puppet maker from Batuan, a traditional arts village in Bali known for its performing arts, woodcarving and unique painting style.

I painted this in the fall 2008. Made of wood from Bali but painted in a nohmen like style.

Traditionally done nohmen. Made with hinoki.

Another mash-up of techniques. This mask was carved in the Balinese tradition (actually by Pk. Kebes of Batuan) but I finished it with Noh-men painting technique. The center jewel was also done using electroplating 24k gold rather than gold-like paint.

I made this a while ago but never got around to posting it.