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Chrysalis

The Mystic Family Circus Education Team

 
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David Houston

David Houston David Houston was born in Washington D.C in 1947.At Bard College he studied with Wynn Chamberlain,a friend of Andy Warhol.He took dance classes with Arlene Laub of the Alvin Nicholais Company.He was an assistant editor on "Other Voices"a film by David Sawyer,that was nominated for an Academy Award.The film followed the lives of five patients and therapists for three years.He also did recreation therapy at the New York State Mental Hospital in Poughkeepsie.

      A breakthrough experience was a job painting highway billboards.Aside from the excitement of painting high above the crowd without a net,it showed him the importance of exaggerating and simplifying the image so it would read at a distance.This was invaluable years later when he made props and parade characters for Grateful Dead Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras concerts.Working with friends in the Hog Farm and the Sufi Order,he was part of an annual pick-up dance troupe that danced a ninety-six foot dragon.He also attended Camp Winnarainbow where he co-created a giant fire breathing dragon for a travesty of Wagner's Ring Cycle.At Camp Winnarainbow he was helped tremendously by Chi Whizz in european clowning and Hiroko Tamaio in bhutto.

        He spent twenty years working from the model in terra cotta.In 1992 his work was shown at the Montgomery Gallery in San Francisco as part of "Introductions 92"Rodin,Michelangelo and the world of dance were the main references in this work.Three years ago this opened out into a studio photography project based on performance photography for the theater and dance. Tirza Naramore of Mystic Family was the principle model for that project.He has done event photography for the circus as well as walk -around characters, costume and make-up at the summer festivals. This spring he would like to offer Making Characters with Make-up ,How to Make Your Parade Look Really Big and Giant Costume Makin

        David is the father of two grown sons,the grandfather of four boys and the father of a daughter,11.He has an art complex in Oakland where he has a studio and exhibition space.