ONNE Weber is shivering in the woods above Maple Ridge.

By Martin Millerchip Contributing Writer

It’s the middle of December, it’s freezing cold, the actors are huddled by propane heaters and Weber has to worry about keeping her make]up warm enough to use. The life of a film

’ makeup artist has little to do with glamor.

Weber loves every minute.

- “I had three years’ experience at the time. Your nerves are going, the adrenaline is going. Myself, I like that.

“If somebody puts me on the spot, if the director or unit head is waiting for me, you get. all nervous but that’s part of the rush. It’s really rewarding for me.”

Weber is describing her experiences on the set of the action flick Crying Freeman and what she recalls as one of her bigger makeup challenges.

“They had filmed the end ofa fight scene and this guy had cuts.in a certain way, dribbles of blood down his chest already established.

“I was on the second unit and four weeks

b

later we start filming the beginning of the fight scene and had to get to the same point, match- ing cach cut and dribble perfectly.”

Playing with blood spatters is a long way from working as a secretary in Abbotsford after grow- ing up in the tiny farming community of Deroche, 15 km cast of Mission. Weber says the career shift was one of pure chance.

She knew she wanted a career change but had no spxcific ideas when she responded to a John Casablancas (modeling agency) advertisement.

She ended up taking five months of makeup classes at Blanche MacDonald Institute and Agency “because I liked what they offered and the way they presented it.”

Weber says she knew she had made the right choice almost the minute she arrived, acknowl- edging “I was onc of those people growing up who was always playing with makeup and hair and experimenting.”

By pure chance Weber did her first student film after only four makeup classes.

“T had no idea what to expect,” she laughs.

Tt turned out to be Mark Sawers’ film Stroke, which ultimately went to the Cannes Film Festival.

“That’s typical of this whole business. You never know what is going to be asked of you.”

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Wednesday, November 6, 1996 — North Shore News ~ 18

1

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

MAKEUP artist Yvonne Weber examines one of her creations for the new Canadian play Spook. Weber never wears her finished product, preferring the actors to inhabit the spirit of the mask. “I treat them like my kids. My place is to create you and take care of you.”

After graduating, Weber moved into town and “took every job I was offered” for the expe- rience. Commercials, music videos and film call-

outs, including Final Cut with Sam Elliot, cul-.

minated in a nine-month stint with Showboat as Cloris Leachman’s makeup artist.

Weber has obvious affection for Leachman, whom she describes as having “huge heart,” but says the star was also one of her more difficult subjects.

“She had all this wonderful energy and it became a job and a halfto get the makeup on her some days. She'd arrive 15 minutes before cur- tain, and the wig girl, the wardrobe girl and myself would have five minutes to do what, in a perfect world, should take 20.”

Weber left Showbout one month before it closed to work on the mini-series Titanic, which hits the local airwaves this week.

“T jumped one ship for another boat,” giggles Weber. “Working nine months in the theatre was great, but I really started missing film and TV.”

Nevertheless, Weber enjoys her work in the- atre and the option of seeing her creative designs at work the same night.

She has just designed the cerily discomforting masks and makeup for the Magic Owl produc- tion of Barry Levy’s new play Spook.

und

GALLERIES *

The script examines Canada’s complicity in the Vietnam War. through the nightmarish flash- " backs of one of the thousands of Canadian vol- unteers. [t’s not the first time she has designed . masks and she hopes to do: more sculpting, describing the process as “almost meditative.”

Weber would one day like to study wooden mask carving on Bali,

Presently though, she is beginning to teach others what she has learned along the way. Weber is currently running an cight-week course. at Capilano College in basic makeup and will be’ - giving three workshops in aging and latex pros- - thetics at the upcoming Theatre B.C.’s Backstage G6 weekend of workshops. . ~ Asked if she has any makeup tips for the aver- age reader, Weber laughs again.

“Te's rare that you put your own makeup on before you go to work at four in the morning for a5 a.m. call! 5

“Generally, less is better. The fashion maga- zines steer you so far off. No matter what kind of face shape you have there is always something beautiful there. There is so much beauty in everybody’s face.”

For ticket information about Spook call 205- 3000, For workshop registration at Backstage ’96 - call 602-9595.

Creative Gifts, juried sale of original art and craft work from B.C. artists, Nov. 27 to Dec. |, opening preview for

town listings

SEYMOUR Art Galiery holds a reception this evening from 7 to 9 p.m. tor Deep Cove artist, poet and playwright David Maclean, highlight- ing the launch of Maclean’s play The Sound cf Whaies in book form. Maclean’s artwork is on display to Nov. 24.

NEWS photo Terry Peters

Ferry Building Gallery: Artist’s: Evening Lecture and Discussion, second Tuesday of every exhibition, meet

artists, discuss © art-related issues, 7 p.m., $2 includes tefreshments. Info: 925-7266. Silk Purse Arts Centre: Graphite drawings by artist Keith Broad, Nov. 5-17. Warercolors by Bowen Island artist Mary Farris, Nov. 19-

Dec. 2. Craft Show, V1 a.m.-5,

p.m., Dec. 3-8, Dec. 10-15. Info: 925-7292.

Seymour Art Gallery: Abour Face, paintings and drawings by Deep Cove artist and play- wright David Maclean, open- ing reception is Nov. ‘6, 7-9 p.m., exhibition continues to Nov. 24. Cornucopia of

members and their guests is Nov. 27, 7-9 p.m. 924-1378, West Vancouver Museum and Archives: West Vancouver Collects! Exhib- ition includes Coast Salish baskets, West Vancouver Girl: Guides’ mementos, and a sec- tion on “modern” office tech- nology (turn of the century to the Second World War). Info: 925-7295. Dundarave Cafe: Elementals, West Coast wind and weather landscapes in watercolors by artist Ingrid Taylor, exhibition Tuns to Nov. 23, artist's recep- tion is Nov. 6, 5-6 p.m., every- one welcome. Info: 922-8696. The End Cafe: Mixed media

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