ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Why stress about buying a Halloween mask in time for trick-or-treating when you could make your own? Local artist and SFX enthusiast Clay Sayre will lead a mask-making workshop at Trackside Studios this weekend for motivated costumers.

Sayre’s class, “Make a Monster Mask!,” will be held from noon to 4 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 24, in the Trackside classroom, 375 Depot St.

Making monsters

For Sayre, monster masks have been a lifelong passion.

“When I was younger, my goal was to become a special effects makeup artist. It’s what I thought I was destined to be,” Sayre said. “So, I started teaching myself how to do it, and then that led to doing a lot of theater, which is all volunteer, but, you know, in most theatrical productions, the actors will do their own makeup, so they were more than happy to not have to do age makeup or lay a beard. So, I got to learn how to do all that stuff.”

Artwork by Clay Sayre on display at Trackside Studios.

Sayre’s work in theater led to a couple of TV shows and low-budget movies that “no one should ever see,” but the artist quickly realized that the repetition inherent to entertainment makeup was not what he wanted to do.

“That’s probably the biggest thing. I don’t really like doing the same thing over and over again and being a makeup artist, you know, you may have a cool prosthetic makeup you get to do, but the idea of having to do it 37 times in a row did not interest me,” Sayre said.

Instead, Sayre turned to a career in teaching before becoming a studio artist. Now, Sayre maintains a diverse portfolio of illustration, painting and even horror-themed coloring books at Trackside Studios, a RAD gallery where he teaches workshops like this one.

Trackside Studios is located at 375 Depot St. in the River Arts District.

Step-by-step SFX

For “Make a Monster Mask!,” Sayre will guide attendees through the process of making a mask with Monster Clay, a type of reusable sculpting clay perfect for making monster molds.

“We’ll go over ‘How do you use that clay? How do you begin sculpting?’ Like, ‘how do you come up with an idea and then sculpt it onto a face form?'” Sayre explained. “Because of the time and the cost, we’re not gonna do life casts of people. That would take too much time. We’ll just have kind of a generic face form that they can all use, and then they look over how to sculpt, what tools, all of that. Little techniques of sculpting.”

Participants in Sayre’s class will leave the workshop with their own mini mask and a mold to make more.

“They can take it home, and when it dries, they powder and peel it out, and then they have this little mask prosthetic,” Sayre said. “So, people may not leave with a full mask, but they will leave with something in time for Halloween.”

Trackside teachers

Julie Bell, an artist and co-owner of Trackside Studios, with her piece “Warrior, Too!”

While Sayre will lead his mask workshop this week, there are tons of different classes taught by Trackside artists at the gallery.

“We invite any of our artists that are interested to teach classes. We have watercolor, needle felting, acrylic and oil classes, wood burning,” listed Julie Bell, an artist and co-owner of Trackside. “I can’t even remember them all.”

For Bell, participating in the classes is as important for the gallery as the art on the walls.

“A lot of people want to get their hands dirty, and just do it themselves and try,” Bell said. “I just think that anytime that we can connect with our creative self is really important for ourselves and our friends around us. It can really be fun, too.”

For more information about Trackside Studios and its classes, visit www.tracksidestudios.com.