Ms. Irwin was born in Chicago, Illinois, and has lived in California since 1971. She has studied various media and is mostly self-taught.

Thoughts:

My most recent work has been automatic drawing, primarily using ink and prism color. I start without a pre-conceived idea. My approach to painting the mask was similar: I just started to paint white lines on a black background. In my drawings, I usually end with an image or images within an image, which may suggest a story or stories, depending on how involved the work is. This mask was kept simple so as to be a decorative piece, but also to challenge the viewers to see more than just a mask.