Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/116876
Sarasota News Leader March 22, 2013 Page 73 Once used to scare people away, the Diablito, or Little Devil, masks produced by the indigenous Boruca people of the Puntarenas Province in southwestern Costa Rica have been revitalized by their makers to perform a very different function in recent years. A substantial amount of that trade happens in Sarasota during the annual Rainforest Masks of Costa Rica exhibition, which is hosted annually by Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. The latest such event ��� the ninth ��� began on Friday, March 8, and runs until Friday, April 19, featuring about 270 of the radiantly colored, Attracting the interest and patronage of art evocative masks that fall into three distinct collectors in the United States and worldwide, style categories. the masks have become a new source of prosperity for the community, creating enough THE MASKS commerce to support 17 families, or over 60 The more traditional masks portray the whimpercent of the families who live on the indig- sical Diablitos, while newer designs, known enous reserve where the masks are produced. as ���ecol��gicos,��� or ecological masks, depict Borucan artist Pedro Rojas Morales poses with one of his favorite Borucan masks, ���Three-horned, Three-frogged Combinado��� (top left), made from balsa wood and acrylic paint by Domingo Rojas Morales, at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. All photos by Arielle Scherr