October Greetings

Following a brief period of (for Berkeley) hot hot Indian summer, we are now face to face with October, and that means we can't really deny that fall is here. To mark the change of season the store transformed itself over the weekend, upstairs and down, thanks to the concerted efforts of dozens of shop gnomes, their gallery elf friends, and a handful of stalwart women and men.

The people at Castle in the Air tend to be visible more often than their fairy counterparts, but even we humans are starting to become unrecognizable as we don the masks that now fill every available nook and cranny downstairs. Walking through the store was like being at a costume party over the weekend, with fantastic beasts rubbing elbows with Commedia dell'Arte characters, all of them posing before the mirror or calling out to friends to come see their new face. Even Leopold the Lion has ventured down from his catwalk to get into the fun, prowling the shop floor with a basket of masks held in his teeth for anyone brave enough to pluck out their favorite.

The carnival atmosphere continues upstairs in the gallery, which has transformed as well, this time in celebration of the new exhibit, Sinfonia d'Autunno. Mariaelisa Leboroni's embellished fabric prints hang gaily throughout most of the gallery, but we couldn't bring ourselves to take down the stunning framed prints that made up the preview for the show. If you didn't get to Castle in the Air to see the preview, there's still time to take it all in. And everyone should mark their calendars to join us in welcoming Mariaelisa herself the evening of Thursday, October 21, at the show's reception.

We ushered seasonal spirits into Castle in the Air with Alice Armstrong's Personal Shrine class yesterday, and the otherworldly mood continues tomorrow in Elisabeth Alexander's Silhouette Luminary class. Some of the ghoulish highlights from the rest of the month include Bat Wing Crown on October 17, Spider Web Necklace/Mask on the 20th, Haunted Mirror on the 23rd, Dia de Los Muertos Shadow Box on the 24th, and Whimsical Witches on the 27th. Maybe we'll see you -- or your autumn alter-ego -- at one of the classes.