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(Image Above)"Pendant discs (Keman),Konjiki-do Twelfth century. Keman are believed to have originated as floral wreaths hung as offerings in Buddhist temples. In this particular image,elaborate openwork design in metal of leaves and flowers are two bird women bearing gifts for the Buddha: these are the Karyobingas,or cuckoo-like creatures with delicate voices.In shallow relief,the birds have a warmth and vivacity in contrast to the hardness of the metal..' 
SF Chronicle: Sept 2008 Bolinas' always mesmerizing performance art hero, Sha Sha Higby -  -- The Iron Muffin/Glass Jungle II, created and performed by Sha Sha Higby, at Exit Stage Left. It's rare when a performer of Higby's international stature appears at the Fringe, and this is a classic of her unique sculptured-costume performance art. Higby moves fluidly inside an intricate, lacy mesh of twigs, batiked fabrics, leaves, seedpods and large and tiny masks, overlaid with kaleidoscopic projections, until her nearly naked body emerges from its evocative cocoon.

“The Glass Jungle “When Sha Sha Higby was a child, she once sewed a dress with 25 petticoats of different colors, so she could lift each skirt and become something else. Today, the theme of transformation-and the concept of being hidden under massive quantities of material-remains prevalent in her work, though she's upgraded the media. Wood, leaves, paper, silk, lacquer, ceramics and gold leaf form her fantastical costumes, while Noh theatre, Butoh and shadow puppetry inform her performances, which could be labeled as "sculptural costume in motion." In fact, Higby's performances are so ethereal that she sometimes can't find the words to describe them: "The theme is that there's something beyond our own world." Her latest transformation is The Glass Jungle, inspired by a Buddha with glass eyes she saw on a trip to Burma. "The eyes were blown at a factory in the jungle," she explains. "There was glass everywhere. The title just popped into my head." Evoking the desert atmosphere of glass and the different seasons, the piece combines her White Ash on Water (2004) costume and her new Glass Jungle costume, a skeletal design comprised of fine metal, bamboo and felt, among other things. Like the petticoats, she will shed the first to reveal the second. "Then another masked head will float down from the ceiling to top it off like a flower emerging, blooming, fading, dissolving, returning. I want my audience to feel all these emotions. " She adds, "My work is never linear. It's very open, so people can interpret it differently." See if you can find the words to describe it.” -Karen McKevitt courtesy of www.theatrebayarea.org visit www.shashahigby.com. 
Reviewer: Been there... 5 Stars “If Sha Sha Higby were in Japan she would be designated as a national treasure. Having said that , this show will not work for everybody. There is no discernible plot or agreement at the end as to "what it was about". It is a slow unfolding of almost primordial , dreamlike , other worldly images and sounds. The ability to bring a meditative state of mind to this performance is a definite plus. If you can slow down internally for the 60 minutes the show runs ,and allow it to just pass over/through you it can be a deeply moving , almost to the point of tears , experience. There is no explanation. A rare opportunity to see her perform close up.”

"Like a dream of something always known" (Independent Weekly, NC)  "Her art seems to flow from her soul." (Bali Post, Indonesia) "The shimmering air makes one dream about dreaming... indescribably precious." (The Straits Times, Singapore) "Higby's art is poetic and potent with hypnotic intensity." (San Jose Mercury News, San Jose, CA)  "Higby weaves a web of mystical fascination." (Het Laatste Nieuws, Belgium)  "Full of metaphors, fantasy and movement." (Smena, Slovakia) "A Higby performance is a wondrous event_slight and shaded,the gestured movements revelatory,always in transition....They are works that demand attention...,her multiple metamorphosed are powerful testimony to the achievement of theater,of its metaphorical and ritual power,without peer to the arts....In mask andcostume evocative of Balinese dance -theater. Higby punctuates her movements,her choreographic abstractions accenting the formal ambiance,grounding her work in a miraculous authentic universe...humour weaves its way through the performance....each performance is a discovery for Higby and the audience.. the costume"s complexity is balanced by the performance's mystical simplicity,which has no dialog."-(Ornament Magazine)  "Weaving a web of metaphorical fascination,Higby's art seems to flow from her soul: approaching dance through the medium of sculptural costume, she stages poetic haunting dramas-enlightening and stirring our spirits,to appreciate the timeless eternity..."(San Jose Mercury News) "Last,and painfully far from the least,are the cumbersome,yet metaphorically hyperfunctional outfits of Bolinas,California artist Sha Sha Higby. Think Dark Crystal meets H.R.Geiger on the set of a Brothers Quay movie produced in Tibet. Combining elements of sculpture,puppetry and windchimes. Higby's work has that "just got back from Hades" look sure to keep away those courtiers who just aren't deep enough..." (Pueblo Independent)

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