The Embodiment Project is an out-of-body experience.

Literally.

Over the past six months, more than 100 Treasure Valley girls and women, ages 7 to 70, covered their torsos with plaster and sat still until the plaster dried to make self-torso-portraits. All were invited to take the hardened body casts home to decorate, paint or otherwise embellish to make them pieces of art.

The results of this "intergenerational women's art collective" will be on display Saturday and Sunday at the Henhouse, also home of Earthly Delights subscription farm, a local urban farm.

Local female musicians, dancers, poets and circus performers will be at the exhibit, "in celebration of all those who choose to express their own unique selves through art," said Casey O'Leary. She helped come up with the idea for the project, along with Chrystal Sowell, Jenn Siegel and Flora Lagattuta - local poets, artists and guardians of Mother Earth.

THE HOW AND WHY OF IT

It all started about four years ago with a group of women that met regularly to discuss a variety of women's topics. One hot topic: body image.

"Women feel inadequate because they don't look like whatever ideal they're comparing themselves to," O'Leary said. "The most crucial message here is that nearly every woman feels that."

The conversation evolved to a sort of brainstorming on how they could tackle the issue. Sowell had seen a torso display in Washington. "And pregnant women cast their torsos all the time, so we thought - why not?" O'Leary said.

The first casting party was a huge success. After the plaster cleared, "we had the idea that we should gather together all these unique yet similar body casts into a show that would bring awareness to women's body image issues, and it sort of exploded from there, as all succulent projects do," O'Leary said.

THE PROCESS

Casting a group of torsos requires some preparation, a trip to the pharmacy or medical supply shop - and a bit of mental fortitude.

"The most difficult step for most women is the first one: remove your shirt in front of a bunch of other women," O'Leary said. "From there, it gets messy and fun."

First is a layer of oil - cooking oil is fine.

Then those in the group help each other apply the water-soaked, plaster-infused gauze strips, "like the ones they make casts out of to set bones," O'Leary said.

The gauze strips are smoothed on in layers. Each woman chooses a position - standing up, lying down, arms in, out - whatever is most comfortable.

During the 45-minute (or so) process, the cast hardens and, as long as the oil has been liberally applied, begins to pull away from the body.

"Otherwise, she receives a free body wax! Yow!" O'Leary said.

"It feels funny," Sowell said. "Stillness-invoking while the cast is on and liberating once the thing is removed."

The cast is carefully removed and admired "as the gorgeous sculpture it is," O'Leary said.

Sowell said it's fascinating to see other women's faces when the cast is pulled off and they see their body in 3-D for the first time.

"Most women find it fun and intriguing," Sowell said.

AFTERCAST

The point of the project is to help women embrace the often difficult task of loving, respecting and owning their bodies, O'Leary said.

Torso caster and project organizer Flora Lagattuta found the process liberating.

"This project is a way for me to let go of that voice in my head that tells me I'm not beautiful because I don't look like anyone else. Each woman is unique, yet we all share the same burdens as women. It's up to us to join together instead of dividing ourselves, to celebrate each of us as the precious gems that we are."

Sowell said the project's message is that art can be a healing process and that all women's bodies are beautiful and richly fantastic no matter what shape, size, age, race, or background.

O'Leary, who has gone through the casting process twice, said her first experience was different than her most recent.

"Before, I focused entirely - and angrily - about how women's bodies were objectified and consumed by mass media and unrealistic fashion culture.

"Since then, I have come to farming as a livelihood and have discovered what a capable and useful tool my body is, what good work it does to feed me and my neighbors, to care for the Earth," she said. "In finding its purpose, I have released much of the loathing I felt for its superficial shortcomings. It's been a very empowering transformation."

And that's the message O'Leary and the other 100 or so women and their torso sculptures hope to convey with the Embodiment Project.

"We are not alone," O'Leary said, "and by uniting to deal with these externally imposed issues, we're creating a supportive community that can break out of the cycle of superficial self-criticism and move into the process of figuring out how we can use our bodies well - to create the kind of world we want to live in."

PARTY ON

"Using one's own body as a canvas creates dynamic possibilities," O'Leary said.

Look for torso sculptures fashioned into everything from "humanure machines" to exquisitely painted pregnant bellies.

In addition to the art show and ongoing entertainment, women-centric workshops will be featured on Sunday. But it is an all-gender affair.

"Men are welcome and encouraged to attend," O'Leary said.

"It is vital that men understand the complex issues women have about their bodies, and get exposed to women as the subject, rather than the object, of art, so they can be better allies for the women in their lives."

Jeanne Huff: 377-6483