Colorado native Tonya Powers ND, RN, CNS, earned her Nursing Doctorate Degree from University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. The wife and mother of two is a registered nurse at Rose Medical Center Six North Suites, and a member of the Bioethics Committee at RMC and of the Colorado Health Ethics Foundation. "My dad died at home with my mother, sister, uncle and I at his side, peacefully and with dignity thanks to Hospice of Montgomery County, MD," Tonya says. The masks music staffrepresents a lifetime. The red and green represent heartbeats and breathing. The clock salutes the "many times since my father's death that I wish I could have stopped time," or reversed it.

The material for this mask is acrylic on plaster. The music staff "begins and ends" the piece, but is interrupted with green and red squiggles. The staff represents a lifetime. The red squiggle is my interpretation of the electrical impulses of the heart beating. The green squiggle represents the inspiration and expiration rhythms of breathing. I chose to make a clock because there have been many times since my father's death that I wish I could have stopped time, taken words back or held on to a moment or a memory a little longer. Now that my dad is gone, I catch myself wanting to call him on the phone to brag about my children or ask his advice about something. It is those moments when I wish I could reverse time.