Monthly Archives: July 2017

"Local Star" mixed media art doll ballet dancer

A Dancer Art Doll and FA Show Closes

Last Week of Featured Artist Show at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts –

My featured artist show, Up Close, at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts will be coming down next Monday, the 24th of July.  I know there is street construction all along the gallery’s storefront, but there is still access all along the sidewalk closest to the buildings.  Many of my newest art doll sculptures will still be around HGA after the show closes, as they are incorporated into the gallery collection throughout the rest of the space.  So, your favorite may still be here.

Newest Art Doll is a Local Star

I titled my latest sculpture doll “Local Star.”  Star is a papier-mâché and paperclay figure over a wire armature.  I focus on the elements of movement and surface in this art doll piece.  Local Star is modeled after Degas’s 1876 painting “The Star”.  My Star is a slightly caricatured ballet dancer figure trying to emulate the Degas painting. Her unique costume and wigging are created from the pages of the local news paper.

"Local Star" mixed media art doll ballet dancer

Local Star

I play here a bit with the idea of the hometown dance/music/art studio, and the local mistress or master instructing all of their own little “local stars”.  They may or may not go on to be true stars, but they certainly are in someone’s eyes.  The local paper is just the place that would carry the announcement of her upcoming recital or show.

Star’s eyes are torch fired enamel.  The paperclay’s “antiqued” surface tone was created with a tea dye. All the sculpture’s paper and paperclay surfaces are sealed with decoupage medium.