Tag Archives: art doll

Art Dolls Around the Gallery

I find myself working at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts today.  I always try to take images of the art around the gallery when I’m here, and make posts to share all the wonderful work a visitor may discover.  More often than not, I take shots of the work of artists other than myself.  Today I thought I would walk around and look at my art dolls with the eyes of a visitor to the gallery.

art doll Nobody's Fool in gallery

Nobody’s Fool

Nobody’s Fool is sitting on a high pedestal grouped together with others that all have art dolls on them.  She appears to be holding court from that position.

 

art doll Future Thoughts in gallery window

Future Thoughts

Future Thoughts is sitting in the gallery’s front window. From this angle she appears to be a bit sceptical of the viewer. Good thing most visitors look at her from the front through the window.

 

art doll Fly Girl in gallery

Fly Girl

Fly Girl stands beside a beautiful carved pottery vase.

 

art doll Bird Girl in gallery

Bird Girl

From this angle, I think that my art doll Bird Girl looks a bit surprised that you can look down upon her swing.

 

art doll Lily in gallery

Lily

Lily is perched on a shadow box on the wall in the print room where along with cards and prints, a visitor to HGA can find an example of work from each of the member artists and handy bio-cards that describe the work of each.

 

art doll Steam in gallery

Steam

Steam is in the same pedestal grouping of art dolls as Nobody’s Fool.  She looks commanding as well.

 

art doll Ziggy in gallery

Ziggy

Art doll ZIggy adds a bit of sparkle to a pedestal by the wall.

There are a few more of both my art dolls and other sculptures around the gallery, but I guess you’ll have to stop by to see the rest.

Go back

Your message has been sent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Barre-ing” Degas

My latest art doll is “Barre-ing Degas”, and yes, she is a steampunk riff on one of Edgar’s Degas’ dancer pieces titled “Dancer at the Barre.” I like the behind-the-scenes casual feel of that painting.  The young dancer pictured is not performing some grand athletic move, or spectacularly costumed.  She is instead relaxed against the barre and appears to be contemplating the angle of turn out of her foot.  You get the feeling that you are looking at a candid photograph rather than a posed composition.

art doll Barre-ing Degas

Barre-ing Degas

My figure has a few more bells and whistles (gears and rivets, actually) in her attire, but in her defense, she is much smaller and needs to work harder to attract attention.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Where Did That Post Go?

As I was adding some images to my Art Doll page, I noticed that the post being shown as my most recent, was from a couple of weeks prior.  My last post “A Pair and Repair” was back in the draft folder.  Now, I’m not sure how that happened, but I’m guessing it occurred somewhere between using a laptop to do one thing, a tablet another, and updating in between the two. So, I decided to share the new piece from this week, and re-share last week’s too.

This is Nobody’s Fool, and you can see she is just that. Stitching the hat was the greatest challenge with this art doll. I actually made two, as the first wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be.

seated art doll titled Nobody's Fool

Nobody’s Fool

Last Week, I shared “Future Thoughts”.  It is the second in a series.    This piece takes the concept of looking forward while keeping an eye on the past (“Driving in Reverse”, the first in the series) a step further and is concentrating firmly on the future.

art doll Future Thoughts

Future Thoughts

The second art doll from last week was “Fly Girl”, decked out in her brass goggle steampunk finest.

Art doll Fly Girl

Fly GIrl

I also gave an update on my three out-door Garden Dolls at the UNC Botanical Gardens show.  Two required some minor repairs, as overly interested visitors tried to remove parts and pieces.  One of the three, “Tend” has already sold and will be going to a new home when the show closes.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Three Dolls Going to a Garden Party

If you been following along with my progress on some outdoor figure pieces, your patience can finally be rewarded.  I will be installing three “garden dolls” at the UNC Botanical gardens tomorrow in the annual Sculpture in the Garden invitational show.  But, before they take the trip to Chapel Hill, here’s a few shots of them in my own garden.

Garden art doll figure - Sow

Sow

garden art doll - Tend

Tend

garden doll - gather

Gather

The reception for the Sculpture in the Garden show is Saturday from 4:30 – 7pm. The show will be on display throughout the fall. There is always a wide variety of media, styles, and sizes of work represented.

Go back

Your message has been sent

More Work in Progress

The next steps in creating my art dolls depend on where and how the sculptures will ultimately be displayed. I have been working on both outdoor “garden dolls” and some new pedestal top pieces for gallery display.

A garden sculpture obviously needs to be constructed to withstand the elements, and live happily outdoors. The skeleton of the figure below titled “Tend” will be kneeling in a garden space tending to the plants around her. Her dress will consist of cast concrete that will fill up the chicken wire frame.

Skeleton form of garden doll "Tend"

Skeleton form of garden doll “Tend”

“Contemplate” is a gallery doll that is a reimagined version of an earlier piece titled “Driving in Reverse.” This steampunk styled doll has a padded wire skeleton and hand stitched clothing. A pair of boots and some additional mechanical elements will complete this piece.

Art doll "Contemplate" still under construction.

Art doll “Contemplate” thinking now about some shoes and accessories.

Next time… some finished pieces to look at.

 

Go back

Your message has been sent

 

 

 

Works in Progress

Travels during July kept studio time down a bit, so I thought I’d share shots of art dolls in progress this week.  I’m busy working on a couple of outdoor “garden dolls” for a fall show, and building gallery inventory back up from recent sales.

Each face starts as a disk of copper that I cut from 16 oz stock, flame anneal, and hammer into shape. Cutting, sanding and polishing bring each face to completion.

annealed copper disk with face outline

Annealed copper disk with face outline

Hammering face into shape

Hammering a face into shape

Copper face after shaping and polishing

Copper face after shaping and polishing

Eyes are fashioned from copper or brass headed fasteners onto which I torch fire powdered glass enamels.  By mixing opaque and transparent colors I can achieve an infinite variety of colors.

Hands I shape from copper tubing hammered and cut to form the sculpture’s wrist, palm, and four of the fingers.  Wire brazed into a notch cut on the side of the palm forms each thumb.

Close up of the hands of "Whee!"

Close up of the hands of “Whee!”

Next week I’ll share a few more bits and pieces.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Show Tonight

Just enough time this afternoon to send out one additional “hope to see you” for this evening, Friday from 6-9. All of the gallery rooms at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts have been rehung so there is new work to be seen everywhere, not just my new art dolls and the wonderful new paintings by Linda Carmel, and Marcy Lansman. The show, Attention to Detail is bright and bold.

Attention to detail

A few sneak peek shots of Attention to detail

All of Hillsborough will be out and about during Last Friday. music on the courthouse steps starts at 6. And there will be lots to do and see as usual.

Got to go and get the second batch of cheese straws out of the oven for he reception tonight.

An Invitaion

Postcard for July Featured Artists at HGA

Postcard for July Featured Artists at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts

It’s time once again to invite you all to the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts to see what I’ve been working on in the studio. Of course if you’ve been reading along here on the blog, you’re already quite up to date, but nothing is better than seeing the work in person. Not to mention, a mid-summer opening during the Last Friday festivities in Hillsborough always provides lots do do and see.

As you see on the postcard for Attention to Detail, my figure sculpture art dolls are featured this year along side the paintings of Linda Carmel, and Marcy Lansman. Stop by and find how we each attend to detail in our work.

The show installs next Monday, and will accompany an entire gallery re-hang, so there will be new work from all HGA artists.  The opening reception is next Friday, July 25th from 6-9 pm.

I’ll be keeping this post short, as I have just enough time to get out in the studio and finish up one or two pieces that I left unfinished while away traveling last week.  Check out all of the new work next week, talk to an artist or two, and enjoy some refreshment. See you there.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Back to the Gallery

My weekend forray to the land of re-born baby dolls was an interesting experience. I must admit that the ultra realistic baby dolls there were not my cup of tea, but there does seem to be a very dedicated group that practices the craft and/or collects the “babies” as they refer to them.  My sculptured art dolls were most definitely different from everything else there, and they did receive a very positive response from those walking around the exhibit floor.

Yesterday, several of my pieces returned to their usual venue, the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts.  They do look much more at home atop their pedestals than all grouped together on a table.  With a little visual room the viewer is allowed more time to take in all the details of each figure.

art doll Steam wall display

Steam wall display

I did take the time to do something different with the display of one of the returning dolls. In the gallery we have a room that we use to display member artists’ printed pieces like prints, note cards, books etc. Along the walls of this room, we have acrylic card holders that hold artist bio cards for visitors to help themselves. Above each card bin there is a bit of wall space where each of us can display one or two small works.

I usually hang a mixed media wall sculpture, but this month I decided to put one of my seated art dolls there. Steam looks pretty comfortable atop her shadow box display, and the interior of the box provides a great space to store the display block she usually perches on, and her information label.

Now it is time to get back into the studio and create a few more pieces for my featured artist show that opens at the end of July.  I’ll be sure to give you a sneak peek right here.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Taking My Art Dolls on the Road

This is the week that me and my art dolls are traveling to our first doll show.  The “road” in this case is only taking us 30 minutes away to Durham, but even short travel requires planning. Since the vast majority of my creations end up on pedestals in the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, I don’t often have to think about display and sales materials.

This weekend my gallery will be a table top. This limited space requires a bit of work. Of course the most important element will be the sculptures themselves.  Some of the art dolls I will be taking are already on display, so I will be pulling them for the weekend. I picked up Garden Girl II from the UNC Botanical Gardens gift shop where she has been one of several small sculptures of mine available. For my pieces currently still on their Hillsborough Gallery pedestals I’ve created tent cards with images to take their place when I remove them tomorrow..

Garden Girl II art doll and tent cards

Garden Girl II and tent cards for gallery

Some pieces require special hardware.  Three of my art dolls are hanging pieces with nowhere to hang them on a table. I solved this problem with a little time in my metal studio. I welded a little swing set type display for them to hang from. The challenge with this piece of hardware was to make sure it was strong and sturdy enough while still remaining relatively unobtrusive.

Display stand for hanging dolls

“Swing set” display stand for hanging dolls

Many other dolls have either custom stands I have constructed for them, or display blocks that they sit on.  Rounding out our travel preparation list will be sales materials, artist cards and promotional materials, information about the Hillsborough Gallery, and all my packing and transport stuff.

I think that I have everything together, but I may just check my list once or twice more.  As I wrote last week, if you would like to visit us on the road we will be at the R.O.S.E. International Doll Show Down East this Thursday through Sunday, June 18-22 at the Sheraton Imperial in Durham.

Go back

Your message has been sent