Tag Archives: mixed media

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.

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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.

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Art Dolls New, Old, and Visiting a Show

Here are the latest two art dolls to emerge from my studio this week.

art doll Mia

Mia

art doll mystic

Mystic

 

Mia is a throwback to an earlier piece titled Mimi. As with the earlier piece, Mia is a simple figure seated on the ground that I have had a bit of fun costuming.  Rich fabrics and “jewels” are contrasted with her very steampunk aluminum arms and copper neckline.

Mystic is a seated figure that started out in one direction, and ended up somewhere else as a result of the fabrics I chose.  Mystic also gained quite the collection of jewelry as it seemed almost necessary to match her fabulous copper shoes.

As I wrote about last week, these two new dolls, along with my entire collection of figures currently available for sale, will be attending the R.O.S.E. International Doll Show Down East – June 18-22 at the Sheraton Imperial in Durham.  This will be an interesting experience for me as it is both the first doll show I am bringing my work to, and it is mainly geared at an audience that collects/creates sculpted baby dolls.  My pieces may very well be the only art dolls there.  Only time will tell if that distinction will be good or bad, but the fact that a doll show was being held 30 minutes from home seemed to beg me to at least check it out. If you are in the area and want to check  it out, I’ll be at table #36 on the exhibit floor.

 

 

New Work, Shows, and the Concrete

This week I am turning my attention and energy into high gear getting ready for a couple of shows.  The first will take place in a couple of weeks in Durham NC.  It will be the first time I have attended an art doll show.  Even though most of the dolls  that will be in that show are not the type of figure sculpture art dolls that I create, it will still be interesting to see how they are received by a non-gallery audience.  It is also a very different display format than I am used to, so my mind is full of table display ideas and projects too,

That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy in the studio as well.  I have two dolls that I have just completed this week.  The first is simply named Lily.  She is seated and appears to be thinking about something. She has an expression as if she is just about to tell you something very interesting.

art doll Lily

Lily

The second doll is Garden 1.  She is the first of a series of indoor or outdoor art doll sculptures.  I cast her torso in concrete using a discarded beverage bottle for a form. I think she would look as great sitting within a flower bed, as on some indoor display space.

art doll Garden 1

Garden 1

Both will make their debut in Durham at the Down East Doll Show June 18-22.

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Another Mask and a Bit of Concrete

I had started working on a second doll with an enameled mask even before the recent sale of her predecessor “Carnivale”.  Taking my hand hammered copper faces to a new place with the addition of torch fired enamel provides a multitude of new design and color options.

Mirro Mask art doll

Mirror Mask art doll

This doll, Mirror Mask, has an additional bit of intrigue for the viewer.  Where Carnivale was wearing her mask and only allowed a glimpse of her enameled eyes, Mirror Mask has pulled her mask slightly away from her face.  What the viewer glimpses behind is their own image in a mirror. With her hair piled high and bejeweled, and her peacock hued gown and walking stick, she’s obviously off to a very interesting ball.

The other piece I’ve been working on this week goes in a different direction.  While still technically an art doll, she will be one that can reside inside or out.  I have several shows coming up in the next few months, and at least one takes place in a garden setting.  I’ve decided to create some “garden dolls” for that show. the torso of the first is cast concrete utilizing a recycled plastic bottle for my form.  She is still curing in my outside workspace, so ill wait to share an image of her in my next post.

 

 

Fine Feathered Friend

Bird girl art doll on swing

Bird Girl

Sometimes an idea for an element of a piece becomes a project unto itself. Such was the case with my newest, Bird Girl, art doll. For this figure I decided that I wanted to try to create fabric feathers. I did a quick Google on “how to make fabric feathers” and was off.

The actual technique is not too difficult. For each feather, you stitch together two rectangles of fabric up their centerline with a zig-zag stitch. Then you cut your desired feather shape out. The last step is to fray out the feather shape from the edge to your center zig-zag line… This is where the process became a project. Some fabrics, like burlap, fray very easily. I chose some cottons that I would guess are somewhere in the middle of the “fray-able” spectrum. It still took me sitting for hours with needle in hand teasing the threads off of the edge of each feather against a tray on my lap.

Am I happy with the results? Yes. Will I most likely do it again? Yeah. Will I choose fabrics that are a bit easier to fray? Quite possibly.

Bird Girl is now happily perched on her swing, and I’m on to new friends.

New and a Redo

“Night Queen” is the newest addition to my art doll figure sculptures.

Night Queen

Night Queen

Occasionally, I let a piece design itself.  More often than not I create from a detailed sketch that has been reworked several times until I know not only the look, but also the way and order in which I will approach the piece.  Perhaps it was because I was also working on a larger commission sculpture at the same time, where I was refining, and working according to the patron’s vision as much as my own.  So for this doll, I hammered a face, enameled some nail heads for eyes, and created a basic body. From there I added and subtracted until I found I had a doll that felt like she was complete.  I must admit that working this way takes me a bit out of my comfort zone, and probably takes longer as well.

Lacing II

Lacing II.

This second doll might look familiar to some.  It is the same “Lacing” piece that I created several months ago.  One of the challenges to working in mixed-media is that materials sometimes do unexpected things.  The original version had a strange little smudge on her face that I cleaned off.  Though I worked very carefully with a cotton swab, it seems a bit of cleaner touched the edges of her then light colored felt hair.  The edge looked just the slight bit dingy, so “Lacing” came home from the gallery, and received a new coiffure.

I guess sometimes the artist is controlled by the work more than he/she knows.