Photographing Art Dolls

Yesterday my art doll collective (Chris Fondi, Joyce Compton & I) met all day to work on our portfolios.  Much of the day was spent preparing dolls for the photo shoot.  When the dolls were finally ready we set up the photo stage. It consists of a small seamless backdrop, an ironing board, two color balanced lights with reflector umbrellas and a tripod.  It doesn't take up much space when we aren't using it. The excellent photographer we had arranged to take photos of our dolls with a high quality camera did not arrive.  Joyce and I decided to have a go at taking our own photos with our point and shoot cameras.

 

In the photo below Joyce is setting up a shot of one of her dolls.

I'm working on a series of dolls that are busts.  This is a departure from my previous work.  The heads are larger and the proportions of the piece must include consideration of the supporting assemblage structures. I found that the photos help me see the proportions and details of my work with a fresh eye.   There is something about photographs that lets me see my own work critically.

I like this detail shot above because it shows personality and subtlety in the face.  The character has a dynamic gaze,  But in the photo of the entire bust below the face is washed out and dull.  I either have to improve my ability to manipulate the lighting or I must make dolls with more strongly defined detail in the faces.  I also realize after looking at this photo that the collar is simply not big or dynamic enough. This doll is not as close to being finished as I thought he was.  That's OK.  I like to push a design.

This is another doll in the bust series.  This detail shot is less successful than the previous one.  I think the eyes need to be further developed with needle sculpting and the application of eye lids for the doll to have a purposeful gaze.  The interesting thing (at least to me) is that I didn't pick up on this just by looking at the doll.

 I can say exactly the same things about the relationship of this doll's head to the supporting assemblage structure that I did about the previous doll. 

 This impish doll is also a work in progress.  The detail shot looks great. But  I'm not even going to show you the supporting assemblage structure until I rebuild it. 

Finally, there was a photograph that I was really satisfied with at the end of the day.  This is a doll that I made while working through my feelings about my sister's death. This is the first photo that I feel accurately expresses both the detail and the feeling of the doll. I will include it in my portfolio. 

The intention of the day was to generate a lot of photographs for our portfolios.  I didn't end up with a lot of usable photographs but I did find direction for my bust dolls.  I consider the day a success.

Assemblage Doll

I have finally finished the assemblage doll I began at the AFIC doll making conference in April.  The project began with the discovery of an old tool box in my attic.  It was signed by my great grandfather George Eckel. He survived a harrowing ocean crossing and shipwreck during his first year of life (1832).  He was a tin smith in the family tradition.  I wanted to do something to honor him and the Eckel history of making objects. 

Tool box after the clean up.

Sketch for the project

Torso in progress

I liked the instructor Susie McMahon.  She taught techniques for using paper clay & let us follow our muses.

Finished project.

A Day at Lillian St. Studio

The studio is almost ready for the machinery to be moved in.  While Elaine Fuller and I were off having fun at summer camp Beth Rogers was pushing progress at the studio.  She built a vertical lumber rack that immediately got filled in a with lumber to recycle into shop improvements and projects.  It won't take much to get it sorted out so that fresh lumber can be stored there also.

She built a wheeled cart for the chop saw.  A nice feature of this cart is the lumber supports on either side of the saw.  This makes it easier for one person to cut long pieces of wood.

One of the things I did today was start a couple foot stools made of recycled lumber.  I took them home to make some patchwork upholstery tops.  One will end up in my home and the other will be in the upstairs lounge at the studio. 

Beth realized that we needed a mirror the other day when she got some saw dust in her eye.  She hung a beveled mirror in the lounge.

Beth Rogers lounging in the lounge.

We installed an air conditioner and it made an enormous difference in the temperature.  It doesn't look like much but it's got it where it counts.

Meanwhile, down in the kitchen area Elaine Fuller was painting.  The bench and table are almost ready for use.  I will celebrate the first time we eat on the table.  We couldn't today because the paint on the bench was still wet. 

The cabinet that was hidden behind a wall has been repaired and painted.  It looks fabulous!  The microwave is in place.  Soon we will set up a mini fridge in the lower left.

The wall to the left has turned into Elaine's patchwork quilt in drywall scraps and paint.  I'm curious to see how she will detail it.

I am so happy to have this studio!  I want to spend a lot of time working in it.  The couch will be my first serious project.

Leafkicker gets some Personality

Leafkicker has a past.  He began as a challenge from two friends to make a doll from a couple axes.  (Not sure why I had axes laying around in my basement.)  It's taken a while to figure him out.  His trunk armature is made from 2x4s.  The trunk surface is basket woven cloth.  The arms are aluminum armature wire with very long tubes of fabric scrunched onto them.  Leafkicker has had proportion problems.  This is his third head and second set of hands.  Enough already, I want to get on to sculpting the head and putting some hair on that head!  I'm really enjoying the emerging "know it all" personality.  I will force him to wash his feet before he goes out into public.

Windblown - Assemblage Cage Doll

This doll caught me by surprise.  I was playing with the idea of a cage doll.  It's built from an antique game board and doll dress that I inherited from family members, bamboo skewers, candles and wood bits.  It has something to do with the danger and the gift of our passions.  Clearly it is a shrine about potential energy, spark and revelation. That is what surprised me.  I wasn't thinking about making a shrine or fire.  I was thinking about how cages and fences keep things in or out.  This doll will probably have one more round of revision before it's finished.  I need to figure out what is contained in the cage.  And I would like to know more about who this doll is.

Marisol

Usually when I discover art that I really like I just add a link to the artist's website or blog on the side bar.  But Marisol is in her 80s and she doesn't have a web site.  As an alternative I'll do a post about her work and my musing.

Marisol is considers herself to be a Pop artist.  Pop art is a form of art that depicts objects or scenes from everyday life and employs techniques of commercial art and popular illustration.  Her subject matter is certainly about contemporary life and her style reminds me of assemblage illustration.  (Polly Becker is my favorite assemblage illustrator.)

I love the way Marisol sculpts each figure with varying degrees of abstraction.  Some parts are blocky and geometric with painted or drawn surfaces and other parts are rendered three dimensionally.  I find her decision making about these choices fascinating!  I also wonder if there is an element of social commentary in her work?

Was she influenced by this ancient style of Roman sculpture?

Exploring Cage Dolls

I've been thinking about cage dolls ever since I saw the description of Leslie Molen's doll making class at the upcoming Artistic Figures in Cloth conference.  Her doll is lovely and it references the Portugese and Spanish tradition of the Santos doll.  The image of a cage doll seems archetypal.  Perhaps it's a symbol of the things we keep within ourselves.

This cage doll is a work in progress.  It is made from an old game board filled with unlit candles.  The cage is made from bamboo skewers.  The dress is an antique doll dress that I inherited from someone in the family.  It's possible that my mother or sister made it. I'm still thinking about how to make the torso.  The theme that is evolving for this doll is perhaps repressed desires or living a life without inner fire/passion.  It would go up in a blaze if anyone actually put a match to it.  The edge of danger is intriguing to me.  These components have been sitting around my studio for years.  When I got the concept it came together quickly.

This cage doll is also in process.  I wanted to think about different approaches to making a cage.  This has a drum like quality to it.  The interior will be developed into an elaborate six pointed compass rose.  The torso of the doll is made from an armature wire and yarn basket technique.  The armature wire makes the curly parts of the collar.  The hat is just a lamp part.  The theme of this doll is something about exploration.

Assemblage Art Boxes

I've been working on assemblage boxes.  People have been giving me cigar boxes and I have lots of stuff to use up.  Its a good fit.  There are about ten boxes in the series so far.  This one has a Buddha head in a bird's nest with an assemblage of watch/clock parts below.  It has a meditative feel to it. Nice and quiet.

The second box contains a compact that has been converted into a biological clock.  The face is one of my cover buttons and the arrow on the clock is an old arrowhead.  The emerging theme in these boxes is choosing how we spend our time.  And how we each connect with archetypal images.

This last box looks further back in time to events that happened before I was born.  The telegram was sent by my father to my mother during WWII.  "You are more than ever in my thoughts at this time.  All well and safe.  Fondest greetings".  He was courting her in 1943.  Below the telegram is a Reischmark from the twenties when Germany experienced insane inflation.  I suppose this box is about how events from the big sweep of history connect with our personal histories. 

After the Show

I had planned to use photos from the reception for my show as the basis of my next post. But the student photographer who was assigned to cover the event has been slow to deliver. When she finally does I will put them up along with some musings about the event.

In the meanwhile I am getting back to work in my studio. The top photo shows a couple assemblage dolls in the early stages. They are on a workbench in my wood shop. The bottom photo shows a large doll that I am working on for the Fiber Arts Guild exhibit that is rapidly coming up.

I had hoped to have a whole weekend to myself for creative work but that is not to be. My aunt who is like a mother to me is ill and I am going to make some chicken soup and take it to her. She is in her mid eighties and cannot drive any more. She has always made the time for me when I needed her so I will make the time for her. If I miss the Fiber Arts Guild deadline I will just have to wait for the show in the spring.

Class with Linda & Opie at the SCC

Last weekend I took at class with Linda & Opie OBrien at the Society for Contemporary Crafts. It was a good class. I learned a lot about techniques and materials. They were available when I wanted their advice and they let me alone when I just wanted to work.

New Assemblage Doll

The Temperature Clown is the first in a series of clowns made from objects that measure things.  

Anthropomorphic Dolls

Athena's Muse with Devilish Friend.  Devilish Friend is made from a recycled child's dance recital costume.  

Steel Wool Mama Assemblage Doll

Steel Wool Mama is an assemblage doll begun in Robert Villamangna's class.  Her head is one of many that I made one day to practice embroidering features.  I "found" it in my studio.  It was a struggle to compose this doll but as soon as I put the steel wool on her head she came together for me.  Now I'm thinking about making her a little house.

Assemblage Art Doll

Robert Villamanga taught an assemblage doll class at the Society for Contemporary Craft. The class was fun and I learned that I like making assemblage dolls.  I was amused by the class talking about going to flea markets to find materials for assemblage art.  I don't need to do that because I have inherited stuff from people in my family.  I just need to visit my attic or my basement and I can find what I need to make dolls.  A lot of what I have are things that were important to my departed family members.  I can't bring my self to get rid of it all but I can make art out of it.   

Athena's Muse

Owls are a recurring theme in my work.  They make me feel connected to the spirit of Athena.   This doll is my submission to the Art Dollz anthropomorphic challenge.   

Old Gram Winter

Old Gram Winter is the winter challenge doll that I submitted to the Doll Street Winter Blues Challenge.  She is the antithesis of Old Man Winter.  She isn't mean and cold.  She appreciates the quiet beauty of snow and ice.   She has a stockinette body stiffened with Pavorpol and she is supported by an aluminum armature.  Her face sculpting is a trapunto technique. (edit 3/22/08 Gram is one of the winners of the challenge.)