Lumina Fibre Arts Gallery is located in East Malvern, a suburb of Melbourne Australia, where I live. Owner Suzanne Vial thought up a cool way to raise money for breast cancer research. She sold kits that included a basic 6-inch tall doll shape made of wood and wire and a few pink fabric scraps. Each kit included a discount voucher that could be used in the shop later by the kit purchaser, a means of thanking them for participating. Crafty women - quilters, patchworkers, embroiderers, feltmakers, dollmakers and more … bought the kits and dressed their dolls however they chose. Then we brought the dolls back to the gallery for a big display and sale. Each doll is priced at $25. There were over 200 dolls, so between the kit sales and the doll sales, there’ s lots of money for breast cancer research. We were each provided with a label which included space for a dedication to someone who had had, or was currently experiencing breast cancer.

My sister Yvonne is visiting from Wisconsin and she couldn’t have come at a better time. I have had three surgeries related to my own breast cancer and a bout of pneumonia since mid-August. I’ve been in hospital more than I’ve been home lately! But while in for the first of those surgeries, we got the news that our sister Patricia. who lives in Chicago. was going to require a mastectomy for three pre-cancerous tumors in the ducts of one breast.

Her tumors are different to the type I had, and we don’t seem to have a genetic leaning towards breast cancer in our family. But with five girls in our family, and one in twelve women experiencing breast cancer these days, it is not so extraordinary. Luckily, hers was caught earlier than mine. Unluckily, she will lose a breast. (But luckily, she will have a reconstruction and a boob lift on the other side and her boobs will have a lovely “lift” that will last much longer than any of her sisters - including the three younger than she!)

Still, does anyone ever want to have a breast cut off? I decided to make my doll a pirate, and dedicate her to Patricia.

When I had my lumpectomy six years ago, I started to regard my scar as a “pirate scar”. It was strangely comforting to imagine that I’d received it during a pirate battle. Aye, matie. Then I learned that Susan Jeffers, author of “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway”, had had a mastectomy and thought of her scar as a pirate scar, too. I was not alone in my weird fantasy.

As Yvonne was here on the day I decided to dress my doll, and I wasn’t feeling confident about making the pink satin blouse, I asked if she’d do that part of the project. It is beautifully made! (I won’t tell you how long it took her, but it was a l-o-n-g time.) The satin was the only fabric we used from the kit. Everything else came from my stash. I had the cutlass in my stash of miniatures. I made the parrot from small pom poms, bead eyes and bits of felt. The pink felt hat was fun to make, too. In fact, when Vonnie and I had finished the doll, I wished we could do some more!

My friend and neighbor, Roby, was the first to see the finished doll and demanded to buy it on the spot. So it was delivered to the gallery, pre-sold.

There were such a lot of cute pink dolls on display when we went to the opening yesterday. If you live in the area, drop into Lumina Gallery where “pink” is being celebrated for the entire month of October.

(This post relates to Art Doll number 39, Pink Pirate, October 08, by Stacey Apeitos.)

This is a piece called Fundamental Infant. It is a reflection of some of my fundamental values, namely Loyalty, Honesty and Commitment. At times, values such as these can be misplaced (for numerous reasons) and inevitably lead to disappointment and frustration. However, in this case I refer to these values in the context of a relationship that is perceived as trusting and “safe.”

In recent times, experiences within significant relationships of mine have  made me question my adherence to and rationale for upholding these values. A colleague whose opinion I respect, suggested that striving to uphold and live by these values in relationship with another was naive and child-like. I don’t argue that the human condition is anything but fallible. However, I continue choosing to invest in certain values that provide optimism, meaning and hope for a positive future. Naive…?
 

Fundamental Infant, is child-like in appearance and represents the aforementioned values. He is made from papier mache and coated with blue tissue-paper, paint and varnish. He stands approximately 51 cm. 

Perhaps my colleague’s comments were a reflection of being jaded and cynical when it came to important relationships?

Feedback is most welcome…

 (This post relates to Fundamental Infant, Arrigo Dorissa art doll #15, September 2008).

Well, it’s been a long time between posts. Please excuse me. I have been on vacation. First I went to Indiana to visit my wonderful parents and siblings and extended family. Then my husband and teenage son and I stopped in HAWAII and FIJI on our way back to Australia. Wow! We were gone a month. It was the best vacation EVER.

I did think about the 100 Art-Doll-Challenge while I was away. I even took a little craft kit with me to make some art dolls when I had some spare time. But I never had spare time. We were so busy every day and I was so exhausted every night!

Let me tell you how delighted I was to find, in our hotel room at the Fijian resort, a framed collection of carved wooden art dolls. I was enthusiastically photographing them when my son asked why I found them so interesting. “Because they are art dolls, and I can use them for inspiration for the blog I write with Arrigo,” I replied.

My son laughed. “Those aren’t art dolls, they’re cannibal forks . I saw some at the market yesterday and they were labelled.”

I looked at the legs on the dolls. Hmmm, there were actually four spikes in place of two legs. My son was probably right. To make sure, I went down to an area near the main building where Fijian women had spread out blankets and were selling local handcrafts. “Is this truly a cannibal fork?” I asked, picking one up.

“Oh yes,” answered the woman, “But don’t worry. We haven’t practiced cannibalism for several years. These days we use them for barbecue and salad.”

So I bought myself a cannibal fork. And I knew my next art doll would have to be my own version of a cannibal fork - Since I bought the fork, the novelty teeth and the rubber skeleton in my local shopping center, I have called it the “South Oakleigh Cannibal Fork.

Strangely, I had already bought the teeth and a bag of skeletons months previously. I just thought they were funky and didn’t know why I needed them at the time.

I have not used the fork since making it - not for eating barbecue, salad OR people. But I bet it would work just fine on any of those delicacies.

So as Arrigo and I try to find a personal message in every doll we make, how does the archetypal Cannibal appear in my life?

I find the idea of cannibalism amusing - and my interpretation of a cannibal fork clearly echoes this amusement. Does the amusement hide my discomfort at the thought of eating human flesh .. or of being eaten by another person?

In truth, I would happily invite a psychic cannibal, like a psychic surgeon, to plunge a magical fork into my body and eat the cancer cells that reside in the lining of my lungs. Yes, I have cancer - secondary breast cancer. It was diagnosed a few months ago. I have not mentioned it on this blog because … well, I had my reasons. But now seems to be a good time.

If some cannibal could eat away those specific cells I don’t want and, perhaps, nibble a little off my hips and thighs for cosmetic purposes, well, that would be quite alright by me.

I am going into hospital this week for surgery. I’ve been doing visualizations about fixing or extinguishing the renegade cells, and about strengthening my immune system. Perhaps my new cannibal fork doll could help me visualize the healing process in a new way - with humor.

(This post relates to Art Doll number 38, South Oakleigh Cannibal Fork, August 08, by Stacey Apeitos.)

We’ve made it into Art Doll Quarterly - the August, September, October 08 edition - on the very last page.

The editor has written a little story about my Personal Pantheon of Virtues dolls that featured on this blog in March.

Pretty cool!

This is a great issue all around. As far as transformative art dolls go, check out “The Pink Artist Doll” article on page 50. The doll’s dress is made of 180 2″ squares donated by artists around the world.

The Pink Artist Doll was created by Monica Magness is to raise donations and awareness for breast cancer research, a topic near and dear to my heart (and also my scarred right breast).

Edvard Munch’s, The Scream has been referred to, not so much an incident or a landscape, but as a depiction of a state of mind. Fortunately, many versions of The Scream survived through time since painted, sketched and lithographed from 1893 to 1910. It wasn’t just the image that inspired my latest submission but the artist’s diary entry dated, 22 January 1892, a translation of which read:

“I was walking along the road with two friends. The sun was setting.
I felt a breath of melancholy –

Suddenly the sky turned blood-red. I stopped, and leaned against the railing, deathly tired -

looking out across the flaming clouds that hung like blood and a sword over the blue-black fjord and town.

My friends walked on - I stood there, trembling with fear - And I sensed a great, infinite scream pass through nature.”

My version of the Scream was made from papier mache and found objects that included woolen gloves, plastic teeth and a very old jumper that someone once gave me - someone from my distant past who was once in part,  responsible for many of my screams.

(This post relates to The Scream, Arrigo Dorissa art doll #14, June 2008)

It’s been about six weeks since I posted a doll here at MyArtSelf.com. Yikes. Of course I would like to be more regular, but I had a lot on my plate - new priorities pushed their way into my life, and something had to give, for awhile at least, to make way for a different agenda. (I hope to reclaim my more regular blogging routine again, now.)

At any rate, this has prompted me to think a great deal about TIME so I thought it would be appropriate to express some of those thoughts in an art doll for the challenge.

“Time Flies” we say. So I’ve made a little clock with golden wings. If every person possessed a clock like this, we could be taken literally when we say that time flies away from us. I can imagine people running after their clocks with butterfly nets, trying to recapture their time.

But this little doll (Is it male or female? I think it could be either) has wisely sprouted wings. When time starts to fly, the doll takes flight, too. This wise doll has reached an old age because it has learned the art of adaptability.

So much research about longevity claims that “rolling with the punches” is a key attribute that helps people stay healthy and live very long lives.

Sometimes we have to change our routine. That’s okay. My routine has been all out of whack these past few months but I wouldn’t say I have been “wasting my time”. I just had to make some adjustments to my schedule. Some are temporary. Some are possibly long term. I’m rolling with the punches. I’m sprouting wings so when time wants to fly, I can join it.

I think this is the first cloth doll I’ve made for the 100-Art-Dolls Challenge. The body is a cloth wrapped wire armature and the clothes are made of commercial felt. The face is polymer clay molded in a press mold. The hands and feet are clay, too. The feather wings were purchased years ago in a craft shop when I thought I’d make an angel for my Christmas Tree. I like them better on this little person!

(This post relates to Art Doll number 37, Time Flies, June 08, by Stacey Apeitos.)

Lycanthropy is the supernatural ability of a person to transform into a wolf, or wolf-like creature. The term is derived from the Greek word: Lykánthropos. However there exists a psychological disorder in which a person believes he or she has transformed into an animal, often behaving like the animal into which they have transformed. The psychological disorder is typically referred to as clinical lycanthropy to distinguish the term from its use in fiction.

In one of my creative-writing-works-in-progress, a character lives with clinical lycanthropy. Although he is cared for by a loyal family member, his wanderings throughout one of Melbourne’s protected State forests, reinforces some of the local residents’ willingness to believe in the supernatural and irrational world. As stated, my writing project is a work in progress but it has prompted me to use another donated/discarded object into a project for the 100-artdolls challenge.

In an earlier post I expressed gratitude for the gifts people have donated to me for use as potential sculptures or parts thereof. When a friend recently offered me her child’s plastic doll that had been chewed by the family’s 16-month old Jack Russell-cross, I thought of the lycanthrope character in my story. The result became Lycanthrope: a reconstructed plastic doll held together and decorated with pieces of fabric, glue, plastic teeth, dog fur and human hair. He stands approximately 42 centimeters tall.

This Lycanthrope is not a metamorphosed wolf-like creature. Like the character in my book, which some people choose to perceive as a supernatural creature, he is in reality an individual in fancy-dress and dealing with the complexities of a psychological disorder. He represents decision of being drawn to the irrational or magical thinking over the rational and realistic; a concept that continues to intrigue me and it may prompt further sculptures for this project.

(This post relates to Lycanthrope, Arrigo Dorissa art doll #13, April 2008)

I have a thing for mermaids.

This pair of conjoined twin mermaids started life as an illustration I created on a cardboard book page shaped like a fish tail. You can see their heads fit into the tip of the tail; the caudel fin. Anyway, I decorated eight of these die-cut pages and sent them into a collaborative book swap. I really liked making the mermaids and took a long time using texture paste on their tail and hair, then painting with Lumieres …

But the other members of the book swap group apparently gave my mermaids the thumbs down. And the moderator kicked me out of the group. She said my work had attracted “considerable negative feedback”.

Ouch. That hurt.

I cut the conjoined twins away from their page so I could turn them into a paper doll, and threw away the rest of my copy of the collaborative book because, frankly, it made me sad to look at it. 

I gave the twins arms holding mirrors. People tend to regard the mermaid’s mirror as a symbol of her vanity. In fact, ancient mermaids did not have the association with vanity, or with luring sailors to their doom. The earliest mermaids were wise women and their mirrors symbolized the adage “know thyself”.

This doll represents two aspects of myself:

• The self that seeks respect from external sources
• the self that rises above the ego and creates without the need for positive feedback

Getting rejected by this group was painful, but I am grateful that it happened. It prompted me to think very deeply about ego and art. The conjoined mermaids may well be my favorite doll created for the challenge so far.

This post relates to Art Doll number 36, Conjoined Mermaids, May 08, by Stacey Apeitos.)

Mr. Elephant (who has a very good memory) is bound in swathes of bandage that assist with the containment emotional distress. It represents a psychological image of him, specifically the way in which he symbolises containment of pain and distress. Mr. Elephant’s self-reflection assists with self-regulating his emotional response to moments when memories of difficult past events emerge. When he reflects upon his history and how difficult events from his past influence his current emotional state, he imagines another bandage wrapped around a part of his body to help contain or self-regulate his thoughts and behaviours.

Self-regulation refers to psychological and behavioural processes individuals use to manage drives and emotions. Self regulation is an important psychological skill. It is a skill that can prevent people from throwing things when they’re angry, shouting abuse at others during disputes, spending too much money, indulging in too much alcohol or food, etcetera, etcetera. However there’s more to the concept of self-regulation than just describing it as having a level of will power.  It’s about keeping emotions in check and rationally responding to events past and present. Dr. Albert Ellis (the founder of Rational-Emotional and Behavioural Therapy: REBT) wrote extensively on the subject of self-regulation. In numerous books, Dr. Ellis provided descriptions of the positive outcomes of people who work at self-regulating their emotions and behaviours. He also linked self-regulation to self-defeating behaviours. That is, how emotional problems surface because people either do not know how to, or know how but do not try to think more clearly and behave in a less self-defeating manner.

Like many of my other sculptures in the 100-artdolls challenge, Mr. Elephant is made from papier-mâché and discarded objects including fabric and paint. He has polished glass feet and his eyes are plastic. He stands approximately 35 centimeters tall. Mr. Elephant does not represent forgetting or diminishing difficult experiences from the past. He represents the notion of being able to deal with pain and distress (working at and practicing self-regulating his thoughts and behaviours) in ways that do not have adverse effects upon him.

(This post relates to Mr. Elephant, Arrigo Dorissa art doll #12, April 2008)

BOOK REVIEW: LarkBooks has a wonderful “500 series” presenting gallery images, one item per page . I like their book on polymer clay, which is several years old, now. There’s a new book being released on Handmade Books this July that I am anxious to see, too. The “500″ books make a real contribution by raising awareness of artisans working in innovative ways, often applying non-traditional materials and points of view.

The book 500 Handmade Dolls - Modern Explorations of the Human Form was published in 2007 and it does not disappoint. These are ART dolls and the range of styles and materials used is vast. There are some traditional dolls, to be sure, and lots of wild and “out there” dolls, too. Each has its own character and exquisitely demands your attention to the wordless story it has to tell. Some are beautiful, some humorous and some are hard to look at but you must; you must. Whether a doll maker or an art doll admirer, you will find the book inspiring.

The artists’ work I particularly liked include my old favorites: Akira Blount, Debra Dembowski, Charla Khanna. And I discovered some artists in the book that could become new favorites: Annie Wahl, Renne Whitaker Ensley, Dima, Mar Gorman, Sylvia Wanke.

Many of the artists have mulitple works scattered throughout the book and the index made it helpful to visit all their different pages so you could get a real sense for their personal style. As someone who is not yet working strictly in one style, this was a delicious exercise.

The whole area of handmade dolls or art dolls designed for people to look at (as opposed to dolls made for children to play with) is a pretty small niche, still. There are still more exhibitions of traditional handmade dolls - the beautifully dressed bisque reproductions, if you know what I mean - than dolls made in experimental or non-traditional forms. Maybe that trend is changing. Lark’s 500 Handmade Dolls is an important book honoring the work of hundreds of talented artists. I love it.