Joyce ~ Is anybody interested in exchanging ideas about the startup process before they get started? I have scrapped several ideas at this point, and would like some interaction from you all before I get in to deep!
At this point, my worst habit is designing backwards...great for my business, but not good for this project! I've seen several completed dolls in my head, and worked out all the "special effects", but that doesn't help me with this project...hmm.
Jeanette ~ I'm also in the thinking stage. The biggest challenge will be to 'think minimalist'. Since all of you are the ones who will be adding to the doll, I have to keep reminding myself to think in terms of 'only the beginning'....hmmmmmmm...
Steve ~ I thought this might be a good time to ask a stupid question...What does the skeleton of an "essence doll" look like? I have never made a doll, and need some startup information. I know nothing, so any information will help. How big, or small do we want to go? I'm not at a total loss, I do have some ideas to get started, but I would really like to hear everyone else's plans and thoughts.
Does anyone have any photos of past dolls to give me some idea of construction? I am an engineer type person, and I like to have a carefully thought out plan. I think I can probably throw that out the window on this project, but I still would like to see and hear at least a general idea of what everyone else thinks. I like drawing and carving caricatures, so I was thinking of making my doll a caricature of some real person. I know that the progression of people to work on my doll have the artistic license to change anything they want, and "make it their own", or not! I guess the whole idea is to plant a seed and watch it grow into something no one expected. This will be a very different approach to "art" than I'm used to, but I can handle it!
Lee Ann ~ I am so glad to hear your enthusiasm for this new adventure. I have had several thoughts for the 'essence'. I like you Steve, was thinking of a soft sculpture doll that was a caricature of Elizabeth Layton. When I read that we could go any size, I thought of an artist I saw recently that did life size soft dolls, the kind you stuff nylon stockings with, and sculpt with stitching. I think it would be pretty great if we had from small to large for the finished products - what do you think. Maybe not full life-size?? I have envisioned such a variety of beginning 'armature's' if you will, that I am anxious to see if we go in that direction. I believe my direction so far is fabric, some sort of soft sculpture, but I would love to see wood, metal etc. I sound all over the place I guess, I hope that is a start though!
Jana ~ It's fascinating to hear about everyone's initial questions, concerns and ideas. They're all different ... but we all have them.
I'm a clay person. That's my "essence." So that's the direction my thoughts are taking regarding my essence doll. I think "she" will say a lot about who I am. Although I don't know what that will be yet. Maybe I will learn something about myself from this??
I'm still in the ruminating and doodling stage right now, but I plan to start actual tinkering this week. I don't know what size my doll will turn out to be at this point, but I think she will probably ship out naked -- because this process has me feeling a bit naked -- it's something new and unknown so I'm feeling uncertain and vulnerable. I feel sure that as the project progresses, I will gain confidence and my doll will gain clothes!
Candace ~ I wanted to share some of the bubbling that is surfacing for me. Being the "coordinator" of the project, I was/am unsure what my role would/will be throughout the process. Some of the questions that float by are: Am I going to remain stealth-like and only be the recorder of information? Do I share my process? (obviously by sending this e-mail, I am de-cloaking myself.) Do I facilitate the group's movement, if so how and how much? Personally - self-exploration of being in the coordinator's role v.s. artist. Looking at the bigger picture - Do I promote the Adventure to various venues?
I am just tickled with what seems to be taking place. Just what is taking place? It seems as though the group and individuals working on definition. Angst of the unknown might entice us to reach for the proverbial milk and cookies, something familiar to sooth the uneasiness. I know for me, in this period, my creativity soars, not having pathways to guide its possibilities. I try to stay with the disquiet allowing as much to enter before I have to begin making decisions. Consequently, I am presently soaring with the possibilities.
Joyce ~ Gosh Candi, You raised some really great questions! Would you care to answer them in your next missive??!! Particularly the following... Do I facilitate the group's movement, if so how
and how much? Do I promote the Adventure to various venues?
After discussing this delight with my arty colleagues, their first question (among others) was whether these dolls would be on display anywhere or why we were doing the project in the first place? (read here...are we raising money for a charity or something??)
Maybe just a tiny bit more information would be handy...I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be "cloaked" to everybody but people within the group right now...Since you are the coordinator...perhaps a bit of background info on you & how this project came to be might be helpful. Share please!
Candace ~ To give a bit more "history". Group facilitation - My facilitating style tends to be as none intrusive as possible. If member/s request/s more, I would most certainly consider the request and interact accordingly. I take this approach because I desire the group to develop independent of me as possible. I know that the facilitator is a member of the group but my presence is to be consciously more unseen.
Promoting the Adventure - I think what is developing is great. I will be doing some and if others wish to do so, Fantastic! Please keep me informed about the venues you approach etc. When approaching a task I often will jump and see what presents itself verses doing lots of research about a project before implementing it. I believe also that more we speak about what we are doing the more possibilities will be dropped at our doorsteps.
Where will the "debutante dolls" end up - charity, creating artist's home, gallery, on tour, - I don't know, much to early to know which direction we should take. We have 6 months to investigate our options.
Birth of the Adventure - The impetus came from several directions. One of which was wanting to develop a collaborative effort - another was recounting that endeavor. Part of the motivation for this project was to create a writing challenge for myself. Unlike other art forms like painting, mosaics, etc, that intrinsically have a steady and gentle flow, this creative expression - writing - tumbles AT me like an unpredictable rock slide. So as you grapple with the doll creations, I will grapple with chronicling the adventure.
Arlene ~ Joyce, Here comes "Oma Granny". I am sending her to you tomorrow via US Parcel Post, insured. She comes with her diary and my meager efforts.
Good luck in the continuing adventure! "Tread the Earth Lightly" & in the meantime may your day be filled with...Peace, Light, and Love,
Candace ~ Holy Cow, Arlene, you are a speedy littl' angel...If you haven't sent the doll yet, please, hold it until the end of May. I would like the mailings to happen all at the same time ~ or at least as close to the dates I sent you. I believe this will help keep the flow. If you already sent "Oma Granny", don't worry about it.
Hopefully, you took some photos of Oma. I will be asking for them in a couple of weeks.
Joyce, If Arlene has sent the doll, just place it to the side until the beginning of June or so.
Jeanette ~The fact that I work with precious metal (fine silver) dictates my initial path. My doll will be small/miniature. I have yet to determine if it will have moving joints. My initial thoughts were to make a she....but the thought of a he is calling me... Will I introduce other media?...at this point I think not. You
will immediately know the personality of my doll when you see its face, and it will have a name by
the time it leaves my hands. From there its essence will develop through the hearts, minds, and
artistry of all of you......
Jana ~ Omigosh! Somebody's been working instead of e-mailing back and forth all day! I'd better get busy.
Joyce ~ Oh my gosh!!! Does this mean your already one HUGE step ahead of the rest of us?? I'm still going thru growing pains on mine & I think she had a sex change operation this afternoon while I driving home from Berea! I can't wait to see her, Arlene...
Steve ~ Wow...all of you are so poetic in regard to your doll creations! In the words of the great Steve Martin..."Some people have a way with words, and other people...NOT have way, I guess." I can't come close to the elegance of your musings, and I just hope I can keep up with your artistic abilities! I have always been fastiinated with the human figure and it's construction. All those joints and directions of movement! This will be my main focus. Hopefully I will have enough time in what is left of the month to get it done. I don't yet know if mine will be male or female, but it WILL be one or the other without a doubt...maybe even one of each.
Jana ~ One of the many intriguing things about this project, for me, is the diversity of direction from which the artists are coming. I can't wait to see how an engineer approaches art. My brain is as far from an engineering brain as you could get, so your approach is going to be very different from mine, I'm guessing. And that's a great thing. To me, your technical perspective and male perspective are going to be invaluable parts of this adventure.
Y'all are going to think I'm weird, but I have to tell you what I did yesterday. I was having trouble getting my mind around who we are, where we are and what we do. So I printed out a Kentucky map and I marked the towns where we all live and wrote our names and media out to the side. Then I drew a red line with arrows, marking the route that the dolls will take. It was fun to do, and it's helping me get my bearings.
Joyce ~ I don't think that's at all weird...I did the same thing myself! I was thinking about incorporating the map as part of the story our doll would tell. I've also decided to step outside my box and work in a medium that is not my comfort zone. I am going with a more stylized figure made out of metal. I think that by challenging myself to use materials less familiar to me, I'll do a little growing with this adventure. That's not to say I won't be using familiar materials for the rest of you (beads...) My friends & family won't recognize my work if it doesn't have a bead on it somewhere!!
Steve ~ I like the fact that you located us on the map, and drew lines showing the travels of the future dolls. You ARE weird. I did the same thing. I knew I was weird. It made me think of something. I remember reading or hearing about someone who stole a concrete garden gnome from a friend's yard. The theif was a "world traveller" type person, and took the gnome to exotic locations and took photographs of it "posing" in front of famous landmarks (Great Wall of China, Leaning Tower of Piza...), then sent the photos with fake ransome notes to the owner of the gnome. Upon returning home from the travels, the theif replaced the gnome in it's spot in the yard. This gnome was well travelled! I was wondering if we could do something like that...take whatever doll we are working on at the time to places and take photos, and include a "travel diary" of places the doll has been. Could be fun. I'm sure everyone lives close to some neat sites.
I am enjoying seeing the art work of our group, too. Arlene, we have something in common. As I visited your site, I saw your caricature of your sister in law, Evangeline (Vangie). I have an aunt named Evangeline that we call Vangie! A pretty unique name.
So far all the work I've done on my doll is in my head, and on several sheets of scratch paper. I pretty much know where I want to go with him/her, but I haven't had a chance to actually start making parts yet.
Joyce ~ What about the fates of our dolls. I would like them to be on display somewhere for a time so that we can share our art with others. I'm a firm believer that Art is meant to be given to be appreciated. I would like to have mine come home to stay eventually, but I think it needs to stretch it's wings (so to speak) before retiring to my hacienda.
PS...I started the birthing process this week!!! I think it's a boy afterall!
Jana ~ I really like your idea of the dolls traveling as a group after they're done. Maybe each of us could work on finding a display venue in our towns (we'd probably only need one Louisville spot, even though there are two of us here), so our hometown folks can see what we did. I wonder if the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft here in Louisville would be interested in showing them. I could ask, if we decide we want to do that. Of course, there are lots of other possibilities.
I'm going to write a press release on our project.
Steve ~ My doll has a name and a purpose! She also has a lower body. Hopefully, the upper body is going to be created this afternoon. I find myself thinking, planning and sketching almost all day long at work, anticipating quitting time so I can go home and do something I really want to do!
I have an idea, it may not fly, but I'm going to run it by all of you. What if, instead of mailing our dolls on the first of the month, we set a time and place that we could all meet and exchange. We could take turns meeting at each artists town, or home, or a McDonalds. This way we could meet each other and put faces to names, and get an idea of personality. I realize that getting 6 or 7 people to agree on the same meeting time and place can be a logistical nightmare, but I for one would like to meet each of you...it would make this process much more personal, and it could make for some solid friendships...just a thought.
Lee Ann ~ I like the idea of the traveling exhibit. i think all the time we will be putting in should be shown off. I also like the idea of contributing to a cause. I was pleased with the press release. Has anyone made plans to meet next weekend to exchange that was interested in doing so? please let me know.
Jana ~ Major bummer. My doll's head exploded in the kiln last night! I loved that head! I wasn't sure I could do a similar one again. That head came straight out of my hands without ever going through my head. But I spent a long time in the studio this afternoon, and I think I've got a couple of good ones. Setbacks make us stronger right? Or maybe just cranky.
Steve ~ Same type thing happened to me. My doll's hips and chest just aren't working, gonna have to do them over. They key parts of my doll, and they have to be right! I wish I wasn't such a perfectionist, but I can't stop myself. I just hope I have enough month left to get it done. (notice that I could've said Git-R-Done, but I didn't.) I still have a lot of work to do. She's pretty neat, though. My whole family was playing with her tonight (it's my birthday).
Jana ~ Sorry to hear about your doll, Steve. Keep after it. I know you'll figure it out. Maybe we can compete to see who takes it closest to the deadline! And Happy Birthday too!
My doll is definitely a "her." I believe her head selection will be another
"trial by fire." Whichever one survives the next firing will prevail.
They'll be drying for several days -- I must go slow, or they won't even
make it to the kiln. It's so hard to wait though!
Lee Ann ~ Hope you had a great birthday! How many years young? Hang in there with the dolls, they tell you what they need, it's just hard to be patient and listen.
Jana ~ I'm busy mostly thinking about mine, while her new heads continue to dry. I
think the smaller of the two heads is probably ready to go in the kiln. But
I'm afraid to fire her. I'm afraid she'll blow up again. I think I'll fire
the heads one at a time; maybe they'll have a better chance that way. Or
maybe it will just prolong the agony. Aaarrrrgghh!
Anyway, I plan to tinker with the arms and legs tonight.
Everybody else coming along OK? (Arlene, I know you're done and you're
waiting on the rest of us stragglers -- and doing some beautiful paintings
in the meantime).
Jeanette ~ My doll was in the thinking stage for quite a while. Once I got started on it things fell into
place pretty well...so far. I still have to fire mine, also. (I kiln fire the silver). This
will be the test. 'Grandpa Joe' will go into the kiln later today or early tomorrow morning....so
we'll see....
Jana, I know yours will come together, and it'll probably be better that the first one that blew up!
Can't wait to see all the creations!
Joyce ~ I've been swamped as of late....to many deadlines, & to little time! My doll is finished, except for a final polish before I send him to Steve. (yes, I did finally decide it was a boy!)
I am busy journaling my thoughts and getting my paperwork in order. I'm finding out that this is the trickier part of the production...while I'm one of these overachiever types who is extremely organized, putting word to paper is one of those love/hate relationships for me. I can't type as fast as I think, so fabulous word strings fly around in my head like airplanes at a busy airport. In my opinion, Air traffic controllers don't get paid enough!
Just a thought...if someone walks up to you in the next 6 months and says, "don't I know you from somewhere?"...look twice and don't be surprised if it's one of us! Steve & his lovely wife surprised me this weekend at the KGAC Spring show at Berea. It was lovely to meet them, & I look forward to chatting again soon.
Now a question...Are we telling each other about our dolls yet? I gather Jana's doll is a ceramic figure with a tendency towards tension headaches...Are we going to share dimensions, materials used, ect. in our online ramblings or are they to be a surprise for the next recipient in line? I'm going to be really curious about what happens to my doll in the next five months. Do you want to know, or do you want to be amazed at the transformation? Also, do you want to know if my doll has a name? I have created the essence, but after each of you adds to the doll, I'm afraid the name might not be right for who he becomes. I'm also afraid it might change the way you view the doll as it arrives at your doorstep. Which way do we go about this??? Hmmm
Jana ~ I don't have any problem sharing what we're doing to each other's dolls as we go along. I figure that's one of the things we all get to discuss and decide. Even if we do talk about our plans in e-mails, it will still be a surprise to see how it actually looks. Joyce, you pegged my doll precisely. She is mostly ceramic. Her arms and legs will be a surprise -- since they will be a surprise to me too! She has a name, and it will be on the front of her diary. If she changes along the way, and some other name seems more appropriate, I wouldn't have a problem changing her name. I think that would be an interesting aspect to the process. What does everybody else think?
P.S.: I'm going to bite the bullet and fire one of my two doll heads tonight. Send up some prayers and positive energy!
Steve ~ I'm all for sharing.
My doll is a girl. She is approximately 16" tall, and is made of wood. She is very posable. I have named her "Anya", but anyone who wants to change that has my permission. I see her being transformed into a dancer of some sort...maybe a ballerina, but she may be better suited as another type of dancer. As she is only an "essance", she will need some additions: Hair, her face painted on (makeup), jewelry, clothes (of course, unless she becomes a stripper!). By the time she gets back around to me, she may not even be a dancer! I am like a father afraid to let his daughter go out into the world! I hope she does well, and is treated nice and doesn't hang out with the "wrong crowd" (other strippers!). She is nearly ready to be shipped, I just need to make her some hands and smooth her body a little.
Hope I haven't given away too much!
Jana ~ She sounds great! I can't wait to see her -- and I get to see her first!! I will take good care of her, and keep her away from any seedy types. My mind is racing on what I might add. Fun, fun.
Good news, everyone! My doll's head survived its first firing. I fired the
smaller of the two I had made, thinking it would be more likely to be
completely dry and therefore less likely to explode. Tonight, I will
high-fire it, and then, hopefully, I will be able to put all the parts
together tomorrow night. That way, I can get a picture of her to Candi by
our Friday deadline. Whew!
Joyce ~ I spent the morning typing my journal pages...I'm 95% done so I'm meeting the Friday deadline as well. Yay me!!!
I'm going to be keeping two journals. I wrote a journal for the first chapter of my doll's life which you will each be adding to as it becomes your turn. That's one.
I'm also making a copy of each journal chapter to which I am adding for each of your doll's in turn. This one will stay with me and give me an artist's perspective about each step of the process that will probably be different from my doll's journal when it finally returns home. I thought it would be cool to compare the two, side by side when they are both finished. This way I will also have a copy of all the work that I am doing in one complete form. This also might be a useful tool in the future.
Just something to think about....
I just saw a commercial this morning....a medical product called Vesicare....I swear I didn't see this commercial before I designed my doll!! I guess it just goes to show that all art is being developed in many different areas at the same time.
I'll enclose a magazine copy of the same add with my journal and you will understand why I say this up front!!
Lee Ann ~ All I can so say so far about my doll is: Is it a she, or is it a He or possibly We? Will you be the one to decide? It says "Paint me, tattoo me, dress me, dye me, add to me, just don't abuse me!" . I too am so excited to see what people will do to the doll. It is a soft sculpture body. I am so looking forward to working on others dolls as well, however with some trepidation. But that is the risk we decided to take after all! Hope this much helps.
Jana ~ I got out a box and put it next to my doll on the couch, to pack her up
Saturday. I went to get some bubblewrap and stuff, and when I came back, my
younger cat, Munch (the 20-pounder), was in the box. He was reaching his paw
over the edge of the box and batting at my doll's hair. It seemed a shame to
move them, so that's where the cat, the box and the doll have been, with a
few momentary exceptions, ever since. I'll pack her up tonight. I guess I'll
have to find another box. This one's now full of cat hair ... the the cat
really seems to like it.
It will be hard to close her (my doll, not the cat) up in there.
The Essence Dolls were mailed June 1, 2005.
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