The Social Lives of Dolls

Sometimes my dolls seem to have social life all of their own. I have two new dolls that will be out and about this coming June.

Princess Amaya, The Wise Princess, will be at The California Department of Education Black History Month Planning Committee Juneteenth Celebration and Art Sale Fundraiser. The event will be Tuesday, June 3rd from 5:00pm to 7:00pm in the California Department of Education Building  Lobby on N Street in Sacramento. The event will include food and entertainment and bidding on art from  some of Sacramento's best artists. Princess Amaya will also be available to bid on. If you would like to adopt Princess Amaya come down and visit this fun event.



Princess Amaya is a positive image doll and was  inspired by little girls who wanted a "princess who looks like me". If you are interested in having a princess doll made for a little girl in your life let me know.


Because Princess Amaya is a wise princess, she has some words of wisdom to share with you:

1. Never take apples from a stranger.           
2. Real friends won't lock you in a tower.
3. Slay your own dragons.
4. Never walk through a dark forest alone.
5. Stop waiting for Prince  Charming,
be your own hero, rescue yourself.

My other doll is Grandma Selene, The Bayou Queen. She is a very mysterious lady. She will be part of my "Grandmas are Beautiful" collection but more about that later.  Her inspiration comes from some of the Southern Folk Tales that come from a lot of my ancestors. Some of these folk tales go all the way back to Africa. The stories came across the Atlantic with the slaves and grew and changed as they were passed on by word of mouth from family to family and from generation to generation.

 Grandma Selene will be part of the "Focus on Fiber" 3rd Annual Fiber Arts Open Show at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center, 5330-B Gibbons Drive in Carmichael, June 3rd through June 21st. For more information visit their website at www.SacFineArts.org

Grandma Selene's costume is made of plain white cotton muslin that I used a couple of dye techniques on to get her one of a kind look. The skirt is made of strips of shredded muslin that I stitched together and put through my washing machine and dryer to distress the fabric. I used three  shades of tie dye to color the skirt. It almost looks like the feathers of a tropical bird.

Grandma Selene also has some wise words to live by, of course, because grandmas always do:


1. Gray hair is beautiful.
2. Respect is earned not entitled.
3.Wisdom comes with time and experience.
4. Love comes from the heart, not from the back of the throat.
5. Don't let negative people live in your head, raise the rent and kick them out.
6. Never let success go to your head or failure go to your heart.












I will be teaching the "Flying Dancers" art doll class this fall at The Elk Grove Fine Art Center on Saturday September 20th from 11am to 4pm. This will be great because we'll have 5 hours to work on and complete the doll. I am hoping to be able to accommodate 6 to 8 students. I will have more information later this month. Other classes and locations will also be announced later this month.



Sacramento is having it's first Black Book Fair, "On The Wings of  Words", June 6th, 7th, and  8th in the historic Oak Park District.  Co-chairmen, Faye Kennedy, would like see this become a yearly event. Black authors from all over the United States will be flying in for this three day event to hold workshops and sign their books. There will also be tons of activities for children. For more information go to www.sacramentoblackbookfair.com .

They are also still in need of volunteers to help make this fantastic event happen. If you are able to volunteer at least two hours of your time on any or all of the three days, you can download an application from the same website under the volunteers tab.

Here's and update about the 2014 California State Fair. The judging results were published Friday and some other fiber artist that we know also placed.

Alice Calhoun,   "Floral Abundance", Honorable Mention, Category: Large Quilts

Connie Horne, The Meissner Sewing and Learning Center Award, 1st Place

Connie Horne, 1st Place, Category: Wearable Art

Jan Hollins, "Days Gone By", 3rd Place, Category: Applique Quilts

Gloria Grandy, "Verlene", Honorable Mention, Category: Dolls and Toys

Gloria Grandy. "Michael", Third Place, Category: Dolls and Toys


Happy June, see you later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CELEBRATIONS!! GREAT NEWS!! JOYFUL BLESSINGS!!

I wanted to share with everyone some good news for three local Sacramento artists. First, our amazing sculpture artist and more Kanika Marshall was one of 26 artists who entered the Solar Panel art exhibit sponsored by SMUD. A few months ago, artists were offered the chance to pick up free discarded solar panels from SMUD. The artists could use the panels as the material and the basis of an art project of their choice and enter their works in an exhibit  at the SMUD customer service building. Kanika won a first place prize of $300 for her entry "Energy Meridians".
                                                              



The exhibit runs until July 31st at the SMUD Customer Service Center, 6301 S Street. Sacramento CA. If you have a chance, stop by and view Kanika's work and the other participating artists. Also, wish her a belated happy birthday. The win and her birthday were on the same day.









The next celebration is for quilt and textile artist Jan Hollins who entered her beautiful quilt "Miss Ida" in the California State Fair. The judging was this past Wednesday and notifications went out today and she was accepted. A lot of you can remember "Miss Ida" as part of the Sisters Quilting Collective Quilt Show in February.

The third celebration is for me! I am so happy and pleased to announce that my two dolls "Michael and Verlene" were also accepted in the California State Fair. This was one of ten things on my list of goals that I wanted to accomplish this year. I can mark one item off. The State Fair runs from July 11th through the 27th and the award ceremony for fiber artists and crafters is Saturday, July 12th. If you are attending the fair this year I hope you take the time to visit "Miss Ida" and "Michael and Verlene".

I'm so proud to be able to represent. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't accomplish a dream large or small. The only obstacles in our way are the ones we give permission to be there. I always think of my mother's words "It's 100% NO
if we never try and 50% YES when we do. What have you got to lose?" Believe in yourself.

A Busy Month

It's been a busy month. I can't believe that a lot of the big tasks I had that seemed next to impossible are actually behind me. At the beginning of the year I made a list of 10 things I wanted to accomplish this year. I don't like New Year's resolutions but I wanted to set some goals both large and small that would take me out of my comfort zone so that I could learn and try new things. It's so easy to stay in the same place and do the same thing because you don't have to think much but change inspires growth.

One of the things on my list was to enter something in the California State Fair. This past Friday I took two of my favorite dolls, Verlene and Michael and entered them. It really isn't about winning a prize but just having something that I made at a venue that will be viewed by so many fair visitors from all over the country. I didn't really think about it that way until after I got home. Now I'm really excited and hoping that they get selected by the State Fair judges. I'll keep you posted when I get the results. I'll share the other nine things on my list as they develop.






The kid's doll class at the Moral Values Program home school was a lot of fun. Their teacher Patricia Guerra has done an amazing job with her kids. They are smart, courteous, patient and well spoken. We had 12 students make dolls for their moms for Mothers Day. I was grateful to Lillian LeBlanc, Debbra Murphy and Jan Hollins for bringing their hands, hearts, heads and spirits to help us out. We got a lot done in  the class but there is never enough time in doll making so I did to take them home to finish so that they would be perfect for all of the moms. A little lace and satin ribbon made them just right but the basics and the choices were all made by the kids. All of my doll classes for kids and adults both in the future are going to be a little longer. Making a doll is something that should be enjoyed and not rushed.




















I was very honored to be invited by Sisters Quilting Collective and Professor Darryl Freeman to bring some of my dolls to be part of a textile arts exhibit at The Cooper Woodson Center CSUS Black Graduation. I am happy to say that I have been working hard and have replaced all of my lost dolls over the last few months. I did a collection of dolls for this exhibit. I did some of my "Tribal Energy Mask Dolls" and some of my African Village dolls.

The 28th annual African American Graduation Ceremony was amazing. If you felt grumpy or in a bad mood before it started you left in high spirits with this wonderful sense of hope.  There were over 400 African American graduates on the list for the Class of  2013-2014. They didn't just march in they came dancing in. Their energy and spirit was contagious. You just knew you were witnessing something wonderful.



The best part of the evening was that I got to work with three awesome ladies. Faye Kennedy-Wilson, Kanika Marshall and Fredi Slaughter-Walker. We had a blast.    

 

All The Latest For Cre8tiv Glory

On Easter Sunday, a friend invited me to an amazing Easter service. The pastor's sermon was inspiring and so full of hope. It set the tone for the coming spring season, a hope for new beginnings with opportunities to be creative and...

The next creative cycle for the next new moon begins April 25th, the new moon is on April 28th. I

started the second piece for my long term project during the last creative cycle but this month was full of commitments and I wasn't able to give it a lot of time. I've promised myself three uninterrupted days in this cycle to focus on it alone.

Thank you to the ladies who attended my first Art Doll 101 class of the season. You were a great group to work with. The dolls you made are wonderful and your creative attention during the workshop was awesome. I will get back to you this week with a follow up location so that we can finish your dolls. Thanks also to Jeff Louie and Capsity http://www.capsity.com/ for providing this wonderful workspace and to Jan Hollins who found this location and for letting us share it with her quilt class. If you missed the Art Doll 101 Flying Dancer Doll Workshop, I will be teaching it again in the next few weeks. I have two tentative locations, a day class in  Citrus Heights and an evening class in Folsom. I am also looking for another location in Sacramento. If you would be interested in taking this class at one of these locations please email me your interest and at which location. I need at least four people to sign up in order to hold each space.

The patterns for the Flying Dancers Dolls and for the Sacramento Jack Rabbits: Ebony Rabbit and Brown Sugar Bunny Dolls will be available next week on PayPal for $12.00 each plus $1.50 shipping on the IDAE blog site . See the drop down menu. http://innerdivaalteregodolls.blogspot.com/





                                                                                     

The next Art Doll  workshop at Capsity will be Tribal Energy. 
This is one of my favorite dolls to make. It allows you to step away from traditional doll making and use non traditional cloth doll techniques and materials. The faces are done in mask style using broad strokes and bright colors and the costumes use beads, feathers, African prints and rustic textiles like burlap, batiks, mud cloth and kente cloth. The inspiration for these dolls came from another African American doll artist. She was a guest on an interior design show. She had created these beautiful African dolls that she made with African passport masks.

The dolls were simple with wonderful textures and details. I made my own versions of her dolls by painting mask designs in place of the faces on my doll heads.







Masks are a part of so many cultures, celebrations and ceremonies. They are part of African, Japanese, Aboriginal, Mexican, Brazilian and other Latin and Asian cultures. I've collected photos of a lot of these masks. Ideas and inspiration for masks can be found on my Pinterest page: "Tribal Energy, Masks" http://www.pinterest.com/cre8tivglory/tribal-energy-masks/


The Tribal Energy Doll Workshop will be at Capsity, May 22nd from 5:30 to 8:30. The class are $46.00 and $40.00 for SQC members. I have space available for 6 to 7 people. Registration with PayPal begins on May 1st on the Inner Diva, Alter Ego blog site http://innerdivaalteregodolls.blogspot.com/.  Class description and materials list will also be available on May 1st.

I want to thank everyone for their donations of their scraps and left over fabrics, yarns and trims for my kids class this week. There is enough for their Mother's Day Doll Project and for future projects as well. This is my chance to introduce this form of textile art to the younger generation. There was a great line in a film that I saw that said we have raised a generation of children who are used to buying everything but they don't create anything. We need designers for the future. I think of some of the futuristic movies I've seen where the populations are either robotic or survivalists. The environments were either sterile or in ruins, there was very little beauty or creativity. Our children are the architects, designers and artists of the future.

 

Art Doll 101 - Sky Dancers, Wall Dolls

I've been a doll maker for a number of years and the dolls I choose to make are usually inspired by real people, entertainment, books and stories, fiction and fantasy, places I've visited and art by other artists. Someone asked me one day about my 'art dolls'. I had never really thought of my dolls as 'art' and was curious to know what an 'art doll' really was. 






The consistent definition covers two main points: An art doll is a piece of art and is meant to be displayed and viewed as art and not intended to be a toy but as an item that is collected by adults rather than for children. The dolls can be realistic or abstract, fantasy or science fiction, human, humanoid or alien it's all up to the creative mind of the doll maker. The materials used for art dolls are limitless and can range from traditional materials like porcelain, ceramics, wood and cloth to industrial materials and found and recycled objects.

My first doll class this year will be an easy art doll workshop. The class will be a quick three hours and we will create a basic doll with lots of possibilities for decorating it to make it your own OOAK (One Of A Kind) design. Being a doll maker means that if you can imagine it you can create it. My doll making journey has made me challenge myself to make things that are out of my experience.  
 

This new inspiration comes  from images I found on the Internet of Cirque du Soleil's beautiful acrobatic sky dancers. I got a chance to see one of their shows many, many years ago and I was so fascinated by the way the dancers flew above the stage on long strips of silk. As soft and graceful as this performance appears, you know that these women are strong and in perfect physical condition. 

This is a great beginning project for first time doll makers. The sky dancers are a decorative wall doll that can be hung from a chandelier, mobile, headboard or the wall. 

The first Inner Diva, Alter Ego Doll Workshop (IDAE) of the season will be 5:30pm to 8:30pm, April 17th at:




Capsity
2572  21st Street
Sacramento  CA  95818
Just off Broadway and east of the Tower Restaurant..

For more information about the workshop, materials list and to register online with PayPal go to the Inner Diva Alter Ego (IDAE) blogsite at: http://innerdivaalteregodolls.blogspot.com/

This first class is limited to eight students, 18 years and older but other classes will be added as needed.

March is Women's History Month so please hug your favorite lady and tell her you appreciate her. Also, if you have a chance you can visit two of my large 33" dolls at the Brickhouse Art Gallery until March 17th. They are part of the Sojournor Truth Exhibit honoring African American Artists Charles White and Charles Alston.

 

 

 

 

Fiber artist instructor, Jan Hollins will introduce a class that will challenge your raw edge applique and silhouette art experience. For those enjoying a taste of the exotic, batiks and cottons in shades of yellow, gold, red, orange and black will be used.  The project will be quilted in threads of similar colors, accented with gold or silver metallic thread.  Provide your own working sewing machine and basic sewing supplies.  Some African fabric will be provided at a cost. The class will be held Thursday, April 17^th, at the Capsity Building, 2572 21st Street, Sacramento, CA 9581 (Near Broadway and 21^st) from 5:30p - 8:30p. Class Fee is $45.00. For more information and supply list please contact Jan Hollins, 916 613-7401 or email -- jhquiltsandmore@gmail.com

 

Creative Energy and the New Moon

I have a long term project that I am about to begin for a friend. It will be a series of 36 inch, soft sculpture dolls that will be created over the next several months. After talking to my friend and working out the beginning details I am intrigued and excited to be a part of this creative adventure. One of the special requests that my client had was to begin each new art project on a new moon. I have never had that request asked of me before but I agreed. I looked into information about the new moon's creative energy and read that it is potent and useful for projects that require you to tap into your emotions and subconscious thoughts where the best art is made. It is a time to fuel intuition and connect to your body. This creative period is at its strongest from the three days before the new moon through the three days after the new moon. The next new moon will be March 1st and the creative cycle begins on February 26th and ends on March 4th.

I have always loved and been fascinated by the moon and it has been a key part of a lot of the artwork I've done in the past. One of my favorite things to do is to watch the sky in the evening especially when the moon is full. I lived in the South Bay Area for most of my life and moved to Sacramento about six years ago. There is so much more flat land here with views unobstructed by buildings, trees or hills and the moon seems so much larger and closer. When I'm restless or troubled or trying to work out a problem, I spend a few minutes watching the moon, I have a good view from the window in my room. It always settles and calms me and refreshes my thoughts.

If any of you have had a creative block in your art, business or problem solving lately try approaching it again tomorrow, February 26h on the next new moon cycle.

Stay tuned for my next post. I'll share with you my latest dolls. I created 9 new dolls inspired by the Cirque du Soleil silk acrobats. Any of you who were kind enough and patient enough over the last few months to listen to my story about my car being broken into and 30 of my dolls being 'kidnapped' before Christmas. I had just done a holiday faire a few days before and hadn't had the energy to get my bag up my stairs. After four years of living in my apartment complex without a single incident and I left stuff in my car for months at a time, my luck finally ran out. I grieved about my lost dolls for a few days and then prayed that they were in a good home with someone who would love them and take care of them. My promise to myself was to make 30 new dolls to replace my lost ones although I can never duplicate them. More about my Sky Dancers in my next post.

I was so glad to meet new people and see old and new faces at the Brickhouse  Holiday Faire, the Third Annual Sisters Quilting Collective Quilt Exhibit and Sisters Quilting Collective's Day at the Crocker Art Museum. I will be sending out information about new doll making classes for this spring and summer soon. Thank you for signing my book and coming by to say hi.
  

 

Old Fashioned Rag Dolls 2014 Page Two

 These are three more of my old fashioned rag dolls, I love them because the are so simple. These are the kinds of dolls our great, great grandmothers played with. I love my art dolls but it has been a nice break to go back to basics and create these simple 'Prim' type dolls.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 December

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is January.

 

 

          

 This is Carmela

 

Mother Courage for the Sojourner Truth Gallery Exhibit

My latest project was to design two dolls for an exhibit for Black History Month for the Sojourner Truth Gallery in Sacramento. The concept was to choose two paintings from two African American Artists Charles White and Charles Alston and to recreate a work of art of our own inspired by their work. The exhibit will debut at the Sojourner Truth Gallery, 2251 Florin Rd., Sacramento CA, on February 1st and then reopen at the Brickhouse Art Gallery on February 17th and run until March 16th.

I am a doll artist so I thought it would be interesting to take the subject of a two dimensional painting and recreate it in a three dimensional soft sculpture. It was kind of like working in reverses since most painters paint three dimensional objects and turn them into two dimensional paintings.

I chose Charles White's "Mother Courage" because she makes me think of working women from the past. When I was a little girl I used to see these ladies all waiting at the bus stop ready to leave their own homes to go and take care of someone else's home. My mother got up five days a week and caught the bus rain or shine and went to work. She put in long and hard hours. I was inspired by my mother because she made the decision to change her life so that she didn't have to clean other people's houses and went back to school and got her degree and became a nutritionist.

This is my "three dimensional" interpretation of "Mother Courage".