Dreamy Dolls and Sweet Easter Wishes

I've become enamored with the work of Christine Alvarado. Her wonderful dolls have the most beautiful faces and incredible detail. "Paloma and Rabbit Mask" seemed like a perfect fit for this time of year.

Her series of "lady bird" ornaments are so clever and original. I adore their little crowns and pearl necklaces.

Each of her creations have such a distinct personality. "Seneca and Julep" is part of a whole series that includes delightful little dogs.

In addition to her blog, you can see much more of Christine's beautiful work on her Flickr site. Be prepared to stay awhile. It's impossible not to be drawn in to the magic she creates.

Wishing you a sweet and wonderful Easter!

Katherine the Great

Katherine Dewey is one of the most talented sculptors around. I've heard other artists refer to her books as sculpting "Bibles". Her artwork is absolutely breathtaking and even more so in person. I'd consider giving up a limb to see and touch this piece, which is the first in her "Fossil" series.

Several years ago, Kato Polyclay sponsored a competition and asked various artists to make shoes out of clay. Katherine's entry was an incredible alligator shoe and secretly, my hands-down favorite. If you'd like to see all that's involved in making a shoe like this, she recently began to document the process here on her website.

This mask was constructed over a felt form, which became a part of the completed work. It's crazy beautiful and the hair is so aesthetically perfect with the face.

In addition to her awe-inspiring talent, Katherine is one of the kindest, most unassuming and humble people I know. Her website is packed with information for anyone who aspires to create beautiful sculptural pieces. As for me, I know my limitations. I'll just continue to worship at the Kathy Dewey shrine.

Semi-sweet

All of last weeks posts about hearts and flowers sent me into sweetness overload. I've found the perfect artist to help me make the transition back to semi-sweetness. Horriblesweet (after a bit of detective work, I think her name is Lydia) is an artist from the Netherlands who specializes in amazing art dolls, like "Naked", shown above, and unusual headgear.

She has a wonderfully soft and beautiful color palette and when it's combined with her edgy-looking sculpts, I can understand where the name Horriblesweet comes from.

This sculpt belongs to a series she's created called "Birdman".

I'm fascinated by the thought of several of her "Heads" lined up on the mantel in my studio. To see more incredible work by Horriblesweet, visit her Flickr site here.

All You Need is Love

Where does inspiration come from? If you're anything like Leslie Blackford, it comes from everything you see and everything you do. Leslie (along with myself and Judy Belcher) had the good fortune to see Cirque du Soleil's The Beatles LOVE show while we were in Las Vegas last year. What a stunning tribute to the greatest band in the history of music and what a treasure trove of inspiration. The costumes and characters are simply incredible! Leslie's "Walrus and Eggman" is the first in what I hope will be a whole series of sculptures inspired by the show.

It's cold here in West Virginia today so I'm going to pretend I'm sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun to come. If you'd like to join me, click here. Coo coo ca choo!

Faeriology

Pittsburgh's Lesley Polinko is one of the most talented people I know. Besides being an incredible sculptor, she's an incredibly nice person with a fantastic sense of humor. You may have seen her "No Fear Sculpting" articles recently in Polymer Cafe .

She has two pieces available right now on Ebay, including this gorgeous ghost fairy just in time for Halloween. Be sure to check out the hot merman, too!

I'm getting ready to head to Mammoth Cave for a retreat and workshop with the Kentucky Tennessee Polymer Clay Guild. Hope you have the perfect fall weekend!

Playing with Fantasy

"It's my escape from myself, my salvation and despair happiness and boundless longing for the unhappened. It's like expectation as well."

Speaking about her work, this quote is from Olga Roehl, maker of some of the most extraordinary art dolls I've ever seen. It took me a long time to savor all the amazing images found on her site like these masks and the piece below, titled "Blue Windy".

When I see sculptural work like this, I'm in total awe. If you're looking for a head start on weekend web surfing, I highly recommend losing yourself in the beauty and fantasy that Olga creates.

It's All About the Monkeys

And maybe just a little about the clowns, too!

Jim Sheely's artwork is weird and wonderful and he has quite a following, not only in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, but all over the world. His wood carvings and drawings come from a place that most of us can't even imagine. Since I'm partial to monkeys and have no clown phobias, this is definitely my favorite piece. If you'd like to see more, you can check out his photos on Flickr, too. I'd love to get some clay in his hands and see what kind of magic might happen.

Speaking of magic, there's nothing quite so magical as seeing Leslie Blackford creating something/anything out of clay. She's one of those rare people who don't have to think much about the process. It just seems to come out of her hands all on its own. I love this green monkey mask which I believe has found its way into Hollie Mion's polymer clay collection.

Chris Henry, my guildmate here in West Virginia, is still making wonderful bottles of hope. You may remember her cool red art deco cat that I showed you a few months ago. I wish I could give you a link to more of her work. She makes fabulous dolls, as well. Since she has no web presence or even a Flickr site, I thought that with your help, we might be able to change that. I've written her a little note and if you have a free moment or two, here's what you can do. Copy the highlighted text below and click here for an email form addressed to Chris. Paste the text into the email, sign your name or Oprah's name or really any name you'd like and send it on. I'm hoping she'll receive so many emails that she'll get the hint. She has a wonderful sense of humor but I'll be sure to let you know if she's still speaking to me after our next guild meeting.

Dear Chris,

You probably don't know me but Kim said I should write to you and let you know that I really enjoy your work. A Flickr site is so easy that anyone with a camera and a computer can get one started. What are you waiting on?

Sincerely,

____________

I just wanted to say how much I appreciated all of the comments and emails that I received after my last post. It's a wonderful feeling to be part of such a supportive community and although I know that not everyone agreed with what I had to say, I appreciate that your opinions were presented with dignity and a sense of respect for all the readers of this blog. Thank you for that.

Jaw-dropping, eye-popping work!

I know I've been MIA recently. When I get in the claying zone, it's hard to get back into the writing zone. Hopefully, you've missed me terribly! I just had to share the work of Thomas Kuebler with you though. He and his immense talent reside in North Carolina. He spent a decade working in the robotics animation industry before deciding to follow his passion for creating these mostly life-size sculptures. His website is a treasure trove. Be sure and read his bio and "the reason" before you click on his gallery, or "results" page, as he likes to call it. He's a fascinating individual!
"Cletus and Shorty Playing Banjo" is probably my favorite. Each of his sculptures starts with a script or story and he includes this information, as well. His "results" page is divided into categories such as witches and wisemen, beggars and freaks, and charismatic characters. Trust me when I tell you to check out all of them - you don't want to miss a thing here!

I love "Madame Orba", who was born with a slight affliction as a result of her mother's unfortunate dalliance with the husband of a gypsy witch.

This sculpture started with an athletic tape incident in the men's locker room which resulted in "Myron Klinefelter's Revenge". His script is as wonderful as the resulting sculpture.

When asked about his process, this is what Kuebler answers: "Most professional artists have learned and/or developed trade secrets and techniques through schooling, labor, hard knocks and lots of personal expense. It is what makes their work their own. Asking an artist exactly how he/she created his/her art is much like walking up to a magician after the show and asking him to expose his illusions."

Applause for an answer that's probably unappreciated by some people! Not everything is meant to be shared and I, for one, am content to gaze upon the amazing art this man has created and enjoy the fact that it simply "is".

The Perfection of Pixiwillow

I recently happened upon the site of Michelle Bradshaw, who creates some of the most amazing fantasy art sculpture I've ever seen. Pixiwillow is the name of her business and it encompasses her interest in faeries, pixies, storybook characters, and other assorted creatures, many of them covered in fur.

This Mad Hatter sculpture is part of her series, "Wonderland Asylum". Be sure to check out Alice, the Cheshire Cat, and the March Hare when you visit her site.

This sculpture, called "Letting Go" is one of my favorites. Michelle says she gets inspiration from "a story, a comment or expression, a walk in the woods, a dream or circumstance, a title, etc . . .". Simply incredible work!

And then, there's Wednesday Addams, one of my favorite TV characters, after the lovely Lily Munster, of course. Looking at Michelle's work, it seems even more amazing knowing that she's basically self-taught and has only been sculpting these fantasy art pieces for about five years.

This piece, titled "Selkie & Seal" is so realistic, I keep expecting one of them to move at any second. I had no idea what a selkie was but after seeing this, I had to find out. According to the Encyclopedia Mythica, "the shy Selkies are marine creatures in the shape of a seal. They can be found near the islands of Orkney and Shetland. A female can shed her skin and come ashore as a beautiful woman. When a man finds the skin, he can force the Selkie to be a good, if somewhat sad, wife. Should she ever recover the skin, she will immediately return to sea, leaving her husband behind." I think that would make a great movie!




This wonderful little mouse, inspired by the mice in the movie Cinderella, is sculpted from polymer clay and then covered with fur of some sort. What a cute little guy and so amazingly life-like!


If you've fallen in love with Michelle's work the way I have, then you'll want to watch this incredible slideshow of her artwork set to beautiful, haunting music from Lord of the Rings. Michelle says her goal with her art is to "give her creations spirit and soul." She's definitely accomplished that and so much more with her realistic, breathtaking sculptures.

Personification Personified

Remember having to memorize all of those figures of speech in your English classes? The easiest one to remember was personification, giving human qualities to things that are not human. I'm not sure why, but, as a child, I always felt as if trees had human qualities. They just looked and seemed so "alive" to me and they still do. I've spent my whole life surrounded by trees and mountains and I can't imagine not seeing trees when I look out a window. Next to rocks, they're my favorite thing in nature.

Maybe that's why I was so deeply moved when I saw the work of Rachael Direnna of Pittsburgh. Rachael is a self-taught sculptor who works primarily in paper mache (I know there's an accent mark missing but I have no clue how to get it to float over that "e"), which she makes herself from shredded "junk" paper. She credits the thought of making "something from nothing" and being able to recycle paper as reasons why she chose to create with paper clay.

Her subject matter ranges from animals to people to what she calls "nature spirits" or "tree goddesses". I see immense sadness, strength, elegance and grace when I look at her work. Maybe the sadness it invokes in me comes from the bare branches or maybe it's something more than that.

Part of the beauty of art is that it's such a personal thing for everyone. I see wonderful and well-made things just about every day but I'm rarely moved the way I am when I look at Rachael's sculptures. To see lots more of her amazing work, check out her Flickr site. She also has a shop on Etsy where she sells note cards and prints of her work, in addition to the sculptures. Be kind to your trees this weekend!

Dahlia is eating her peas . . .

. . . and the world is a much better place because of it! I'm in awe of the amazing sculptures from Jodi and Richard Creager. They address every detail in every doll they create. Somehow, I don't think this piece would have the same impact if Dahlia were eating french fries instead of peas. And, her high chair is wonderful, as is her dog, Scruff.

Jodi and Richard have been working together in their Arizona studio for almost 30 years. They combine their artistic visions to create just 20-25 art dolls every year. Of their process, Richard says, "As the character develops we become emotionally involved in the life and story we have created for each piece. Knowing the character inside and out helps to breathe life into the Doll."

I'm mesmerized by every piece I've seen but I'm particularly fond of the more edgy and unusual ones like "Githa RenRaven and her newfangled Gob-o-Lux vacuum". I'd run the sweeper every day if I had one like that. And "Frank's little sister" Freida is hysterical. Her shoes, her skirt, the dog's leash, and the dog - it's all just about as perfect as it could be.

Whatever you do, you need to set aside some time to go to their website and marvel at the incredible characters they've created. Their talent and their vision are simply extraordinary.