I teach at the UNC-School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina--as a Humanities professor, not an arts teacher--but being around art students every day has rubbed off, because I spend a lot of time making dolls and little houses out of old found objects and tattered books. Some materials I've found in the gutter on my way to school; some I've found in junk stores, or in the throw-away bins at book sales; some I've found in my grandmother's attic.
One friend saves all her chewing-gum wrappers for me. They make wonderful iridescent scales for mermaids.
I've been making these items for about four years, ever since my father died and I inherited the contents of his workshop. I looked around and asked myself, "What am I gonna do with all this stuff?" I couldn't bear to let it go, so I started finding ways of using it. Once I began combining the rusty things in his toolshed with old rotten books and bits of linen and discolored lace I unearthed in various junk shops, the dolls began to jell. At first I called them poppets, then dolls, and now I suppose they've morphed into "mixed-media three-dimensional figures." The angrier, edgier ones are for sale at Urban Artware on Trade Street here in W-S, and the more bookish ones are at an independent bookstore on Burke Street, Barnhill's Books. Some stay at home with me.
It occurs to me that other people might like to chat about making mixed-media poppets, and might like to
share tips on the world of the self-taught artist. And storage. How do you handle storage?! As soon as I become a more proficient blogger, I'll post pictures of the pieces I'm working on. I always appreciate feedback, and can promise never to get huffy.
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