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My first puppet… go ahead, you can laugh.
Really more of a figurine than a doll, but this is for the time lapse shots. I intend to paint her. She isn't finished, no face and still needs cleaning up.
Pauline is from the Dark Mind project nd this is but one of many different dolls I will be making of her.
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Greetings, or perhaps I should say "selam." I am Sahara, a name that brings to mind images of the Middle east, although the dessert I am named for is in Africa. I am the amalgamation of men's uninformed desires. I represent the numerous harem girls and Odalisques that have been portrayed throughout art history in the past 300 years. I am all the women of any decent that were used for the viewing pleasure of men in uninformed situations. Stereotypes and over-generalizations are my specialties. My face is vague, maybe I have blue eyes, maybe brown or green. it is difficult to tell, but easy to imagine. My hair is blonde, although women from the orient are not blonde unless they have chosen to be. I expose myself, but also try to hide, I turn my face away from the viewer and close my legs for modesty. I am what every man thinks he wants. I am what men have been dreaming about for hundreds of years. The exotic woman, the woman that is enslaved or in servitude. I have to do whatever I am told. I do not have a brain, I can not think for myself, I do not have a voice I can not speak out against the piercing eyes, I can not even hear what some women would say about me posing in such a lewd way. I am here for the viewing pleasure of men, for their daydreams in which they have their own harem, full of faceless women like me. I am THE Odalisque. The poor slave girl, forced to wait on the wives of the Sultan who has been transformed through the centuries to become another word for prostitute. I could be Manet's Olympia if I were but a bit more forward. I could be a Storyville girl, from America, or maybe even photographed by Lucy Fur… But that would be better. I want to be one of the women that stand up for sex, not lay down, I want to be the Lucy Fur's and the Annie Sprinkles of today. I want to be a woman to have a voice for sex and art. Not an odalisque without any freedom. I want to be free and strong and capable. I want to be the Anti-Odalisque!
Sahara took five days to finish. The cutting and tracing for the patterns took one day by themselves. I Have never attempted sewing anything as difficult as this before. I knew that I wanted to make a nude doll from the beginning, which is why i chose the difficult pattern that I did. I realize that she is not great. But I also realize that this was not an easy task I took upon myself, far more difficult than I intended it to be actually.In the beginning I had every intention of doing another anime/odalisque combination. But as the doll grew, and boy did she grow, I had no idea she was going to be so big, my thoughts toward her changed. she began to take on a life. I had originally intended after I had finished her body, to recreate Boucher's Blonde Odalisque but she didn't didn't seem to fit that image. That was when I came across Ingres Odalisque with Slave It wasn't the first time i had seen it by any means, but it spoke to me this time, louder than any other piece. Sahara was not made to be an exact replica, but her pose is. She has been sculpted to stay in the pose. I feel a life force from the doll, as if she wants to move but can't, and the pose, more than anything else, gave her that force. As if at any moment he is going to roll over and walk away. I believe she would be a very strong willed person, standing up for what she believes in. The doll is not perfect, far from it. But I think the work that went into and the energy that she exudes makes her far more interesting than if she were a perfect beauty.
Some things to note in her construction. I chose a fabric that was thin and skin colored in order to be able to decorate directly onto it. I however made a poor chose in fabric as if unraveled far too easy. not a mistake I will make again. Her hair was chosen originally to fit with the anime style, but the stereotypical, "Blondes have more fun" spoke to me and I chose not to change it. Her hands have been wired so that each individual finger can move and be posed, as is her body. She is jointed at the knees, hips, elbows and shoulders so that she can pose. Her face was sculpted through sewing and then enhanced with makeup. Her whole body was actually. Even though it can not be seen in the pictures I made her anatomically correct, as much as I could at least. Her nipples and her bracelet are made of the same beads, a reference to my last work in which you spoke of the beads and nipples becoming one. This work was extremely difficult for me. I hope that the wok I put into this can be seen.
There is a slide show for the work here it is all the same photographs you have seen already but I intended them to be viewed as a slide as well as stills.
My kokeshi/ Momiji Doll
In my studies of Japanese pop culture I came across the Momiji doll. A new hot little item from Japan that is a super cute doll with a secret message in the bottom.
As I read more about it, I found that it was inspired by the kokeshi dolls, that incidently inspired the Mii Characters from the Wii video game. Kokeshi dolls are believed to have begun as a ritual item. The asia store describes them as;
"Japanese Kokeshi Dolls or Ningyo are hand-made from wood and originated from the hot spring areas of Tohoku region of northern Japan. This craft of making Kokeshi dolls has been handed down from generation to generation and has spread throughout Japan.
Characterized by a simple trunk and an enlarged head with a few thin, painted lines to define the face, the body has a floral design painted in red, black, and sometimes yellow, and covered with a layer of wax. One characteristic of Kokeshi dolls is their lack of arms or legs and bottom is generally marked with the signature of the artist."
In the spirit of the kokeshi doll I have made a simple trunk body that was decorated with a floral patterned cloth. The head was handmade from clay. I chose to add hair for a couple of reasons. 1) I wanted to try to make hair by hand and this seemed like a good chance, and 2) I was trying to make the doll look as much like my character Pauline as possible. I did not stop there however. I likes the idea of the momiji dolls have a secret message place. So in the bottom of my doll is a small container to put anything I want, messages, money, whatever.
The doll made for the "struggle" video really spoke to me. I sewed his hands behind his back, much like a straight jacket. The white blindfold is glued on where the eyes should be and I tied him up in gold twine.
I have so many meanings behind this work, people that it relates to, but I don't want to personalize it that much. On the larger scale, the white sash represents the blindness we choose to have. The blindness of love, money, patriotism, loyalty, whatever our vice that closes our eyes and minds to information. The gold binds represent the sociological choices that are forced upon us from birth on, by whatever community we live in. The way we are expected to live, who we are expected to love, etc. The kneeling legs represent the typical docile nature that adults are expected to portray. Go to work, go to church, don't step out of line and you won't get in trouble. The doll however still sits straight and proud. Believing he is in charge of his own life. That he is right in the choices he makes, never questioning and succeeding as long as he plays by the rules.
This object brings together several of the topics I have discussed and am currently researching.
Right now I'm calling him Geppetto, I'm sure a better name will come up… but… the name incorporates my love of fairytales, although Pinocchio is not a favorite, it seems to fit in this case. My love of contrasts and irony fit the name I chose for the little wooden person. Doll making, obviously, is a part of this, as it is a basic doll. The idea of ritual and my ongoing quest for ritual in order to cleanse myself of the bad thoughts and memories. The Japaneses tradition of doll making in order to collect evil thoughts and put them into the doll, complete with a bonfire in the end in which the dolls are cleansed before being thrown in the fire. and my need to learn to create more spontaneously. This is something that comes up time and again in my musings over creativity. I just have to learn to accept that even though I keep making people, it's ok, as long as I make something. And my art practice, try to make something every day, which I haven't done lately. My little wooden doll, which was a spur of the moment thing, has helped me to focus and calm down. He has become a meditative device, though I'm sure he will go the way of the others and soon just be another collection. For now however, he has brought together many different aspects that I have been working on for awhile.
The first object for the actual "set" of the animation. The Sun (obviously I hope)
A doll I made that the point evidently doesn't come across too clearly… TOO MANY THOUGHTS!!!!. Or too much crap in his head, it's exploding out. (These are the last two dolls made during packet 1 time.)
Test dolls
The Mutant, with help from Willow
Carl the crap colored doll, with help from Miki
A girlfriend for Bun Bun, with help from kessy
Bun-Bun, as he has been dubbed, is not my pattern. But he came out pretty good. Everyone wants him.
This is a JJ original, I call him Heady,because of his "disability" Are headless plushies odd??
Doll face
The third one, the second one fell apart
This one isn't any character from the book, he was just a way to figure out what I need to do differently, my answer, plan better.
The first one
It is suppose to be pauline, you can compare the doll to the drawing at the top. I am obviously still working on it, this is the first, really just to get my machine up and running and get me use to having one again.
A penguin I made for my soon over x-mas based on a shirt he has