Evolution of the Doll - Be Mine

I've mentioned this before, but for the last two years I've collaborated with my girlfriends, fellow artists and CGU grads (mostly) on a series of projects executed in round-robin fashion. Our first project was a huge success encompassing 13 artists and 13 "sculptures" based upon the idea of a doll.

I've shown a few examples/results from this project in past posts, but thought that it might be interesting for you to see how each doll developed as the most interesting aspect of working in a round-robin structure is the process itself. So, ala Naive Knitting style (LOVE Martha's blog) I will present a new doll each week in a series of posts called Evolution of the Doll. Though, I am not nearly as organized as Martha so this series will not occur on a specified day of the week...Martha remains queen of the weekly series with LadyLinoleum bowing humbly in the presence of her amazing aesthetic and unrivaled discipline!

Background

Objective: Each artist was charged with creating a "doll starter" or "base doll" and travel journal, which was brought to our first meeting. At said meeting the doll bases were rotated to another artist in the group. Each artist had 4-6 weeks to work on their "new doll" and document their work in the travel journal. Dolls were brought back to the next meeting for another rotation. This continued until every doll in the group was worked on by every artist in the group. No repeats. The whole process took 18 months from start to completion.

Artists Dossiers:
Jonna (aka THE ORGANIZER) - Sculptor, specializing in mechanical works and using taxidermied roadkill (no, I am not making this up) in her pieces. Jonna is also the queen of spreadsheets and kept the group on track and on schedule, and I mean on track and on schedule, NOW! Also, Jonna is one of my bestest buddies in the whole wide world.
Bea (aka THE VOICE OF REASON) - Painter, mostly abstract, likes Sharpies (a lot). Our resident VOICE OF REASON and yanker of the reigns when THE ORGANIZER was getting a bit "spreadsheet happy", Bea is my other bestest buddy in the whole wide world.
Laurel - Amazing sculptor and educator. Need the Venus of Willendorf done up in Playboy Bunny ears and tail? Laurel's your gal! Laurel also shares our (Bea and myself) penchant for anything Johnny Depp. I'm just saying.
Stevie - Painter. This woman can do things with paint you never thought possible.
Stephanie - Garden Designer, sculptor and resident hipster. Not only can she turn your average slab of sod into a work of art, but she can manage to attend 5-7 parties seamlessly on any given night without succumbing to exhaustion. Now this my friends, IS talent.
Dyane - In a word, nuts. Not really, but her work is totally out there. Dyane is a painter and has been known to destroy helpless stuffed animals in the name of art every now and again.
Stacy - Ceramicist. Stacy is a wonderfully talented craftswoman. Her work is truly a gift to behold. She now lives in Hawaii and we all miss her contribution and companionship greatly!
Janet - Glass artist. Janet is a true find and worked herself into this "old girl's club" like a pro.
Young An (aka Master of Connections) - Painter and curator who always wears high heels. It's amazing really. She paints, she curates exhibitions left and right and she can whip up a mean Korean barbecue all on 3" heels. How does she do it? In-soles.
Bee - Fiber, collage artist and educator. Bee is a wonderful craftswoman and resource. I owe much of my knowledge of fiber processes to her tutelage while an undergrad in college.
Corina - Another amazing painter and curator!
Magdalena - A young artist who is quite simply a creative genius AND my daughter. Chip off the ole' block!
LadyLinoleum - 'Nuff said.

Now, onto the main event - Dolls! Thirteen fabulous, oftentimes humorous, at times ambiguous, strange and frightening, magical and thoughtful, outrageous, varied, calm, undone, overdone, no holds barred, FUN!

Our first dee-lightful dolly is...

"Be Mine"

Base Artist: Bea

Recipe: A little vinyl, a little thread and voila! A lot of ambiguity.

Round 1: Magdalena

Recipe: Glue, glitter and googly eyes!

Round 2: Dyane

Recipe: Add teeth, bandana and you get bound and gagged ambiguity!

And don't forget the house...

Round 3: Laurel

Recipe: Nekked? Add skirt.

Round 4: Janet

Recipe: Add glasses, nose, disturbing glass ornament to ceiling of house with a dash of fluorescent lighting...What do you get? Who the heck knows!

Round 5: Stacy

Recipe: Hel-lo? The house is just a corrugated paper shack without SHINGLES!

Round 6: Yours Truly

Recipe: Add a bandit and his trusty steed. C'mon people, the poor woman doesn't own that dump!

Round 7: Bee

Recipe: Add some legs, puuuu-leeeeeze! Thank you very much. Now the poor girl can run from the scoundrel if she so chooses.

Round 8: Stephanie

Recipe: Wallpaper. Just what a scary shack in the woods needs to brighten it up a bit!

Round 9: Young An

Recipe: Okay, so scary sock monkey bandit doesn't have a green thumb. So what! Trees! Or um, err, dead trees!

Round 10: Jonna

Recipe: A grassy knoll.

Round 11: Stevie

Recipe: Year 'round x-mas lights. You've all seen 'em!

Okay people, I admit it. This doll, err, dolls are truly weird, but hang in there with me. It gets worse...muhahahaha!

And there ya have it! One down, 12 more to go...