Friday, February 9, 2007

Subverting pop culture

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Someone on one of my Yahoo art groups taught me the basics of altering fashion dolls in this way. I have since amassed an army of bald Barbie, Jem, Olsen twins, Little Mermaid, Belle (from Beauty & the Beast, Disney version), and unknown manufacturers' dolls to be posed, glued and/or taped, wrapped in paperclay and unryu paper, and decorated. Actually, they don't start out bald - one of my favorite parts of the process is cutting their hair to stubble and yanking out the plugs with a pair of needlenose pliers. (There is probably some dark psychological import to my delight in this activity.) Most don't end up bald, either, being bedecked with hair of wild yarn, wire, or anything else I can attach to their heads. This one was the first, given as a wedding gift to someone whose family thought it was a joke - fortunately she recognized it for the work of love it actually was.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I adore your Barbies. I can't wait to see more.

Julesey

Artmom said...

This is so cool!! I love it! I've been collecting Barbies from garage sales for my students to work on - but now, they're going to have to find their own!! This could be VERY interesting. WOO HOO!!!
I really like your blog, I just started mine this week my url is http://www.artmom-makingtimecount.blogspot.com/ I haven't posted any artwork yet, but I will. I'll link you to mine when I figure out how to do it!

Anonymous said...

li could love in my dreams forever. this doesn't have to be. love me here. now. This is why I create. The moment. The passion. The *creativity*. Bless you.