NeW ARt dOllS

Oh How !! I am loving altering porcelain dolls! I just can't seem to stop and the ideas keep on coming... my next inspiration is to play with plaster on top of the dolls... stay tuned...

All dolls available at Allied Arts Holiday Festival, except for "Why" and she is sold already...

aLLiEd ArTs HoLiDAy FeStiVaL

Allied Arts Holiday Festival opens this Friday!!! It is the 30th year for this event with over 100 different artists. The festival is being held in a new fabulous location this year, with great lighting and LOTS of parking. 3548 Meridian St - next to the Country Feed Store, The new location in the Squalicum Corporate Park in the old Cascade Furniture building, known to some as the old Michael's building. The location is just south of Bellis Fair Mall on Meridian across from the Bellingham Golf and Country Club.

The festival will be open weekly, Wednesday through Sunday, 10am to 6pm.

I have a double booth again this year with lots of new strange and wonderful stuff. Mummified junk birds, Light bulb ornaments, Art dolls and more Art dolls, Pottery hangings, New jewelry, and so much more. Shop early for best selection of original pieces and check back often I have lots of work still in progress and will be bringing in new work throughout the month.

Save the date for Friday, Dec 4 - 6:00-9:00 for the Meet the Artists - Gala!!!

Stop by and say hello and ask me questions about this crazy art I make...

aLL dOlleD Up TrEaSurY

Its just a few days past Halloween, but any time of the year you have to appreciate a good collection of creepy dolls! And this Etsy Treasury includes one of my favorite dolls this year..

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=91999

Treasuries are not up for very long so go check it out..

ArT dOll QuARteRly ARTICLE!!!!

So a precious package arrived in my mailbox last week, all carefully sealed in plastic was the fruit of alot of labor. My first instructional article published in the winter issue of Art Doll Quarterly! "Don't Box Me In" by Clarissa Callesen. I am very pleased with how it turned out, the layout and the photography are impecable. It is still strange to see my words in print and I definately still struggle with the concept of me as a writer, but over all I am pleased. Thank you so much Jana Holstein and all the other staff at Stampington and Co, and special thanks to my personal editor Layla.

It should be on the shelves at Stampadoodle here in town or at your local Barnes and Nobles as of Nov 1, or order directly from Stampington and Co.

BlAck HoLE oF PRe ChRiSTmAs

I have been sucked into the black hole of pre-Xmas production.... Sorry to have not updated in so long. Transitioning to the shorter days and darker stormy weather always prove challenging for me in the realm of socializing and communicating. I just want to stay home, watch movies, and eat pumpkin pie. But alas, life must go on and there are hundreds of Christmas ornaments to be made, new art dolls to be finished, and other strange and wonderful things to be constructed.. So hello again and I welcome myself back from the black hole...

EtSy LiStinG sTrAnGe ClOth DoLL

DaMn! I need to start taking before pictures of my Upcylced/ Recreated Art Dolls! This doll was spectacularly awful in her first incarnation.. She was the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forhead complete with gingham dress and rosy round cheeks. " and when she was bad she was awful" But nothing some walnut ink and face transpant couldn't fix...

She is looking for a good home!

NeW wOrKs On EtSy

I love Etsy and I admit... I hate it as well.

Its a great source for connecting with unique handmade artists from all over.

But damn I hate the process of posting things, and then it feels like a pretty slow hit and miss venue for selling.

So I am not as diligent about keeping things up to date.

But its a good day and I have some new larger works posted. These are two pieces that I am particularly pleased with the way they turned out and there looking for new home...

Punky Goth Original Art Doll

Carnival Bird - Original Mixed Media Painting

PuBliSHeD

About a year and a half ago, my friends Linda and Opie O'Brien approached me about including a piece of mine in there upcoming book, Who's Your Dada, redefining the doll through mixed media. The piece included was a small art doll created on a wood base using a ceramic insulator as the main construct. The doll is part of Linda and Opie's personal art collection and I don't have very good personal pictures of her, so we all have to wait for the book. Who's Your Dada is getting lots of good reviews and conversations and is available now through Amazon and I am sure through other venues as well. I have not actually received my copy yet, but can't wait to see it. I will post pics of my spread when it arrives....

Who's Your Dada, redefining the doll through mixed media.

"Inspired from the Dada notion of making art from materials that would not typically be combined, and written with our sense of irony and humor, this book features the work of 40 artists who define a doll AND share their process with you. In addition, Opie and Linda offer step-by-step instructions for working with 5 very different substrates: a wood block - a two-sided canvas - tin - a book - and a box construction - and share our various methods of attachment and joinery and how we work with apoxie sculpt. There are variation projects from our students AND an inspiring gallery of mixed-media dolls from some of the best artists EVER plus a bonus visual progression project from the amazing Keith Lo Bue.This book has been described as a "must have" volume for anyone interested in found object art and the human form - but it is also a thoughtful and provocative exploration of the power, symbolism and cultural significance of dolls and representational figures -- and as is our style -- it's chock full of whimsy!"

uP In FlAmEs

More pictures of the offerings left in the Temple and then the release of all of it to the universe in in flames. Does anyone else out there have experiences with the Temple they would like to share?

PrAyER fLaGS To tHe TeMpLe

(The flags at home before there journey)

(My flag made for Father who died when I was 25. Its been really powerful to share my grief over him out in the open.

I have spent along time keeping it bottled up and in a closet)

(Some chose to work in other formats than flags, I wasn't sure how I would pull all the different pieces together,

but I trusted in the process and they came together beautifully check out end pictures)

To celebrate my 38th birthday, I invited my chosen family to come eat, drink, and make art if they felt so inclined. I had a very specific intent and place in mind for the art. The temple at Burningman. Two years ago I went to Burningman for the first time and the most powerful part for me was the Temple of Forgiveness by David Best, a most amazing artist of our time if your not familiar please check out his work. This is a beautiful video of him speaking about his temples. (Warning a kleenex may be needed)

For me the temple was a sacred place not attached to any specific religious path, but wide open and inclusive for all present on the playa. This was not a temple that you needed to put on your best dress to visit, or to speak in whispers. It was a temple of the people. David design and orchestrated this beautiful vehicle and then turned it over to the community, who in turn came to write on the walls, to leave their sorrows, their hopes, their fears, their wishes, and their wisdom. Then at the end of the week to gather together all 40,000 people and witness the burning and release of all those sorrows, hopes, prayers, fears, and wisdom into the universe. Definitely one of the most powerful experiences of my life. I left knowing that I wanted to contribute to the temple the next time I returned to the playa.

Now not everyone is up for the experience that is Burningman, 102 degrees in the day, white out dust storms, constant noise, and a complete abandonment of what we think of "normal" society. But everyone has sorrows, wishes, grief, prayers, wisdom that they would like to release. So I created a space and an opportunity for my chosen family to create art for the temple. It became my job to hold there stories and shepard them to the desert, hang them with love and tenderness, cry over them, and then witness their release into the flame. My experiences at the temple are hard to contain within words, and words are not my first language. So I leave you with more pictures...