Help Me Name that Doll!

Empty locket soon to have clockworks

Ok so I'm a little late with this post, but I just designed, and produced a whole artistically-altered clothing line called LITTLE RED WOLF (be sure to return this week to learn more about that!) and I am just finishing up filling a major west coast order for some bunny pencil cases! So I think I'm entitled.
NEVERTHELESS here is my soul-gutted girl without a name!
I'm currently working on her chest locket where her heart used to be and it will be getting a clockworks (the inside of an old watch) and her ripped out heart will now reside in a little birdcage that she will soon begin to carry around...her only saving grace is the bird that used to live in the cage where her heart now lives is finally free (perched high outside the cage.)

So now that you know all there is to know I'm taking suggestions and ideas for a clever name that invoke her soul-gutted state....Please leave a comment and help me name her!

my soul gutted doll with unfinished boot her heart is now an empty locket but it will soon have a clockworks inside...because its all about time face detail she has set in tears and tracks...

Meeting and Working with Doll Artist & and Teacher Lillian Alberti

Doll Artist Lillian Alberti

Thanks to my good friend Manon,whose birthday gift to herself was a doll-making class this past October- I got to meet doll artist and teacher Lillian Alberti. Knowing my long-time interest in doll-making, Manon told me about the class at Boces and invited me to tag along with her and share in the experience. I am very grateful to Manon or I would have never met Lillian and learned about her accessibility via workshops.

Unfortunately, the class at Boces was only three Saturday mornings long and I had to travel out of the country (to Oaxaca, Mexico) during the very last session, so I was left to complete my doll on my own. As you will see I only got up to stage two with my class and teacher.

Nevertheless, meeting Lillian Alberti was SUPER inspiring and the two short classes I had were enough to ignite and unleash a pretty palpable creative firestorm inside me.

One of LIllian Alberti's work in progress dolls that I got to meet during my second class.

About Lillian, she graduated from Parsons School of Design with a BFA in Fashion Design, and worked extensively in the fashion industry as both a designer and illustrator, before beginning her venture into Art Dolls. She has a wonderful story of being so affected and lured into art doll-making by a moment in time when she passed by Van Craig sculptural dolls and his art in a Tiffany window display while walking around NYC. Now if you have never seen Van Craig work - you are in for a super treat and should click here: VAN CRAIG. Furthermore, like me, Lillian is a LATINA! So on so many levels she was her Van Craig to me!!

my first clay doll teacher Lillian Alberti in class with her work in progress doll

My mind was set from the beginning that my doll would be a sad, sullen girl - this I knew.

So check out my early stages and as my students told me all along the way the images can be freaky...

Stage one photo and doll by m.diazStage two of my doll Stage three - Beginning the Painting photo and doll by M.Diaz

So having made dolls before and truly enjoying the spirit of allowing a narrative to develop between me, the process and the matter (which in this case of art-making is the doll), I allowed much to be developed intuitively as I went. I also based much of my artistic design choices on where my heart was at that moment.

So right around stage three (painting the doll) I decided (or she decided) that the surface treatment of an antique wooden puppet doll would suit her best and that she perhaps made her living in a Cirque du Soleil kind of way- performing for others and wearing a daily covering of clown make-up...and that maybe there had been a build up.
As a former clown, she at one time or another had done a lot of smiling before everything went sour. The way I imagined that her life had come undone and gone black of course was in matters of the heart. And so I used some glazing and inks,stains, and shellac instead of paint to get the effect I wanted. I also couldn't help noticing that the tears were doing a real number on her makeup and that her current outward face was a fusion between that old life and this new one.

paint jobpaint job and beginning of soul gutted process detail shot SO COME BACK here this week to see the finished doll..she has been soul-gutted has had her heart ripped out (and is living somewhere else in another vessel of sorts) with only a clock works of time existing in her chest now...AND HELP ME NAME HER!!!!! I will be asking in the next blog post for help as you get to know and see her - I would love your ideas, comments and when I finally have it narrowed down to top five we will take a vote!! So I hope to see you back here!

Market Finds! Small Business Profiles- Parcel in Mountclair, NJ

No, I haven't fallen off the edge of the Earth... shoppin' gals'

just absent from blogging for a while - but rest assured - I am back.
I've been working on an OOAK (a one of a Kind Art Doll) that you are soon going to meet. In hunting for little rare knick-knacks with which to embellish her clothing and top hat, I went looking for specialty trims and findings. I was so happy, that I remembered a wonderful, exquisite little shop named Parcel in Mountclair, NJ. It can be a challenge to classify Parcel, but it is well worth the work. Parcel is paper goods store, a magical treasure trove of authentic ephemera and little charms, ribbons, crowns, drawers of findings and pips! Secrets linger in every nook, corner and shelf. Even their website PARCEL is a delight for the curious creative.

So check out my bounty of small delish treats from Parcel and check them out as soon as you can -you wont be sorry!!

Little dancers found in the magical Store Parcel in Mountclair, NJ Treasures from an Earlier Parcel Shopping Spree... so so so so cute! little surprises found at Parcel.... my full bounty collection from Parcel vintage postcards from Parcel cluster of small wonders and pips for my dolls top hat! The Top Hat I made embellished with Parcel finds for my OOAK doll !

So STAY tuned and come back this weekend to meet my OOAK doll, read about the artist that inspired her AND be a part of helping to NAME her!

New Venue & New Ink Illustrations 2

I'm excited to report that I have joined a new venue, Bliss Co-op in Sugar Loaf, New York.

About Bliss Co-op:

Bliss Co-op is a little boutique in Sugar Loaf NY that features the creative works of local & regional women artisans. It gives an opportunity for those artists who need a little exposure in an artisan village without the risk of opening their own shop. More importantly, the co-op is a network of supportive women with varying talents & business acumen to help each member flourish both as an artist & as an individual.

My work along with that of some extraordinary women/crafters/artisans/makers/designers will be featured in this alternative boutique/gallery starting April 1st AND You're Invited!

GRAND OPENING!!!! APRIL 1st
WHOOO HOOO!!!
Come visit one of the best things happening in Sugar Loaf NY this year, if you don’t mind me saying. Celebrate the women who are living their dream, fulfilling their passion & following their bliss.
Bring your friends & family..heck, grab a stranger. Get in on the excitement.
Open for business 12:00pm -5:00pm Followed by a cocktail party from 5:00pm – 7:00pm

Here is a sneak peek of another one of the new illustrations that I have been working on the Bliss space and the stages of its development.

My Consumption 2 start up PROCESS by m.diaz My Consumption 2 PROCESS2 by m.diaz My Consumption2 Final Draft2 by m. diaz My Consumption 2 detail by m.diaz

Miami International Art Fair III- The Mundane Gets Its Iconic Due

This is the third installment of Miami Art Fair contemporary art and I still have more to share. I'm anxious to show you all some more of what I've been doing lately too, so hopefully you keep coming back for more!

Nick Gentry, Antenna, Mixed Media on Computer Disks on Wood rep. Art Modern Gallery photo by m.diaz

Artist Nick Gentry's work represented by the Art Modern Gallery has gone viral on the blogosphere lately, my students love his work on old floppy disks. Above is one of his pieces entitled Antenna that I saw at the Miami Art Fair.

The next piece that I'm featuring here is this piece entitled Compound 3 by Colombian born artist Juan Raul Hoyos, represented by the Alejandra Von Hartz gallery, made entirely of paper bags. Anyone who is a regular blog follower of mine might recall my post entitled The Potential of a Brown Paper Bag that you can see here which resonates with the same idea of how much complexity you can build with such simple things. In the case of artist Juan, he has built what appears to be a whole congested city developed out of printed bags simply opened and left to evoke a war-torn time and place. For me what was quite powerful was the congested feeling still seemed overcome with abandon and emptiness...like an evacuated space. Too bad it seems Juan does not have his own site and or the Alejandra Von Hartz Contemporary Art Gallery site should have links to more of their artists work so that you could see more.

Detail shot of Compound 3, by Juan Raul Hoyos, white paper bags, Rep. Alejandra Von Hartz Contep. Art Gallery photo by m.diaz Compound 3, by Juan Raul Hoyos, white paper bags, Rep. Alejandra Von Hartz Contep. Art Gallery photo by m.diaz

This next artist is another one of my favorite three dimensional artists from the MIA. Her name is Shantamani living in Bangalore, India represented by the Galerie Helene Lamarque. Her series of work is entitled Carbon myths and she uses charcoal which for me infers earthy fire, combustion and residue to construct her pieces. Mother Goddess,by Shanthamani rep. Galerie Helene Lemarque Detail of Mother Goddess, by Shanthamani rep. by the Galerie Helene Lamarque photo by m.diaz MINT by Shanthamani, Charcoal, rep. by Galerie Helene Lamarque photo by m.diaz DETAIL shot of Mint, Shanthamani, Charcoal, rep. by Galerie Helene Lamarque photo by m.diaz

Ok so get ready! Here is another moment when my students came to mind...turning around in the Galerie Helene LeMarque booth at MIA and seeing all of these stacked yellow phonebooks carved into these portrait busts! A graduate of School of Visual Arts, artist Long-Bin Chen from Taiwan gave a serious sculptural treat...once again showing us the power of the pedestrian object being risen to iconic stature.

India Buddha Boston by Long-Bin Chen back of India Buddha Boston by Long-Bin Chen a photo by the Museum of Arts & Design Webcam tech blog of Long-Bin Chen at work in their studios


detail shot of Long-Bin Chen's work by m.diaz detail shot of Long-Bin Chen's work by m.diaz here another sculpture by Long-Bin Chen at Mia photo by m.diaz back view of sculpture by Long-Bin Chen at Mia photo by m.diaz another sculpture by Long-Bin Chen at Mia photo by m.diaz

If you have 7 minutes I found an additional treat for you all, this fun you tube video doc of Long-Bin Chen and his work- I think you;ll really enjoy it!

I hope you enjoyed this installment of my MIA art fair experience! I have one biggy left to report on before I start to move on and share some other creativity and art related news- so stay tuned and LET me know what you think! Anybody here who blew you away and why? or was this all just too on the 'what-ever-happened-to-fine-art-supplies?' for you?

-Ciao Amarettogirl

Creatively Invoking The New Year with Sorority, Intention, Incantations, Stitchery & Felt

All of Us CC's photo taken by Erin with Annamaria's Camera- thanks Erin!

I was fortunate this New Year's eve to have an opportunity to get together with a portion of my CREATIVELY CONSCIOUS Sisters (some of the original collection of women from my women's art retreat this past summer) and do a crafty version of a New Year's Invocation.

My gift to the women were little precut and personalized embroidered heart sachets that had charms, wishes and love stitched onto them.

One of the unsewn, unsealed, unstuffed New Years sachets I made for the Ladies of CC

As part of the process, I had each woman consider what the people, places and things that impede their daily dreams and goals are and on that sheet of paper physically write and name those things as what I like to call our 'Chief Censors'.

Beginning the incantation photo by CC Sharon

After that we wrote down what our deepest desire was for this up and coming new year...not so much a resolution but more something we wanted to see realized and manifested in our lives.

I wanted us to ritualistically experience a metaphor for being released by that chief censor into action towards our deepest desire. So I brought a stainless steel bowl in which to individually 'torch' the chief censor and watch it burn into ash and into the ether while asking to be released from it verbally. Our Burning Bowl photo by CC Sharon

We rolled up our our deepest desire and placed it along with stuffing and fragrant filling into the core of our heart sachet. Each woman went through the process of physically stitching her deepest desire into her heart....

the unstuffed sachet I made for CC Kesha CC Kesha Sewing her sachetCC Khadine Sewing her sachet CC's Khadine & Sharon working on their sachet's together CC Annamaria's sachet The Other side of CC Annamaria's Sachet

"Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!!"-Amarettogirl

Creatively Conscious Women's Art Retreat Continued For the Holidays!

My womens art gathering from back in August (Click HERE to see the post about it)has continued and is giving birth to some new opportunities! Sharon will be hosting another one (a Ceramics one) next and hopefully with some deliberate intentions on my part we will have our over night retreat soon! We need to name ourselves still, but so far Creatively Conscious has stuck!

Sharon reading her quote Busy Bees - Mandi, Linda and Esther (my momma) Kesha working on her design Sharon working on a silkscreen with glitter Sharon's card The Art & Design Girls (highschool mates)

Some of My NEW Favorite Things

I had a restful and great Sunday this past weekend, which is slightly rare. My best weekender experiences usually fall on a Saturday, the day of the week that I would normally call one of my favorite things, but not this time. So I declare that Sunday is making the also-one-of-my-fave-things list.

So this Sunday I woke up early enough to do some morning reading. I'm currently taking a reprieve from my usual cerebral, booky, mystery fiction and I'm reading something that reads rather quickly due to my pressed time schedule this month. Since I am determined to be an author/illustrator combo some day, I'm now reading a fun young-adult graphic novel WONDLA illustrated and written by the author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Tony DiTerlizzi. Best of all, this book has a phenomenal interactive website and it was one of my surprise b'day gifts from my hub!

Then I got to brew a whole tea pot of some of my newest addiction TEAVANA Rooibos Cocoa Praline Tart tea The ultimate zero calorie, caffeine free sweet tooth satisfaction! Try Haute Chocolate tea too- ooh la la is all I gotta say! Teavana Cocoa Praline Tart Rooibos Tea And thanks to that husband of mine I got to enjoy that tea in another awesome Bday gift- check out my new porcelain tea thermos from TEAVANAMy new procelain thermos

This Sunday Morning we also had a delicious omelette, a gift from my ladies and my hub:

our eggs my handmade ipad case by me

I made major progress (though I'm still not finished) with a daunting sewing project that I wanted to tackle now for a while, a handmade case for my iPad. I wish I could have done a tutorial for you all, but I seriously had no idea what I was doing! I just made it all up along the way and struggled to boot, which is something I usually don't do as an autodidact, but hey I can't always be sunshine and roses!

span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable">latch open openPropped up for viewing

Lastly this is going to be a GREAT thanksgiving week because my ART children are coming home from college and I get to see those fresh eyed babes who hold such a special place in my heart!

- Ciao Amarettogirl

My First Womens Art Day Retreat!!***Creatively Conscious***

With a jam-packed, super-loaded day of original rubberstamp carving and altered book-making, my first women's art retreat was a great success! Our only need - more time of course!

This is why I my original intent was a weekend retreat, because I've always known the work there is for us to do in claiming our right to a creative life despite our daily demands is just so great! But no worries there is always NEXT TIME!!!

Powerpoint for Retreat Beginning- Sharon, Linda and Manon in front Sharon at work Sharon's Station The beginning of Annamarias book cover Luz and her station Visual journalling prompts for book altering beyond the day of retreat! Linda at work Lindas station Annamaria working Sharon working All my rubberstamps and our option supplies table Naaja, her self portrait stamp and her print in her altered book Annamaria's cover almost but not completely Manons cover in progress detail shot of crackle effect on Manon's cover Naaja working in her book with alcohol inks All of us Creatively Consious girls- back row Manon, Sharon, Naaja & Annamaria- Front row -me, Linda & Luz

My First Ladies Mini Art Retreat is almost here!

So along with saying goodbye to one of the best summers in a while and adding an insane amount of color onto the chicken coop, saying farewell to the college bound in my life and working on my physical self, I have just developed a mini one day Women's Art Retreat to kiss away the year. I hope it is the first of many.

I am super happy with the write up, a two page brochure, which you can see by clicking here:

CREATIVELY CONSCIOUS a Mini Art Day Retreat for Women

I only feel remiss about the space limitations of 7 participants which is practically complete pending on one last confirmation. But like I said, hopefully this is just the beginning of many more in a variety of locations.

Caring deeply about empowering women to live with confidence and creativity in their daily lives is something that I am very passionate about. On too many occasions I find myself coaching women who I know are bursting at the seams with untapped potential to let it out and shine. So why not create a master place and time for it? Better yet, why not set a day to support, playfully push, creatively prod and unleash each other!

An altered book page by Artist Gregg Emery

This weekend's class will use press-less printmaking techniques and the altered book as a vehicle for expression, investigation and rejuvenation. Altered books allow for so much creative versatility and are the perfect fusion between sketchbook and journalling. The following pics are some examples of altered books done my hub and I.

^{A Frida altered book page by marisol diaz}

^{A Valentine altered book page by marisol diaz}

^{Altered book illustrations by artist Gregg Emery}

Being the artist/cook that he is, my hub is making tea-sandwiches despite the fact that he will not be attending the day!

I've developed a syllabi and lesson plan for the day that is enlightening despite skill and comfortability level. I just can't wait!

I'll be sure to document it all here so that you can join us despite distance.

-

Ciao Amarettogirl