Kate Church Workshop

I have just returned home from a fabulous, creative week of sculpting with Kate Church at the Blue Moon Winery in Courtenay, British Columbia.  This time around, instead of staying in a motel, six of us rented a beach house on Kye Bay in Comox.  The house and view were beyond words: (here is a view from our deck)  This area of the Bay is a Heron feeding ground and every day at low tide herons can be seen standing in the low water and sand banks staring intently at the water, searching for food.

A view from our living room up to the second floor.

Every morning our resident bald eagle flew over the water and back up to his perch in the pine tree behind the house overlooking the beach.  Need I say more!  The house was perfect and the views unbelievable (my photo does not begin to capture the magic).

Our gazebo and fire pit where we roasted marshmallows,  hot dogs and made smores!

This class of Kate's involved choosing to make an animal figure (raven, horse, or rabbit) in cloth and then adding clay features using polymer clay.  The animal has a wee clay rider on top.

Here are some candid photos of the week with my fellow artists (10 of us in total) learning from the master, Kate Church:

Preemie clay in translucent, white and ecru ready to condition:

 Some wee heads ready to bake:

 Colouring with Panpastels, a new colouring medium to try:

Kate's demo on making a wee hoof for the horse:

This is Kate's raven and rider in progress.

Kate's horse and rider in progress.

A preview of our dolls in progress:

Three bunnies frolicking and waiting for their riders

Ponies in progress

Stay tuned for more photos and close ups of my pieces as I finish them.

Niada 2015

"Portlandia" protecting the city of Portland

I was very fortunate to attend the 2015 Niada Conference (National Institute of American Doll Artists) that took place in Portland, Oregon.  I had a wonderful time,  travelling to the conference with friends (on Amtrak for the first time), to taking a master doll class with renowned cloth doll artist Shelley Thorton, being enthralled with the key note speaker, Ronnie Burkett to enjoying the vibrant, funky city that is Portland!

I have long admired Shelley Thorton's "painterly" cloth dolls.  They evoke a sense of innocence, purity, and fun that is the best of childhood:

Her trademark is the fabric sculpted hair shapes for the hairdo.

I was delighted to take a two day class with Shelley where we were guided in making her beautiful needle sculpted heads.  I will post my doll (hopefully next month) once she is finished.  Shelley uses all cloth with mostly natural materials stuffing with wool roving and embroidering the features for a warm, innocent look.

Shelley's demonstration head

I was thrilled to share my love of art dolls with my sister who travelled from Toronto and joined me in Portland.  While I took doll classes and attended lectures she was busy visiting the sites of this fun city:

Washington Park (a natural park that includes a rose garden and a zoo!

One of the funky neighbourhoods complete with metal sculptures in the front yard.

Japanese Garden

My sister and I at the Gallery Night

Connie Smith

My sister was able to attend the "Gallery Night" (open to the public) where the newest work of NIADA artists is presented.  What a thrill:

A porcelain artist from Sidney, BC (Heather Mesiak)

Tanya Marriott (current NIADA President)

Stephanie Blythe

Leslie Molen

Neva Waldt

Kate Church

Susan Scogin (she made us a Oregon pioneer souvenir doll)

Russian artist Ima Naroditskaya (one of my favourite pieces)

Made by E. J. Taylor

 What is a trip to a doll conference without a wee bit of shopping?  I visited the Fabric Depot, Bolt, the artsy Gallery district on Alberta Street, and the downtown Button Emporium to name but a few!  The local Portland doll group gave an opening day tea at the Museum for the attendees and showed us their dolls-such talent:

A final highlight was the trip to the LAIKA, Box Trolls Studio which is in north Portland.  I was lucky enough to be one of the 25 attendees that was chosen to visit this iconic stop-motion animation studio.  It was trilling, overwhelming and delightful, all at the same time!

Internal armature in Caroline (first Laika studio movie)

Creative Supervisor, Geergina Hayns adjusting the face on one of the puppets.

Cute character puppet from the Box Trolls movie

Paranorman

It take a about 2.5 years to make a full length movie from inception to screen at the Laika studios using stop-motion animation.  We were able to see all parts of the creative process from the costume boards (fabric selection and sketches) to the construction of the armatures, puppet making process, to the set themselves during the filming process.

My favourite puppet.

During one of the many demonstrations, Toby Froud (Puppeteer fabricator and sculptor for Laika studios ) showed us his "old world" hand-held puppets :

There were many more wonderful highlights, not the least of which was connecting with fellow doll makers, some new, some very experienced but all full of enthusiasm and love of the dolls!

I would highly recommend attending a NIADA doll conference should it come to a region near you.  Next year's conference will be on the east coast in Washington DC.