Elizabeth the Folk Artist from Black Mountain, NC

New to the Wisdom Keeper Art Doll clan is Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is a Folk Artist from Black Mountain, North Carolina. Her mother and her grandmother

were Appalachian Granny Women - herbalists and midwives in the North Carolina Mountains. Now that the mountains are more populated and modern ways have come, doctors exist in those towns and the Granny Women aren't needed as they once were. 

So Elizabeth adapted her knowledge of herbs and plants into creating Folk Craft. Every morning she walks the mountain paths behind her cabin to gather nature's beauty. From these she created Lavender Bundles, Flower Wreaths, Carved Gourd Bowls, Soaps and Perfumes.

                  Her daughters are learning from her to carry on the knowledge of these wise women.

Elizabeth is a Gourd Art Doll. She is approximately 16 inches tall and 8 inches in diameter.Her hat, over coat, and skirt are hand sewn of tweed with fiber embellishements for trim. She is holding a dried pod which is holding two small pumpkins and mini gourd. In her pockets are dried naturals and peacock feather.
Her scarf is closed with a shell bead. Her hair is braided with leather ties. She is attached to wooden base for display.

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Understanding the Art Doll and the Artist

Art Dolls have become highly collectible and are an art form in themselves. With the amount of diversity that exists in their creation, many have found it difficult to define their type of art. Fine Art? Fine Craft? Folk Art? Fiber Art? Outsider Art? Assemblage Art?

They can fall into so many categories because of the wide range of mediums that are used. Art Dolls can be created from Gourd, Clay, Cloth, Porcelain, Wood, or Found Objects. Their possibilities in theme and embellishments are even more diverse. With all that said, the commonality that brings them all together and connects the artist and the collector is the Face.

It creates the "voice" for the piece. Some will be serene and peaceful, while others can be mischievous and spunky. They help to tell the story of the Art Doll, of which every one of them has.

Art Dolls are crafted for the adult collector. So as an adult, what makes us fall in love with them?

They can be reminders, reminders of a time past, of ancestors and cultures. They can reflect our interests in magical and fanstasy worlds. They can represent the diffferent stages of being a woman and the journeys that we move through. Or simply, they bring us stories.

Whatever the theme or medium used, Art Dolls become a cherished piece of art, both to the artist and to the collector.

                                                         http://www.consciousartstudios.com/

 

You can see my current artwork and available art dolls in my Artfire Studio here

 Wisdom Keeper Art Doll Collection on Artfire

Art Dolls Touching the Spirit this week...

This week my Art Doll creating focused on some custom orders and gifts, along with adding to my inventory. Twice the amount of time was taken with them, an almost meditative process of complete serenity as I worked. I always enjoy creating them, but something was a bit different this week.

It  felt similar to  a time a few years ago when I sat for hours creating hundereds of prayer bundles for a sweat lodge. When you create prayer bundles, your mind is to be focused on prayers and positive thoughts, and while I always am happy when I create my dolls...this week seemed to be a pure meditation. It was wonderful.

Healing Comfort ~ Chelsea

Embrace

Dreaming Angel

Green Tea

Cherry Blossom

These dolls have been adopted, but you can see more of my art dolls in my Indiemade shop here

http://jeannefryart.indiemade.com

Displaying Art Dolls for Shows

Of all the various types of Art that my husand and I create and set up in our art show booths, displaying the Art Dolls is my most time consuming. My Art Dolls use about 1/3 of our booth. I am constantly changing the type of display stands, risers, and shelving and now I'm at it again, sketching different ideas for them.

My full size Wisdom Keeper Art Dolls come in various sizes ranging from 6 inches to 14 inches tall. Using shelving makes them less visible, so I have found that using the risers gives them the height and individuality that they need.

My smaller versions, the Wisdom Keeper Poppet, need to be able to be picked up easily in order to see their fine details.

Fall is coming...time for Halloween Art Dolls

My most favorite season  is nearly upon us...Fall. I absolutely love Autumn. Growing up in Upstate New York introduced me to this glorious time and since then I have lived in some of the most beautiful places that nurture my love for this color rich time period.

As a child I would go to the Cider Mill in Endicott NY. I would watch them make the old fashioned cake donuts and would peak into all of the barrels of candy apples and apple cider. I waited all year for them to open. In the back of the Cider Mill you would find the Cider Mill Playhouse, where you could watch a play. It was exciting every time.

The crisp air, the changing of the leaves, and the brilliant colors all enhance my anticipation for the season and the things to do...one of them being Halloween. And so, it wouldn't be complete if I didn't create some Art Dolls for this season, now would it?

This week Ophelia's Pumpkin Patch joined our clan of Wisdom Keepers....

Ophelia waits all year for this time..her favorite and most important time...the harvesting of her Pumpkin Patch. The pumpkins may not be the largest...and they may be slightly odd shaped, but everybody and I do mean everybody knows that Ophelia grows the most magical and delightful pumpkins around.

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Kachina Gourd

The newest creation in my collection is my Kachina Gourd. Contemplating for about two months what exactly I would do with this particular gourd, I finally had the spark of inspiration.

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The Ancient Genie and Her Lamp..

~The Ancient Genie and Her Lamp~

What would you do if you were granted your deepest desires?

Are you brave enough to live your dreams?

This is what the Old One asks....Are you ready for your wishes to come true?

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Marley and Max ~ Mermaid and Seahorse Soulmates

The Ocean is a beautiful place, another world  within our own of great mystery...but in it's vastness it can also be a very lonely place. Sometimes the Like-minds need to stick together in order to survive.

Did you know that for every Mermaid there is a Seahorse? They are both so strong and yet so

delicate. They are connected as soulmates.

When Marley was a young Sea Maiden, her curiousness used to make her vulnerable to the Humans who tried to catch her. She met Max while in fast retreat in the coral

reef , hiding from the humans on her trail.

Catching her breath and peaking through the seaweed, she saw Max with his tail wrapped around a neighboring plant.

 Max helped her hide until the humans were gone and they became the best of friends, inseperable to this day.

When you see one of them, you always know the other is near by...but most times is you DO see them you'll only see their tails swimming away  in unison as they laugh and tell stories to one another.

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Jenny JuneBug ~ Mountain Fairy

Jenny JuneBug is a Mountain Faerie that can be usually can be found, if you are looking very closely, in the early eve. Her colors help her to hide within the forest glen, but as the sun sets a little lower and the air gets a might cooler, she ventures out to explore.

Jenny is a wee fae who's a bit on the tomboy side. She bores easily  picking flowers and playing in gardens. Her passion is playing at dusk with the firefly tribe. They love to gather near the edges of human gatherings ( especially when they are eating their dinners out on the lawns). Many times you will see her playing with the fireflies during their evening games. She watches over these friends, making sure they don't get caught up in a mason jar by a wandering human child.

If you come across Jenny Junebug, you musn't try and catch her. Even though she is a sweet little rebel faerie, she is considered royalty in her Fae Clan. She is a princess, of a clan that migrated here from Wales many generations ago, and carries on the traditions of her family as Flower Healers.

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Understanding the Mermaid..

When reading and studying the folklore of the Mermaid, it seems that their concepts vary widely depending on the culture's stories. Some say they were known to sing to sea travellers and the distraction would  cause them to run their ships aground, others say that have carried humans off to their kingdoms under the sea. Whatever the lore may be, we have been enchanted by these beautiful creatures for ages. So, what is it that attracts us to the sea maiden?
The mystery of the Mer intrigues us. She holds the beauty of woman herself in an embodiment that has the ability to step into both worlds. Momentarily she can be found sitting upon the rocks of the sea banks, perhaps singing to the seagulls or flirting with a passing human. Primarily she is journeying through the waters, delighting in a world who's beauty is mostly unknown to us.
The Mermaid exudes an unbridled passion and a link to the mystery. By having a presence in both land and sea, she is symbolic of a literal thinking world and a rider of the water's emotional world; a combination that shows she has mastered the head and the heart.

While her world in the waters is beautiful and serene, she misses human contact and the conversation. Perhaps, she is just as intrigued with us, as we are with her.

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Maya and the Songbird

Maya is a gifted writer and poet. The beauty of  words she puts to paper are rich and delightful, and over the years she has filled volumes of notebooks that line the shelves in her home. But, Maya is stuck...creatively...and discouraged.You see, she was afraid to share her gift.

Weeks and weeks went by, and she wrote nothing.

As each day passed she found herself more and more saddened by it, until.....

The Songbird arrived.

The Songbird sat outside her study window and sang through the day and night, uplifting Maya's spirits and soon she began to write again. At first she wrote about the songbird, but in short order she began writing about everything in life again.She was so passionate with her gift now that she was not only writing, but reciting to others, sharing with others, and even singing it to others.

(Songbirds are symbolic for creative people, for they spark creativity and spontaneity.)

Maya and the Songbird are constant companions to this day.

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