By Christine Verstraete
Today you're in for a treat, after admiring her work on her Facebook page, I asked Ontario sculptor and artist Kamila Mlvnarczvk of Woodedwoods to share some details about her original sculpted zombie and "monster" dolls.
(Photo: Girl in Mourning, Festive Dead Christmas Ornament)
This Polish-born artist says she was always in love with
creating in art and soon realized it was all she wanted to do. She attended art
school and got a degree in illustration, but found herself at odds with
her chosen field of work. Then she discovered art dolls.
(Photo: collage of various dolls)
"I felt very lukewarm about my options since I was
horrible at doing what people told me to do," she admits, "and that
was in essence what being an illustrator was. I discovered art dolls by
accident on the internet and I become fascinated and really obsessed with them.
And that's where I'm at today. I think that if I didn't discover doll making as
an art form I would have ended up as a lousy freelancer and probably settled
for something else."
(Photo: The Festive Dead, Christmas ornament)
She picked up some clay eight years ago and began to see
what she could make, which she admits, wasn't easy at first.
"I had zero experience in sculpting and
costume design, all I had was a love of drawing," she explains.
"Somehow I managed to overlook my first dozen or so crappy dolls because I
was just so fascinated that I could take my doodles and make them real, in 3-D.
I just worked and worked and worked and I started noticing that my dolls were
looking good, almost saleable."
Kamila began selling her dolls two years later. "I was
delighted that people wanted to take my dolls home and display them, so that
served as another motivation to keep improving my quality."
What makes her work so compelling is that what some may call
"gruesome" becomes unique and charming in her hands. Why does she she sculpt these
zombies or "monsters"?
"...Because I
think they are sympathetic creatures that are far most interesting than
traditional dolls," she says. "You can see more pain and humanity in
a monster's face than any old blank eyed smiling dolly."
(Photo: Eunice Brown and her apples - read about her on the website gallery page)
While her work is uniquely her own, inspiration can come from an old photo, a piece of vintage fabric, or a wonderful art doll.
"I am often inspired by searching out other doll
artists, just seeing all the different styles, ideas and craftsmanship really
inspires me to experiment with my own dolls a lot," she says. " I
think that everyone I have encountered as a doll maker has given me something
to think about.
"My other influences are often wonderful bits of fabric
I find, antiques, old Victorian photographs, and beautifully illustrated
children's books. I am most inspired when I am doing mundane tasks and let my
mind drift. I usually keep notepaper around so that I can jot down ideas and
pictures in my head so I don't forget. This all goes into an idea book I keep,
so I have never really found myself without an idea because I can always go
back to the many ideas I haven't yet used. Its my greatest resource."
(Photo: Zombie Girl Collette)
The dolls, hand-sculpted of ProSculpt polymer clay, vary in size from 5 inches for the smaller ornaments, to about 25 inches for larger figures.
It can take about a week for her to make a doll, but she doesn't have a firm time frame. As a stay-at-home mom, she works on them when she can.
Luckily for collectors, that is often enough that her little (and bigger) creations have now found homes around the world. "My dolls have seen more than I have," she jokes.
In following her artistic dream, Kamila says the main thing she learned was to not be afraid to take risks.
"The most important lesson I have learned is just to
make what you want, don't let conventions and tradition hold you back,"
she says. "If you don't take risks you'll never be satisfied and there
will be something missing from your work. The only roadblock should be your
skill in being able to create what you imagine and that can easily be overcome
with practice."
(Photo: Sister Catalina Maria Bocconcini - read the story
about her
and some of the other dolls at Kamila's website)
--http://girlzombieauthors.blogspot.com
and I've come to love the characters and to say goodbye, well, it's almost like losing a bunch of really close-knit friends. That being said, I guess I will have to really listen to those voices in my head- Cassie's, Allies, Paige's, Henry's, and even Kristie's. Is the game over or will I need to create higher levels?
