"Daphne"
Pushing the Boundaries
My first entry resulted in being accepted to tour and participate with some of the other artists in a national exhibition. That was one of my goals which, happily, I achieved.
Prior to my entry, I noticed many of the art dolls from the previous years seemed to be more conservative and was surprised there wasn't a greater range in the type of art dolls being submitted. What I mean by that is you could tell the dolls were distinctly human, all had full faces, toes, hands, legs, arms, etc. Despite the Challenge Rules, I guess I expected to see some works that pushed those boundaries. That is where my motivation derived from when creating Daphne. Could I create a piece that bordered on that line while keeping within the confines of the established rules? Would she even be accepted; or, would she be disqualified right off the bat?
One: I wanted to give the impression of a face, hands, arms, legs and so forth. She doesn't actually have any of these things. One eye. Big lips. No hands. The impression of legs. The arms aren't even solid. Just a mere suggestion of each that was strong enough to be accepted and interpreted as a human form.
Two: Use parts of the challenge fabric as parts of the actual body. For instance, the challenge fabric features peacocks. The peacock is actually Daphne's head and hair. Part of its plumes are cascading down and across her neck and make up the remainder of her body. The fertility egg pouch is also made from a small section of the challenge fabric.
You can view 2008's challenge fabric at this link: http://www.hoffmanchallenge.com/challenge2008.html
At the time, I was pleased with how she turned out because I achieved what I wanted to do. However, after reviewing her pictures a few months later, I would have made some changes and embellished her a lot more if there were time to spare.
Only Hoffman fabrics were used. She was machine- and hand-stitched. Her hair was hand-embroidered with metallic thread. Her eyes and lips were hand painted. Her skirt was quilted; and, she was embellished with beads, beaded trim, real and appliqued peacock feathers.
