MARCI VON SAVOY
Little girls dressing up Ken and Barbie? Hardly. Human relationships, self reflections and personal experiences expressed through ceramics, fabric and in doll form are on display on the 4th floor of the HFAC.
The dolls are not a typical form of artistic expression; in fact, according to Julie McNay, a senior ceramics major from Richmond, Va., some people think that the dolls are disturbed and some even fear her art.
'I had a neighbor who was paranoid living next door, knowing that my dolls were right through the wall from her,' McNay said.
McNay also said that the dolls in the exhibit were not about comfortable situations or feelings.
Marsha Ellis, a senior print-making major from Scottsdale, Ariz., said that she wanted the art show to let people know that dolls are not just toys.
Ellis' dolls are an articulation of human relationships. Her dolls, 'Seamed Lovers,' which are sewed together like Siamese twins, are a metaphor of marriage. She said that they were a visual description of how the lives of a couple become intertwined when they enter into marriage.
Ellis completed the 'Seamed Lovers' from a transfer drawing she created first, but she appreciates the three dimensional aspects of the dolls. The dolls can be picked up and held, whereas paintings and drawings merely hang on the wall.
'I like the fact that they're figures.' Ellis said. 'They're touchable so the person can actually enter the space of the pieces.'
Robin Clifford a senior ceramics major from Memphis, Tenn., contributed dolls to the exhibit that represent either people she met or knew or the attitudes that those people hold. One doll, 'Fat Doll and Guilty Book,' expresses the distorted media image of women, according to Clifford. The fat doll is made of fabric and has a protruding belly. The tiny book the fanned in front of the fat doll is composed of pictures of skinny people and tags of oversized clothing.
McNay said that people have told her that her dolls resemble herself, but that the similarities were unintentional. Her dolls, however, like her have very large eyes. The eyes from her doll, 'Fishnet, tights and lipstick,' she acquired from a taxidermist.
The unique exhibit is on display until Oct. 5.