I've been researching ideas to construct a Mini Doll Art Gallery, and I realised that I know nothing of designing and making doll's houses, art galleries, architecture, modelmaking or anything which might remotely be included in designing, building and making a gallery. I knew that with Christmas being very busy that I wouldn't be able to sit down for more than five minutes to make anything without being distracted by over – excited children, and besides, being Christian, I disappeared to church for a Christmas Carol Concert, where the orchestra played Mozart's Toy Concerto – this amused me, and is typical of the kind of serendipitous occurrences that happen to me :-)
I was advised to speak to someone from the University about my doll proposal, but this has been rearranged for next week now, and I've been considering dolls whilst out Christmas shopping, deciding to utilise toy packaging as an architectural feature for my gallery – those boxes with acetate fronts should form features in my proposed gallery, and as such, I decided to wait to find out what toy packaging would be left over from Christmas before playing around with models. Strangely, the boys didn't get many of those kinds of boxes, but someone bought me one of those macabre looking jewellery holders – those headless doll bodies with metal trees coming out of the neck. The box from that is perfect!
The jewellery holder itself is this bizarre thing that I am contemplating with deep suspicion at the moment.
I find its motives unnerving, its existence sans tete most disturbing, some kind of H.R. Giger vision of horrific womanhood that I find uncomfortable.
I've been looking at the architecture of various art galleries, including the architecture of Lincoln's very own Collection, which was opened in 2006 and was designed like a white cube space but with the historic Lincolnshire stone of its surroundings. I've looked at designer doll's houses, revisited Archigram and Superstudio, who I've looked at before, and imagined a Doll Gallery enlarged to the full scale of a lifesize gallery. I went to Toys R Us and imagined it as a toy product. So will it be a maquette for a real gallery, or a toy? Hopefully both and more!
I've also applied for a residency at The Collection. I'm hoping I'm successful, because it will benefit the whole Doll Proposal and enable me to realise some larger scale works hopefully. After a few more business meetings next week, and once the kids go back to school, I hope to start work on the doll gallery proper. I might make a freaked out head to go with the freaked out jewellery holder!
All my thoughts about architecture caused me to notice that in the film E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Elliot's room actually occupies an impossible space in that house. It would take too long to explain here, but believe me, the architecture of Elliot's house in E.T. is impossible!
