Last week the writer, Jonathan Safron Froer came to town and talked to a crowd in an old downtown church about the ways in which someone can stumble when asked easy questions. He threw a lot of jokes about Sarah Palin into the air and we all chuckled and worried and listened. And he talked about how the books he wrote surprised him in the writing, they morphed and changed so much, they started one place as one kind of a boat and each bit of that boat was replaced in the journey and when they arrived on the other shore, each story was a new. I hadn't read his books. I didn't know anything but his name. And when I walked out I thought that he had stood and told some truth.

He quoted W H Auden who said (he said)

"I look at what I write so I can see what I think. "

And Kurt Vonnegut who said (he said)

"A reader is to a book as a musician is to a score."

And Joseph Brodsky who said (he said)

"The rhyme is smarter than the poet."

And the anonymous someone who once said

"A bird is not an ornithologist."

And he was very funny and inspiring and I went home and wrote and wrote and wrote. My sketchbook page above is chock-full of drawings after some pr photo of him, that might become a paper doll.

Oh and apparently there is someone named Muffin Lord. If that was fiction, no-one would believe...

Take care,
Rachael

My the murky, worrisome moment is sinking into everything. So much gloom and doom and panicky predictions that the economy is coming to a sputtering, screeching, screaming stop may be causing us all to walk around like zombies. Or maybe we are all taking stock of our own luck, pluck and possibilties...I do hope that's the case.

As it starts to get colder, I head for the top of my house. I am starting to re-set up my cold weather studio space in the attic. When fully operational it is a quiet place of calm and productive chaos but until then it's as much a mess as the other spaces I try to work in. Maybe the best thing about the attic in the winter is that it can be heated easily with a small space heater and can feel very much like an incubator of ideas. A place where there are no interruptions and time flows very differently.


Oh and this OxFamily project of hopeful and strange things excited me when I heard about it last week. They have a call for submissions for their next issue...If we were quieter...

If we were any quieter, not a word would be heard...

take care,
Rachael

I don't really want to slow down in the making of these odd little dolls but because people keep asking me, I have posted 18 of my dolls and their stories on etsy. It's here and there will be a little brag thing for it here, too. Look to your left. See.

I'm going to try to add a few paper dolls every week but it's more important for me to make 'em and get to sleep on time and try to remember the joyful things in this murky gray moment of an almost recession in which the poverty so many people live in will just get worse, worse and worse.

Economic situations may be souring, but people are good and possibly getting better, trying to help others. I see that every single day, don't you?


goodnight,
Rachael

Tom Tierney is the modern master of the paper doll and an inspiration. I got a big laugh and smile out of the link my friend Shelly sent to his new Obama paper dolls. There are also McCain dolls. But just looking at the dolls, I think McCain looks a little stiff and old-fashioned, plus his head is too big.

I am still making my dolls and trying to manage to keep all things in perspective, but am pulled far away from blog-dom sometimes.

As when I ricochet between cutting my dolls, doing my job, and then listening to a fascinating academic talk, by Dr. Carla Yanni of Rutgers University. She spoke about the architectural history of psychiatric institutions in the 19th century (when they were really called insane asylums), the ways in which architrectural forms mirrored the optimism of doctors and were ultimately plagued by overcrowding. It's a powerful story and the historian I heard, told it very well. I bought her book and look forward to getting a chance to read it and think it through in light of these huge and ultimately very sad structures.

I probably will buy some presidential- hopeful paper dolls, too, in light of what might be a very sad election that may not change much at all for the rhetoric...

We are an optimistic people, though, and I too want to believe...

take care,
Rachael

The simple story is that it worked.
I am still glowing from a really wonderful Sunday showing my dolls as part of the Artist Row at the Rochester Public Market. Sweet Stacy took some pictures and got a bit funky with them as I always appreciate from her. The pictures start to tell more of the story of the day.
I frankly remembered why I make these things, how lucky I am in friends and loved ones, why it feels good to share the thing you love with the world, and some of what it means to be human. And I danced with a guy on stilts.

I got a huge buzz of joy from sharing my paper-dolls with the wild and wonderful cross section of people who stopping in and paid attention to these little "action figures" (as Phyllis called 'em) and misfit puppets. People certainly responded. There were a few people who clearly thought they were weird (they are) but so many people smiled to see these things I can't stop making.

Of the 125 dolls I brought to market, roughly half (62) went home with other people. Some will be send to the Swiss Alps, some will move into the kind of luxury they'd never find in my studio, many will be proudly shown off.

Oh, and also, I won Best of Show, which felt really good if a little un-earned (coulda gone to Phyllis or Judy or so many others but definitely helps me). That's why I have the goofy grin...
And as with any crazy creative project motivated by good intentions (don't we always think out intentions are good?), I learned quite a bit. Not the least of which was from Kelli (whose etsy shop shows some of her beautiful work and whose story is a powerful one.) I hope Martha can help in some small way.

In response to the happy reactions, I've decided to put these dolls on etsy and to just keep making them. As soon as I have a crowd of dolls on etsy, Iwill post that here and spread the news. In the meantime of course, the knews is all this...




OK, so take care troublemakers and THANK YOU!
Rachael