Artist Rose Szabo (Photo by Richard Babb)
Artists, Irene Heckel-Volpe, Karen Hawkins and Mary Kelley (Photo by Richard Babb)
Do you remember your favorite book from childhood? Imagine how excited you would have been (or perhaps would be even now) if you saw the characters materialize right in front of you.
For the fourth year, 11 art doll artists from GoFigure have created figures from children’s stories for display in the exhibit Storybook Characters on Parade, which will travel to several locations through the end of the year. To celebrate March as National Reading Month, several artists will visit local schools with their Storybook Characters on Parade works of art.
“All of the artists share the joy of reading and how you find great characters living in books,” says Karen Hawkins, chairperson of the exhibit. “We also encourage students to write stories about characters we might have brought with us that don’t have a story yet. We (want) students to use their imaginations to create, like how to make a hat from an old sock or a small shirt for a character out of a discarded sleeve of a sweater, and so many more ideas just waiting to happen.”
Karen uses mixed media, mainly paper clay and fibers, in her art. One of her submissions, Serafina and the Encounter in the Forest, was based on Robert Beatty’s Serafina and the Black Cloak. This piece recently won first place in the adult category for a Serafina-sponsored contest. It’s all in the details, from the silk lining of the black cloak to the sculpted tree and fabric for bark.
Another piece was a collaboration among Karen, Irene Heckel-Volpe, and Mary Kelley based on John Denver’s Grandma’s Feather Bed, adapted and illustrated by Christopher Canyon. While Mary used her skills as a quilter to create the miniature quilt on the feather bed, Karen created the eight children. Irene, who specializes in needle felting, says, “Karen’s eight ‘kids’ were great, so I had to come up with four hound dogs, piggy(s), and the cow to round out the song. I had lots of fun with them. The dogs and the cow have wire armatures so they can be posed in many ways to create the mood we wanted.”
In April, Storybook Characters on Parade will be displayed in the children’s department at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street in downtown Asheville. Then, from May 1–30, it will move to Leicester Library, 1561 Alexander Road. Finally, from June 1 through December 30, the exhibit can be viewed at the I-26 West Welcome Center.
