About myself
Babaika, 2013
Babay is a night spirit in Slavic Mythology and Folklore. It was believed that it was abducting children who were not sleeping. My Babaika is a good spirit who loves and protects every child.
Let me invite you to a journey. A journey to a Temple Of My Soul. To a magical place called Art Dolls. Sometimes it’s hard to explain what kind of art it is. What am I doing? Coming up with new worlds or learning old ones? I could say that I sew textile sculptures, ethnic, intuitive, and mystical, in the style of ethno steampunk, and paint them with acrylic paints, but it does not mean the most important thing.
Anyway that’s how I usually answer, because in a nutshell you won’t say better.
Here I try to talk about the stream that takes me to the dizzying whirlpools of consciousness. About fantastic creatures living in my head and painfully trying to get out, find flesh, image, meaning, and home.
About the worlds that exist in ordinary things: in the folds of a blanket I saw a witch, and so was my Marabuka, in a children’s drawing - Babaika, in the beak of a bird - Hieronimus Bosch. They are everywhere: in the clouds, in the thicket of the forest, in the profile of an old woman in a tram, in the shade behind a cupboard...
In sounds, and even in smells. In childhood memories. In my fears and in my favorite tales.
The fact that this is not a job or a hobby, there are no rules and limits. This is a need, not even mine, but going through me. Demanding, requiring a lot of efforts, time, energy, and money. This is a need, and without it I cannot be myself.
Dolls have been my passion for many years. I made a first doll for my daughter when she was young, and her excitement about it inspired me to learn more about making dolls. Later I invented my own style, a hybrid technique between a sculpture and a painting. I would better call my creations a textile sculpture then a doll. In addition I always try to give them a personality, to express the character and emotions – things which fascinate me so much in people.
I think that creative works should be close and personal. I would like my dolls to have a heart and soul. Using natural materials, like natural linen, wood, leather, feathers, cotton and wool, I want to give them a warm and familiar feel. Antique clockworks, keys and other steampunk elements make my dolls imbued with the spirit of antiquity and peculiarity.
My dolls are made of cotton, filled up with a hollow fiber, then primed and stained, on a flexible copper wire frame. I am modelling the face of the doll with a needle and a thread to create the emotions, to make them “speak”.
This is an intuitive and meditative process, which always makes me excited. Sometimes I keep a certain idea in my mind, sometimes I don’t even think about it, following the “flow”.
What inspires me? My childhood memories, old movies, cartoons. Mythology and fairy tales. Folk art. Primitivism. Naïve art. Expressionism. My dreams. Nature, especially woods. Travelling. Music. And children, of course.
I’ve been working as a teacher for more than 20 years in international schools, teaching English, Math, Polish, and Art, providing art workshops for kids and adults. Teaching is my passion, this is my way to share my knowledge, to express myself, and to learn.
Most of my artworks are decorative, interior textile sculptures.
The “Trolls” collection is being used by psychologists in fear therapy.
Dolls from the “Alice in Wonderland” collection are acting in the theater. Some of my dolls have their own funny or even mystery stories.
Child of the Desert, 2015
I love making Witches, for me they are not “evil”, they are natural healers, wise and brave women, who weren’t afraid to show their own nature, to be different, to share their knowledge, who came through blaming for being themselves.
I also enjoy making ugly Creatures to show how much beauty you can find in ugliness, how much truth, and sincerity. In comparison to the false beauty, which is as ugly as the false smile.
I often participate in international Art Doll contests and exhibitions, and I am proud to say that my dolls won a lot of prices, and lots of them found their places in private collections all over the world.
Welcome to the magic world of Art Dolls! Hope it will be a nice journey!