Life, Art and Fashion Dolls

Since 2012, I have been a part of a team of art lovers running a little neighborhood art gallery we call Art Gallery 21. The building used to serve as the Woman's Club and has now been re-purposed as a cultural center and home to the gallery.

On March 9th this year, we hosted an exhibit titled "The Art of Barbie." The international icon of fashion and style celebrated her 60th birthday and we were blown away by how many people came to the opening and to the exhibit in the weeks that followed.

It's not the first time I've been involved in an exhibit of Barbie dolls, but, this time ... this time, it was art. Beautiful art. Amazing art. Created by amazing artists.

We were blessed with the donation of two photographs from Sharon Wright, who I have the pleasure of knowing personally and whose career I have followed since she first took pictures of Poppy Parker. She's an Emmy Award Winning film maker, actress, model and all around terrific human being and the proceeds from the sale of her photos went to support the art gallery. I think it was extremely generous of her to donate her pictures and I love her for being so kind.

And, she wasn't alone. We also received a donated photograph from Rebecca Berry of "Inside The Fashion Doll Studio," which sold the first night! The artistic talent I've discovered in my journey as a doll collector continues to amaze me.

Which just goes to show you ... doll people are the best kind of people there are. They ARE artists. And, doll lovers. And, generous of spirit. And, I'm so lucky to have been a part of this. Thank you, Universe!

Around here ...

I haven't been here in awhile. Did you miss me?



That's what I thought.

There's lots been going on around here. Just to catch you up on things ...

... hosted five ... count 'em! 5! ... art exhibitions at Art Gallery 21 at the Woman's Club of Wilton Manors between October 2015 and May 2016.

... finished my eleventh year visiting fourth and fifth grade classrooms and talking about living in the Everglades. (Yes. We live IN the Everglades, on drained land.)

... preparing to install a museum exhibit which I have titled, "the Barbie story," using my personal Barbie doll collection to show her #evolution as a social icon and popular children's toy.

... working with the City of Wilton Manors Leisure Services Department to bring the "official" Wilton Manors Visitors and Newcomers Welcome Center to the art gallery.

... getting stronger in Jazzercise classes, increasing my weights by one pound and jumping for the first time in two years!

What have you been up to???

De-boxing Fashion Dolls

Doll bondage. What a concept, huh? 


Walk down any Barbie aisle in any big box store and you'll see them. Playline dolls, collector dolls ... all bound to their boxes. I am looking at my newest acquisition ... "Katniss" Barbie doll (from "The Hunger Games") dreading removing her from her box. But! Remove her I will! She must be free!


Collectors ought to be able to sue for damages and mental anguish as a result of deboxing their dolls. Particularly Barbie dolls!  


If you collect Barbie dolls, you know about the injuries that can be acquired while trying to release them from captivity. Have you ever sliced a finger as you wrangled your trapped Barbie doll from her packaging?  Uh-huh. I thought so. 

And while struggling with Mattel’s idea of doll security, I find myself wondering about the child who has received a doll for Christmas or a birthday. What a nightmare for any child! It's imperative that a responsible adult assist in the de-boxing!  


I can remember when you brought your brand new Barbie doll home, slipped the lid off and lifted the doll out of her cardboard prison. I even found this photo on Flickr of Never Removed From Box bubblecut Barbies from 1961. You can see how easily the doll could be removed.  Wow! What a concept! Nowadays, it takes scissors, tweezers, needle nose pliers, and a whole lot of patience to free Barbie from her box.

Last year I discovered the Poppy Parker doll from Fashion Royalty and when I received her was immediately charmed by the box! The box lid is secured with soft pink ribbon tied in a lovely bow. You pull the bow and the lid opens very easily.  I love how the doll is gently tied to her liner with soft white ribbon. It took every bit of three minutes to get her AND all her accessories out of the box! Heavenly!


But, more recently, a new monster has reared its head. It began with the 1996 Holiday Barbie doll that I donated for a raffle. A lovely woman won her and seemed so pleased with her prize. She took the doll home and, not being a collector, she removed the doll from her box! Now, holiday Barbies are packaged to be beautifully displayed IN their boxes, and one would think she would be left that way. Alas! When this lovely lady removed her doll, the head fell off! She did call to report the mishap, and we asked her to return the doll for repair, which is what I will be doing tomorrow. {Poor beheaded Barbie!}

And, that's what got me thinking about it. De-boxing dolls, that is. I began de-boxing my dolls last year. I found I was running out of places to put them and I wasn't having any fun with them IN the box, so one by one, I freed my dolls from their trappings. Along the way I discovered that the rubber bands were dry rotted and the twist ties were rusted. These discoveries reinforced my efforts to get those girls out of their plastic cardboard prisons and I find I am enjoying my dolls even more!

I don’t think it’s necessary to attach a doll to a box in such a way that it almost requires destroying the doll in order to remove it. I’m sure Mattel has heard complaints about this. I’m sure they have justification for continuing the cruel and unusual punishment of Barbie and her friends. But, I think we are due for a kinder, gentler world of doll bondage, don't you? 

Sliding into August

It's been a wild and crazy month and, here we are, the last day of July! Oh, my!

This month was chock full of fun!

I provided the raffle dolls and table dolls for 'Tea with Barbie' at Old Davie School and enjoyed watching moms and dads and grandmothers with their little girls, all dressed in finery, some with tiaras, many accompanied by their Barbies, having fun in the lovely Barbie World we created on the second floor of the school!

We had "live" Barbie models doing a fashion show, and after tea was served, they returned to sign autographs! It was so much fun to watch little girls posing for photos with living Barbies, eyes filled with stars!  We gave away a bunch of Barbie dolls and Barbie-related items during the raffle. And, it was absolutely wonderful to see 248 people immerse themselves in the world of Barbie for a couple of hours! What joy!

The tea party was followed by the opening of Art Gallery 21 at the Woman's Club of Wilton Manors with an exhibition of artwork from eight local artists. I have lived in Wilton Manors for 25 years and have seen it change a lot over the last ten of those years, but the one thing we didn't have was a 'cultural center.' So, we're making one!

I'm not a painter or artist in the traditional sense of the word. I'm a community organizer. And, some of my art friends think that it's an art to start something from nothing, which is pretty much what we did. However, these kinds of projects ('Tea with Barbie' and 'Art Gallery 21') may have started out as my idea, but they no longer belong to just me. Other people have latched onto them and made them their own, and THAT's how it works! I call it 'cosmic velcro' when that happens!

And, the best thing? It's always way better than anything I could've imagined on my own! As you can see in the photo, Miss Lily Grace spotted the portrait her Uncle Carl had painted of her, and, lucky for me, I had my camera in hand! These are the delightful things in this life that make whatever we've done worth doing!

So, how's that for an end of July report?

I think it's pretty darned cool ...

Un-decorating ...
I love the entire process of decorating for Christmas. Getting all the ornaments out of their boxes and putting them on the tree is as much fun as seeing the tree when I come home. This year I decided to use some of my Barbie ornaments and, sure enough, they were delightful to behold once the tree was done. The photo below is of my current favorite ... "Lighter Than Air Barbie," one of the ballet dolls inspired by Degas' art. She's made of porcelain and is truly as fragile as she appears. But, she's so very pretty ...

Below is this year's tree from the perspective of the floor. I also love my nutcracker on the coffee table, so I had to be sure he was included in the picture. Oh! How I love Christmas twinkle lights! I think we should have twinkle lights all year round, don't you?

Then, there's my little ceramic village on the fireplace mantle. Now, these cheesy little ceramic houses cost one dollar each at the local Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy and I've bought some every year for three Christmases now. Needless to say, I have more of them than will fit on my mantle, but, Hey! Who cares? I crammed as many of them on there as I could and enjoyed arranging and rearranging them for about three days.

I've decided that in order to continue cultivating my creative spirit I will have to leave them on the mantle until this Arctic Express we've been experiencing is gone. When the temperature is 75 degrees for three consecutive days, then I'll pack them up! So, there!

I guess it'll soon be time to drag out the St. Valentine's decorations, huh?

Time for a litte fun stuff ...

Here's my first crochet project for my beloved Barbie doll. There is a crochet thread on the Barbie Fan Club Bulletin Board and patterns are shared among members. This turned out so much better than I imagined it would. After all, I hadn't done any crocheting in years!

Then, I found a dress pattern on the BFC board and crocheted it in white. I hadn't planned on it being usable. I figured I'd make all the mistakes so I could make a "real" one. Ha! It turned out quite grand, don't you think? I'm thinking about adding a crocheted flower and maybe a wide belt ... and, then ...

... these beautiful colors are for a color block dress pattern for Barbie that I recently found!

I had forgotten how much fun this could be!