Figurative Decor

We are going to go from darkly beautiful to wonderfully whimsical and from a doll in every aspect to a doll-like object in order to show just how wide-ranging the idea of doll art can be.

This teapot doll is by Laura Balombini. Laura used to be quite an active contributor to the pool of polymer art, but in recent years, she has focused on ceramics and painting. Her imagery has also moved from the realm of whimsy to one of contemplation and heavier on the symbolism and mood.This is not to say that her creative wire and polymer works weren’t filled with symbolism, but the joy of these pieces take center stage. I love that she was not bound by the standard idea of either a doll or a teapot. And, why can’t you make something be both?

It is not unusual, especially this century, to see doll and objects merge, resulting in pieces that might be hard to categorize—is it figurative home decor or a doll-like functional item? In the end it matters very little what they would be labeled as, only that the spirit of doll art—both expressive and decorative– comes through for the viewer to enjoy. Don’t you think?

To find more of Laura’s work in polymer, search Google images under her name plus the keyword ‘polymer’, or for a quick view, here is a nice blog post about her polymer work where I found this photo.

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