THE SECRET PARTY OF FORGOTTEN TOYS
Season 2 - Issue 1
The secret party of forgotten toys Here it is: the first issue of (what we call) the second season of AFIELD magazine. With a “refurbished” design, a bigger team, and a new place to live (www.afieldmagazine.com), some great artists and guests, a challenging theme and the hope of a new begining. So you see the magazine is fine and alive as ever.
AFIELD tried to cover the wide field between handmade and contemporary art. The artists featured in this issue are using a wide variety of materials from paper, wood, to lost pieces of memories.
Why we picked this theme: the wish of sharing childhood memories and the playfulness of art.
Don’t hesitate to drop us a note, a picture, a link or a like on our website www.afieldmagazine.com.
We thank all artists who replied to our call for artworks and also to the ones who sent us materials and sugestions.
In this magazine present artists with excting and orginal works wich use toys as raw material. Reading the interview you will discover how puppets can come to life.
The team
George Roşu Editor of the universe
©
Alexandru Solomon Designer
Iulia Nicolaie Chief Editor
All published materials are the property of their respective owners and are used with the kind permission of the artists.
Interview
4
The Little Theatre of Dolls
PAGE
Artists
10
Guest Editor
38
PAGE
Constantin Nimigean
PAGE
Projects
42
PAGE
The Little Theatre of Dolls thelittletheatreofdolls.com Raisa and Frida are Scandinavian illustrators, puppeteers and the creators of the Little Theatre of Dolls, This two beautiful creators invite you in a magic world where you could do anything like travel to another planets in beautifully crafted sceneries. You can meet them in the rainy streets of London where they captivate you will a wonderful performance.
Who is behind ,,The Little Theatre of Dolls�?
Where is your favorite place to perform?
Raisa Veikkola and Frida Alvinzi
We have a lot of lovely experiences of performing all our shows. We loved performing at Tate Modern and Barbican What is your work about? but performing in the streets has been amazing too. The moment when you Our aim is to create visual experiences forget yourself and start believing that and 4 dimensional art pieces, using the creation has become alive, as if it ourselves and puppets as tools to do it. had a life of it’s own - that is the best performance.
The moment when you forget yourself and start believing that the creation has become alive ... that is the best performance.
Page 4
The Little Theatre of Dolls
There are so many ways one can connect with people, but what motivates you to build relationships through an art making process? One of the reasons we ended up creating our shows was the fascination with the direct communication with the audience. We are there in real time, experiencing the work as we perform it. That experience simply motivates us.
Page 5
The Little Theatre of Dolls
Are there any puppet artists that you admire? Have they affected your work? We are afraid to say that we are not very knowledgeable when it comes to puppetry and puppet artists.. We hadn’t even seen one puppet show when we decided to embark on this project! We are only using puppets to enable us to make our work move, we don’t really see ourselves as puppeteers as such. But there are of course plenty of artists from all fields that inspire us. The inspiration also comes from experiences in our lives and sometimes these factors affect the work without us even realizing it until the piece is complete.
We hadn’t even seen one puppet show when we decided to embark on this project! Memories from your childhood play an important role in your work? Yes, very much so. As children we both (as all children do) had very powerful imagination, creating alternative realities through play. Our aim is to create illusions that these alternative realities are possible and real, just as we believed as children. Any good experiences you would like to share? There are so many elements in the experience from creating the shows to performing them that it is hard to pinpoint one more memorable one from others. How would you describe the art scene in London? London is exciting because there is so much to choose from when it comes to art, so many exhibitions to go to, so many inspiring things to see.
Page 6
The Little Theatre of Dolls
Page 7
The Little Theatre of Dolls
Page 8
The Little Theatre of Dolls
Page 9
The Little Theatre of Dolls
Dob贸 Eszter
12
Yeo Mei Ying
16
Petra Hilbert
20
Jolanta and Robert
24
Karen Barbour
28
Lubov Nalogina
30
Maria Rendon
34
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Dob贸 Eszter eszterda.blogspot.com
Eszter Dob贸, the lady behind Eszterda dolls is a romantic soul. As you enter her world you can view that she has a passion for the authentic embroiderys of all culture. Their captivating and delicate toys is what makes them so radiant. Every doll is made with her sewing machine and also some traditional hand embroidery with bright colors and a decorative style that bring back a colorful folklore.
Page 12
Dob贸 Eszter
Page 13
Dob贸 Eszter
Page 14
Dob贸 Eszter
Page 15
Dob贸 Eszter
Yeo Mei Ying www.evangelione.com
Naughty or cute, Yeo has managed to create a distinct personality for each and every one of her handmade wonders — from fairytale characters like Snow White and Alice (in Wonderland), to dolls with bunny ears and antlers. It’s no wonder that she’s enchanted customers all the way to London and France. “I have a customer from London who has already bought 20 of my dolls for her 10-year-old daughter, yet the orders are still coming in,” Yeo says.
Page 16
Yeo Mei Ying
Page 17
Yeo Mei Ying
Page 18
Yeo Mei Ying
Page 19
Yeo Mei Ying
Petra Hilbert www.etsy.com/shop/petrahilbert
Add a little fairy tale magic and you’ll find Hilbert’s set of illustrated decorative plates, inspired by her story “A Girl With a Heart on Palm.” Petra graduated from the Department of Puppet Stage Design of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. You will find a strong ‘heart organ’ iconography running through her works.
Page 20
Petra Hilbert
Page 21
Petra Hilbert
Page 22
Petra Hilbert
A girl with her heart in her palm roams a landscape of dreams to find lost love and understanding. She leaves her half-wild parents, humming as she crosses forests and the marshlands of the Danube, that world of water and tall grasses, then through a birch grove, coming upon deer fleeing from hunters and a wounded fox, and finding under the sun, clouds, darkness and light, the realization of her dreams and hopes. The words of this tiny book flow like a slow river and its drawings make an indelible journey to the heart.
Page 23
Petra Hilbert
Jolanta and Robert jolanta-robert.deviantart.com
This dollmaking duo from Lithuania created this wonderful series of vintage and medieval age inspired ladies. The love for detail and Character Design are the ingredients for some magic sculptures.
Page 24
Jolanta and Robert
Page 25
Jolanta and Robert
Page 26
Jolanta and Robert
Page 27
Jolanta and Robert
Karen Barbour karenbarbour.com
The work of Karen Barbour may seem childish and simple but we assure you it’s not. It’s as serious as it gets. It’s full of fragility, tragedy but also humour. All these so necesary to make her art alive.
Page 28
Karen Barbour
Page 29
Karen Barbour
Lubov Nalogina takiyaje.livejournal.com
Afield magazine is delighted to feature the work of a lovely russian artist, around the world she is the most observed for her joyful and charming handmade dolls that travel back to the time you were a child playing at your grandma’s house. Also she loves to read children’s books, collect vintage dolls and bears.
Page 30
Lubov Nalogina
Page 31
Lubov Nalogina
Page 32
Lubov Nalogina
Page 33
Lubov Nalogina
Maria Rendon mariarendon.com
Maria Rendon is originally from Mexico City but has worked in Santa Barbara, California as an illustrator for the past 14 years. It is no wonder for us that her client portofolio has over one hunderd names and brands because her unique style and vision will make you want to see more.
Page 34
Maria Rendon
Page 35
Maria Rendon
Page 36
Maria Rendon
Page 37
Maria Rendon
by Constantin Nimigean
This is not a love song Neta Dror (www.netadror.com)
Personal playgrounds. People enjoy their solitudes with a peaceful mind. A place with no human contradictions and worries about the weather. The comfort suits everybody carefully. The ideas come with pure joy. Happiness. Youth. Invisible common toys like the bright sun, blue water or a fresh forest. Real toys for them to play with. Shapes, eyes, hands and relations between them. Working offline, devices of feelings installed. Ready. Neta Dror is a young Israeli photographer currently living in Jerusalem. She loves people as you will see on her website www.netadror.com.
Page 38
Guest Editor
Page 39
Guest Editor
Page 40
Guest Editor
Constantin Nimigean Guest editor / Curator He is the “mother at Love Issue” (as he states himself) www.love-issue.com, an online art magazine about issues in relationships, and “father” at www. oitzarisme.ro where he blogs about photography and photographers. We are honoured to have him in the team!
Page 41
Guest Editor
CAL Daniela Palimariu
Pour’s man Safari le maK
Straatjutter Krista Peters
44 PAGE
48 PAGE
52
PAGE
CAL Daniela Palimariu (danielapalimariu.ro)
CAL(horse) is one of the first projects that has really allowed her to play and make free associations in order to create The Surprise The main character is played by a small personal object, but this is merely an excuse for physically manipulating some old images, which were chosen for their narrative potential.
Page 44
CAL
About the artist For the last five years Daniela developed a fascination with people’s behavior, the details that make them different and the ones that are shared by a majority. An opposition towards any dramatic, predictable or overly important gestures, together with an impulse to physically improve things, has led her towards an art practice concerned with the everyday culture and its fascinating questions.
Page 45
CAL
Page 46
CAL
Page 47
CAL
Pour’s man Safari le maK (lemak.co.cc)
“Pour’s man Safari” suggests a quest, an adventure but an imaginary one. You may also consider it a a trip in toyland. The artist shares her imaginary conversations filled with witty creativity inviting us in her delightful but strange (in a good way) world that is part of her and our every day life as we all strive to avoid the real one as much as we can.
Page 48
Pour’s man Safari
About the artist Although she refuses to see herself as a photographer and more like a complete but self proclaimed visual artist, le maK has these beautiful concevied imagery that are part dramatic and part poetic, part playfull and part sad and almost dead serious.
Page 49
Pour’s man Safari
Page 50
Pour’s man Safari
Page 51
Pour’s man Safari
Straatjutter Krista Peters (straatjutter.net)
32-year old Krista Peters from Amsterdam calls herself a “Straatjutter”. Straatjutter is a Dutch word which is a deformation of the word “strandjutter” which means beach-comber: someone who combes the beach to find articles that are washed up on the shore. But instead of the beach Krista combs the streets to collect trash that has been lost or thrown away. To her, they are little treasures that can come to live when she puts them together to create small collages. An old piece of wood becomes a bear-snout (in ‘juggling bear’), and a battery-lid becomes an old-fashioned taperecorder (‘Before we start I must inform you...’).
Page 52
Straatjutter
About the artist Krista Peters makes a collage of street-found objects every day and has been combing the streets for over a year now.
Page 53
Straatjutter
Page 54
Straatjutter
Page 55
Straatjutter