Haunting Taxidermy Doll Sculptures by Stefanie Vega Make The Perfect Halloween Post.

Dolls, in general, freak me out. As they do many people. So do clowns, birds, bones and taxidermy. Now, combine all of those and you have the haunting mixed media sculptures of Brooklyn born, now Venice, California-based artist Stefanie Vega.



Dark, detailed and finely crafted, the sculptures are perfectly suited for a Halloween post. Combining bird skulls, bones, talons and animal legs with porcelain doll heads, doll parts and glass eyes, the gothic, macabre sculptures are often in cages or bondage. Victorian wardrobe elements like leather corsets. petticoats, pocket watches, metal grommets and tophats add a little Steampunk edge to them as well.

Here's a look at some of her sculptures which range in price from $150 for the smallest to $2500+

The Task:




King Krow:




The Prisoner of Folly:


The Brat:



Murder Your Darlings:




The Manipulator:



The Dolly Beast:


La Santa De Las Aves:




Dorian Gray:



The Handless Maiden:


The Pin Slave:

"From the tales that left profound impressions in my earliest childhood memories, I began working not only with unwanted doll parts, but with skull & bones & birds. They spoke to me of wanting to tell the bigger story. The dolls we played with as children were the totems of our dreams. Upon them we laid our hopes & fears...upon them we projected our greatest selves.

I was serenaded by haunting lullabies from long ago. So, drawing on an enormous pool of archetypes & folklore & developing characters based on children's literature & faerie tales, a new hybrid was born. I began to write verse in order to share the tales that influenced the work. This rogue taxidermy with discarded porcelain doll parts and accompanying limerick became a cross-breeding of the unexpected & a departure from the familiar.

Like the resurrection of the forgotten they tell the tales from the soul of the world because they jar the collective memory we have of imagery & symbolism. This collection gives voice to an age old doll tradition that insists on singing its own song." -- Stefanie Vega

The Artist, Stefanie Vega:

images courtesy of Bash Contemporary and others from the artist.

Purchase or see more of her work at Bash Contemporary Gallery
You can also purchase directly from the artist here at her online shop.

Stefanie Vega

Adorable Hand Carved Wooden Puppets By Australian Wez Champion.

With initial training and a mentorship in Prague under Puppet master Michaela Bartonova, Wez Champion is establishing himself as a “one of a kind” puppet carver in the Australia. Combining the traditional Czech carving techniques with the unique Australian experience and “heart”, Wez is constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible in wooden puppet building and loves the challenge of custom puppets.


above: Wez Champion with one of his unique puppets. Photo by Mike Sea, courtesy of PS Magazine

Here's a look at a few of his adorable one-of-a-kind hand carved puppets which he sells under the name of Loutky Puppets.

Wombat Tabletop Puppet:




The ears are made from "Cane Toad Leather" (the cane toad is a pest in Australia, responsible for widespread destruction of their native species). Not only is use of this leather a distinctive feature in Wez's Puppets, but it has a unique texture and pattern, adding more life to these puppets.

The two arms are moveable with brass rods inset into the elbow joints.
$367.65, Buy it here

Tasmanian Figured Myrtle "quoll" tabletop puppet:




The quoll is a legendary animal that is on the brink of being wiped out from our world. This native Australian carnivore is rare to see in the wild.

Individually crafted By Wez Champion from "Figured Tasmanian Myrtle" (a native Australian exotic wood), this quoll puppet as unique as it is adorable.

The ears are made from "Cane Toad Leather" and the neck joint of the quoll puppet is a new development in wooden puppet building and a distinctive technique of Wez's work, allowing for amazingly expressive movement of the head.

The two arms are moveable with brass rods inset into the elbow joints.
$395.57, buy it here

He also sells finger puppets such as these hand carved out of Australian Red Cedar with ears created from leather off cuts that were salvaged from leather suppliers:


For Do-It-Yourselfers, he has blank DIY finger puppets upon which you can draw, paint or decorate any way you'd like:


Visit Loutky Puppets to learn more.

Loutky Puppets on Etsy

photos by Susan Wang photography

Artists, Fashion Designers and Jewelers Create Custom Dolls For Charity: Frimousses Designers for Darfur.

For the tenth year, UNICEF France's Frimousses Creators bring together the greatest designers, artists and jewelers who put their talent toward helping UNICEF and children worldwide by creating one of a kind dolls that are auctioned with the proceeds going toward vaccinating children in Darfur.



The unique dolls (or in some cases, artworks inspired by dolls) were created by such well-known names and fashion houses as Prada, CHANEL, Gaultier, Gucci, Missoni, Issey Miyake, Olivia Putnam, Philip Pasqua, Mathieu Lehanneur, Dolce and Gabbana and many more. The pieces range from couture dressed Barbies to lithographs, knit dolls to robotic sculptures. To show the path of hope and gather people to believe in tomorrow, this year's theme was "Yes Future!" for which dynamic, lively, modern dolls and art works are the ambassadors of hope and carry the colors of life.

Here's a look at many of the other dolls from the project.
Anne Fontaine:

Agatha Ruiz de la Prada:

Ara Starck:

Agnes b.:

CHANEL:

Chantal Thomas:

Chloe:

Christian Dior:

Dolce and Gabbana:

Elie Saab:

François Clerc:

Frimousse de Coeur:

Gucci:

Issey Miyake:

Jay Ahr:

Jean-Paul Gaultier:

Jerome l'Huillier:

Jean Claude Jitrois:

Lorenz Baumer:

Mac Chaoul:

Mathieu Lehanneur:

Missoni:

Nicolas Saint Gregoire:

Olivia Putnam:

Prada:

Rallye des Princesses:

Valerie Attinelli:

Vincent Darre:

Yulia Yanina:

See all the dolls here.


What Went for The Most Money:
The Artcurial auction, which took place on December 3rd, 2012 at Petit Palais, raised $251,942. The top five pieces which garnered the most money for the cause were:

Lot 17. Carlos CRUZ-DIEZ Couleur Additive Denise B 6/8 2007, sold for $23,613:


Lot 16. DICE KAYEK Poupée Trésor « Lumière » June 2012 // Paris, sold for $16,557:


Lot 21. Claudine DRAI - Galerie de Noirmont, Untitled, August 2012, sold for $8,915:


Lot 5. Philippe PASQUA, Aora 2011 sold for $8,278:


Lot 71. TORRENTE Shina June, 2012 // Paris, sold for $7,642:


The individual results of each lot in the auction can be found here.

In ten years, the auctions of Frimousses Designers have raised over $ 1.5 million, allowing the fund UNICEF vaccination campaigns and saving hundreds of thousands of children.

For this 10th anniversary, UNICEF hopes to ensure the children of Darfur right to be healthy and to grow and thrive, protected from diseases such as measles.

If you want to support the actions of UNICEF for children in Darfur, you can send your donations by check *:

Frimousses Designers for Darfur
UNICEF France
3 rue Duguay Trouin
75006 Paris