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Luella Mossom and her Gallery piece
I have been
inspired by NIADA artists since I have been creating dolls. I never realized that doll making could be an
art form until I opened a magazine years ago with the art of NIADA Artists Robert
McKinley, Lisa Lichtenfels, and Nancy Wiley in it.
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| Gallery piece by Connie Smith |
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Gallery piece created by Lisa Lichtenfels
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From the moment I saw their work I became smitten with the desire to create art dolls, yet had never attended a NIADA conference until this past month.
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| Gallery piece by Joe MacPhale |
After attending the conference I have to ask myself, whatever took you so long?
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| Gallery piece by Neva Waldt |
I thought I would share some pictures from the trip and give you a few reasons to attend the conference next year so you don’t find yourself asking what took you so long to attend.
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| Gallery piece by Theresa May |
One reason to
attend is the location of the event always seems to be a great place to visit.
The NIADA
Conference was held in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Since my husband has a childhood friend that
lives in that area and my close friend Christine has a son that also lives in
that area we took the road trip together.
Bob had no
idea that the Torpedo Factory was a series of art galleries and studios when
Christine and I brought Bob and Russ along to see it.
They spent most of their time chatting away while Christine and I
explored the studios and chatted away with several of the artists there.
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| Russ and Bob at the Torpedo Factory Art Center |
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| Christine and I at the Torpedo Factory |
We enjoyed
exploring the area and dining by the waterfront.
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| Old Town Waterfront |
A major reason to
attend is to actually see the art work in person.
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| Gallery piece by Cindee Moyer |
The pictures I am sharing don’t compare to
the experience of seeing the art in front of you.
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| Gallery piece by Marlene Verhelst |
I attended the NIADA gallery exhibit at the
Principle Gallery in Alexandria with my husband Bob.
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| Gallery piece by Nina Tugarina |
The artists were so warm, welcoming, and
willing to explain in considerable detail the meaning behind their work, answer
technical questions, and describe their techniques, materials used, etc.
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| Gallery piece by Karin Otto-Burfict |
I was so inspired by the work exhibited in
the gallery.
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Gallery piece by Tatiana Baeva
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Gallery piece by Sandra Oglesby
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Gallery piece by Donna May Robinson
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| Gallery piece by Tamara Pivnyuk |
I was not alone in that
inspiration either. My husband was
fascinated with Eva Hodinkova’s use of wood and motion in her art.
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| Gallery piece by Eva ZHellerova Hodinkova |
He is now even more interested in creating
jointed wooden dolls.
There were a series
of wonderful programs presented at the conference which I enjoyed completely. One of the programs was the Ten by Twelve
program coordinated by Shelley Thornton which I was one of the lucky visiting
artists to participate in. It gave
visiting artists an opportunity to present their work to NIADA members and
attendees.
The Keynote speaker
was Leslie Molen. She gave such an
inspiring presentation!
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| Gallery piece by Leslie Molen |
Another Reason to
attend are the demonstrations provided by NIADA Artists. I attended demonstrations on costume design
(presented by Theresa May), the use of the color wheel (presented by Leslie
Molen), creating shoes (presented by Nina Tugarina), making eyes out of polymer
clay (presented by Diane Keeler), and stylized hair (presented by Cindee Moyer). Each demonstration was filled with very
useful information and techniques for the creation of art dolls.
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| Demo by Theresa May |
One more reason to
attend as a visiting artist is to have a critique done by NAIDA Artists of your
work. Donna May Robinson and Sandra
Oglesby critiqued my work. They gave me
invaluable insight and guidance to steer my growth as an artist.
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| Critique of Marla Niederer's work by Sandra Oglesby and Donna May Robinson, photo by Sandra Oglesby |
A reason to attend
any doll making conference is to have fun, make new friends, and reconnect with
old acquaintances. Doll makers just tend to be a group of warm
hearted sharing souls. I attended the
NIADA banquet and enjoyed visiting with new friends. At the conference I also met some of my Facebook
friends for the first time. They are as
lovely in person as they are online.
At the conference
everyone is presented with a souvenir doll.
I was the lucky recipient of one of the 3D printer souvenirs created by
Tanya Marriott.
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| Marla Niederer with Tanya Marriott and one of the 3D printer souvenirs Tanya created. |
And last but not
least is the Exhibition and sale by NIADA artists. It gives attendees an opportunity to see more
work by the artists and engage in some wonderful shopping.
Since my husband
has been expressing interest in doll making and is a very talented woodworker,
I introduced him to Larry Blount.
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| Larry Blount, photo by Stephanie Blythe |
Larry
Blount is one of the NIADA artists that utilizes wood in his doll making. Bob and Larry seemed to enjoy a nice chat together
during the show.
Attending the NIADA
Conference was such an enjoyable experience that I can’t wait to return again
for more! If you are interested in more
information about NIADA and future NIADA events just click on the following
link to their website.
Okay, so you are
probably waiting with anticipation to see the Art Doll that I have created to
sit upon the Fire Throne that my talented husband created for me.
