Petaluma Arts Center exhibit delves into the world of the doll

Six years ago, Petaluma artist Katya Krenov-Hoke attended The Petaluma Arts Center’s “Art of the Doll” exhibition, and she’s been inspired to make dolls ever since she saw the show.

“I love the fact that they acquire a life of their own, that I am expressing something that finds its own expression in the world that comes from my hands and my mind but I am not necessarily controlling it,” she said.

Krenov-Hoke’s elegant piece, “Emergence,’ which has four separate yet entwined dolls is one of more than 100 dolls by different artists at the center’s latest doll show called “Journeys Through Light & Dark: Dolls as Tellers of Stories,” running July 23 through Sept. 25.

Thirty-seven artists were invited to participate, including well-known doll artists Kat Church, Dustin Toche, E.J. Taylor, Wendy Froud and Toby Froud, whose “Excited to See You” depicting a pillow-biting, rather scary gremlin-like creature adorns the exhibition’s publicity postcard. The exhibition also features works from several doll clubs and members of the National Institute of American Doll Artists (NIADA) as well as pieces from a jury selected group.

“The exhibit six years ago focused on the role of the doll in different areas of our lives,” explained co-curator Geri Olson, a doll maker and psychology professor at Sonoma State University. “This exhibition is about doll artistry. The dolls have been selected because of the story going on with each doll. We hope that people will look at the work and imagine what the story might be.”

Olson has studied the role of dolls in ceremonies and rituals around the world as well as how children use dolls to play. She even started a doll making program for second graders at McNear School as a way to help the children see history as a living thing.

“By making a doll of a person they are studying, they are bringing the person and the story to life. And working with your hands is a way of staying connected to the self, the learning is embodied by using their hands,” she said.

Olson knows that some people might be surprised by what they see in the exhibition.

“We have had some people respond to the image of the doll on the postcard by saying that they thought it is really scary,” she said. “It is a frightened character, a scary part of childhood as seen by Toby Froud. So some of the pieces do represent fearful parts of human life and they evoke emotion.”

Another darkly emotional piece is Catherine Carr’s “Foundling,” a disjointed and seemingly beaten child doll wearing her heart on the outside. But many of the pieces are lighter and uplifting, like Krenov-Hoke’s “Emergence” and Petaluma doll artist Christy Silacci’s charming “The 3 Petaluma Sisters Love Fish Tales” and her homage to Shakepeare’s contribution to our daily language.

Silacci came to doll making 30 years ago when her husband brought home a box of red rags made for construction jobs.

“I thought I would make Santa Clauses out of them,” she said. “I had so much fun that I started selling them and then even though I never wanted dolls as a child, I started making them.”

Silacci has a third piece in the show which tells the tale of a darker, alternative ending for the Little Red Riding Hood tale.

Fantastical realms are also represented by many of the doll makers, from the faerie world to alternative universes. Co-curator Sherri Morgan, who has produced a short puppet film called “Lessons Learned” by Toby Froud and Heather Henson, is also a doll maker. Her otherworldly realms are expressed through her work as a polymer clay sculptor, a medium used by many of the artists. The show will feature dolls created using a wide and wild variety of materials including metal, cloth, clay, wire, wood, porcelain and stone.

“These dolls stretch the definition of what we usually think of as dolls,” Olson said. “They have a story and they have a narrative and you would view them in a different way than you would a sculpture.”

And, Olson is quick to add in anticipation of an obvious question, that despite or maybe because of some of the scary content, that “yes, children will also enjoy Journeys Through Light & Dark: Dolls as Tellers of Stories.”

Other events will also be held in conjunction with the exhibit, including a “Three Muses” event with Elinor Peace Bailey, Barbara Willis and Anne Klocko from noon to 1 p.m. Aug. 13, a curator talk and tour with Olson and Morgan from 7-8:30 p.m. Aug. 19, an dolls of NIADA event with Stephanie Blythe at noon Aug. 27 and a Sept. 9 event with Sculptural Costume Artist Sha Sha Hibgy at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, located at 40 Fifth St.

There will also be three doll making workshops, and the center’s small gallery will have an interactive fairy house table for children and a variety of raffle items will be on display throughout the run of the show.

For more information, visit petalumaartscenter.org or call 789-0537.

(Contact Elaine Silver at argus@arguscourier.com)