Making art dolls of various cultures

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): Girls and boys across the world enjoy playing with dolls. But dolls also appeal to adults as seen by the large number of grown-up visitors at a doll exhibition held at the Dutch Cultural Center, Erasmus Huis.

For children, dolls fulfill their emotional needs. The dolls serve as playmates and the objects of children's affection as well as frustration and anger. For adults, collecting dolls is a very enchanting and popular hobby. There are thousands of doll collectors around the world. One of the famous doll-lovers was Queen Victoria of England who collected hundreds of dolls from various countries. Doll collection is not only seen as a hobby but also as a way to learn about people from a certain period and place.

The recent doll exhibition, which ended on June 7, was mainly intended to amuse local collectors rather than entertain children with toy dolls. The displayed dolls were all collector items.

The exhibit featured 60 lovable creations by Dutch artist Joke Grobben and two Indonesian artists, Siana Kristiani and Dwi Septono.

Having been involved in the making of art dolls for more than 20 years, Grobben's works look mature and realistic. The artist exploits both western and eastern elements in creating the dolls.

"I like to create a large variety of dolls from all parts of the world. For example, I produced a number of dolls with Asian characters," Grobben explained.

Most of Grobben's dolls were children with diverse facial expressions. Grobben's European dolls were nicely dressed in both traditional and modern costumes. Grobben gave her dolls beautiful names. Madeleine and Linde represented typical rural European girls. They were clad in traditional folk costumes consisting of full, ruffled skirts, embroidered aprons, smocked-blouses and wide waistbands laced together at the front. The artist also displayed dolls wearing trendy dresses. Chantal, for instance, looked so energetic wearing a short denim dress and T-shirt. Grobben also displayed a number of outstanding works featuring Asian and African children.

"Creating a doll is similar to producing a painting or other art work. It is rich in imagination. I can create so many kinds of dolls," Grobben explained.

She started her art career as a sculptor. Once, Grobben's friend asked her to make a doll using her child as a model. Her friend was very pleased with her work. A few years later, many individuals and toy manufacturers in Europe and the United States had asked her to design dolls for them. Since then her artistic business has grown rapidly.

"In western countries, people have great appreciation of art dolls. I see this art form is starting to grow in some Asian countries, including Thailand and Indonesia," the artist said.

Dwi Septono, however, added that art doll making is a new venture for Indonesian artists. "Currently, there are only a small number of local artists who are interested in this business because of a lack of information," said the 25-year-old businessman turned talented doll maker.

Two years ago, Septono and his colleague Kristiani, went to the Netherlands and met Grobben. Grobben's creations, as well as other artists' works, impressed them. They decided to join Grobben's workshop programs before starting their own venture last year.

"We tried to explore Indonesian culture in creating our art dolls. Most of the displayed dolls have typical Asian faces," maintained Septono.

At first, they were quite pessimistic that people would not appreciate their works as the available art and toy dolls mostly portray beautiful blonde or brunette girls or Barbie-like characters. Their works, on the other hand, picture local children's faces.

"It was a great surprise to know that both local and international collectors really gave encouraging response. It appears that many of them prefer to collect traditional dolls. We currently receive bulk orders from overseas countries, " he said.

Septono and Kristiani presented dozens of dolls featuring children from Indonesia's 27 provinces. They dressed the dolls in lavish traditional costumes. Some dolls wore ikat woven from Nusa Tenggara province. The others were clad in luxurious colorful velvet with gold thread ornaments, traditional dress of the Minangkabau clan in West Sumatra.

Each doll costs between Rp 1 million (US$500) and Rp 5 million ($2,500). "Most of the exhibit items were already sold at a good price," added Septono.

Unfortunately, the exhibition, which displayed hi-quality art works, wasn't as well organized. There was no catalog explaining the displayed items or the artists's background and a lack of promotion prevented a wider audience from enjoying this rare exhibition.