Flower Power Is Back!

The Art Chix, a group whose membership hovers around 25 women (a definitive count has never been made), is known for its collaborative art projects. Late last summer a dozen of the women decided to create one-of-a-kind dolls which would be auctioned at a fund-raiser benefiting Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Fort Pierce.

They selected “Flower Children” as their theme and, with a nod to consistency, decided that everyone would start with the same basic doll form. The commercially available “Bendi” doll was chosen for this purpose. “It was the ugliest doll you’ve ever seen,” says Janel Lund.

In fairness, the doll is marketed as a “blank,” intended for transformation into a thing of beauty in the artist’s hands. It consists of a bendable wire frame and a bit of stuffing covered with muslin. It has long arms and gangly legs and a featureless pancake of a head.

One of the first things that many of the Chix did with the Bendi was remove the doll’s head and replace it with one of their own invention. Some of them also replaced arms and legs, and several plumped up the doll’s spindly figure with padding. Once the basic doll had the face and form that each artist desired, the fun began as funky fabrics, beads, feathers and miniature accessories created not only the doll’s clothing but often its environment, as well.

Read the entire article in the April 2007 issue