Heartfelt Dolls
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  • Dolls
    • Heartfelt Dolls: companions for the journey
    • The Quotidian Doll: an introduction >
      • The Quotidian Doll Blog: introducing a Heartfelt-doll-a-day
    • Diaspora: the 101 dolls project
    • Heartfelt Dolls willing to leave home (for sale) >
      • Matariki
      • Through A Glass Darkly
      • Stitch Yourself a Boyfriend
      • Pink Walkers
      • Steampunk Dolls
      • Selfies
      • The Heroine's Journey
      • An English Country Garden
      • Hobo Chic
      • The Fisherman
      • I Shall Wear Purple
      • Enraged Woman Riding a Black and White Dog Writing Wrongs
      • Salute to the Sun
      • Old Woman in a Shoe
      • Soul Sisters
      • The Smiles Project
      • BFF
      • Blue Belles
      • Shades of Gray
      • Angels with attitude
      • Angels of gold
      • Angels
      • 'Ladies a plate'
      • Cosy up with a bit of skirt
      • Ice Palace
      • Troupe de verde
      • Animal Antics
      • Male dolls
      • Carnivale: stiltwalking dolls
      • Calendar Girls
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      • Oh Cliche
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      • Double Trouble
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    • Heartfelt Fundraisers >
      • Volunteer Fire Fighters
      • Memory keepers
      • Shades of Gray >
        • Shades of Gray Duets
        • Shades of Gray Men
      • Calendar Girls
      • Pink Walkers
      • Bandanna Chic
      • Selfies
    • Heartfelt Companions: sharing my journey with you >
      • One-of-a-kind heartfelt dolls >
        • Julie Has Flown North For The Summer
        • Hot Flash!
        • Whoops!
        • Medusa
        • The Bag Lady
        • Purple people eater
        • Social Climber
        • Place
        • Fertility Fairy
        • Smile
        • Blue Baths Belle
        • An Artist's Book
        • Pink Lady
        • Beloved
      • Heartfelt dolls in a series >
        • The Rainbow Connection
        • What's in a cup?
        • The Apple
        • Hi-Cut Internet Dolls
        • Godde Dolls
        • Shrines
        • The Rites of Autumn
        • Bibliophile
        • Seeing the world through different eyes
        • Akuba: encouraging change
        • It takes a village
        • Umbrella and Umbrage
        • A cautionary tale ...
    • Heartfelt Process, Heartfelt Transformation >
      • Matron Saints
      • Creative Guardians
      • The Nest
      • Freeing the caged heart: the poets and the dollmaker
      • The Unemployment Blues
      • The Bare Necessities
      • The Heroine's Journey
      • The Alchemy of Change
      • Sticks and stones
      • Stitch yourself a boyfriend
      • Inner Child
      • Salute to the Sun
      • Bindings
      • Euphrosyne: reclaiming joy >
        • Freeing the caged heart: poetry to lift your spirits
        • The Smiles Project
        • Dancing Feet
        • Irrepressible
        • Greening: a lenten journey
        • Wild Women Like to Dance
        • I Am Woman
        • Harakeke flowers
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        • Dance
        • Spirit seekers, spirit guides
      • The Great Divide: one woman's experience of divorce >
        • Numb
        • Bound
        • Burlap and lace
        • Naked
        • Reclaim
        • Bitch
        • The Devil on my back
        • Burdened
        • God alone is enough
        • Simple heart
        • Broken dreams
        • Will the real me please stand up?
        • The Classifieds
        • Sing-a-song
        • Dark nights >
          • You are dying ...
          • Beast of burden
          • Wounded healer, broken heart
          • A moment of conversion
          • Unbuilding
          • Peace
          • Transform me
          • A clean heart
          • Unwrapped
          • Doormat
          • The weight of expectation
          • Promise
          • A new me
          • The fabric of my life
          • Struggle
          • Hanging
        • Dance me To The End of Love
      • Black Dog: one woman's experience with depression >
        • The Anti-depressants
        • Some days
        • What I wish you knew about depression
    • Heartfeltfelt Emotion >
      • Gold Angels: coping with tragedy
      • Emotions: a challenge
      • Lamentation
      • Heartfelt Anger >
        • Anger Management with Dammit Dolls
        • Dammit!
    • Heartfelt Celebration! >
      • I Shall Wear Purple!
      • Birthday dolls
      • Birthday cards
      • Julie's 21st
      • Celebrate my femininity!
      • Troupe de verde
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    • Heartfelt Care >
      • Ageing >
        • I Shall Wear Purple
        • The Seven Ages Of Woman
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      • Living with dementia
      • Say 'NO' to family violence >
        • You don't have to take it like I did
        • Are you the one?
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        • Seduced By The Wild
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        • Hello Dollies: an article
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      • Girl Reclining on a Sofa
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      • Mother's Little Helper
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      • Heartfelt Companion
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      • Colour Blind
      • Spirit dolls
      • Bound
      • Aspects of Self
      • Wrapping as an art form
      • Wild Women Like To Dance
    • Heartfelt vestis >
      • What a wonderful world!
      • A thanksgiving vest
      • Dalmatics
      • In Praise
    • Labyrinth >
      • Shell labyrinth
      • Breast Labyrinth
      • Labyrinth scroll
      • Stitched labyrinth
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      • Hopi labyrinth
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      • Journey
    • ANZAC: a tribute >
      • ANZAC Quilt
      • Rawene Boys
      • ANZAC jacket
  • Heartfelt prayer
    • Heartfelt crocheted rosaries
    • Heartfelt Retreat >
      • An Advent Retreat in Daily Life
      • Our daily medicine: a 28 day reflection on living and dying
      • Hidden in Plain View: a retreat in daily life
      • 24 hours: a retreat reflecting on the passion of Jesus
      • Stations of the light
    • Heartfelt waiting: reflections on the season of Advent >
      • Matron Saints of Un-named Women
      • Advent is a vessel
      • Advent is a pilgrimage
      • Advent remembers we are all related.
      • Advent is creative
      • Advent is a ritualised experience
      • Advent is expectant
      • Advent names God
      • Advent is a door
      • Advent: a sacred space
    • Stations of the Cross >
      • Christchurch Stations of the Cross
      • 24 Hours
      • Stations with haiku
      • John Badcock "Stations of the Cross"
    • Heartfelt Season: reflecting on the season of Lent >
      • A Lenten Walk
      • Lenten Prayer Flags
    • Heartfelt Hallelujah: reflections on the season of Easter >
      • Voices on the Via Lucis
    • Prayers from the Ark >
      • The Mouse
      • The Spider
      • The Dog
      • The Elephant
      • The Lizard
      • The Lamb
      • The Peacock
      • The Giraffe
      • The Toad
      • The Parrot
      • The Mother Hen
      • The Goldfish
      • The Cat
      • The Lion
    • Heartfelt Belief
    • Heartfelt Reflection >
      • These Parables Blow Me Apart!
      • A Single Thread
      • Every moment is gift
      • Harvest Wheat
      • Stepping out in faith
      • Harvest Heart
      • Dream catcher
      • The Sewing Basket
    • Sacred Story >
      • The Road to Emmaus
      • The Loaves and the Fishes
    • Listening To Winter
    • Genesis
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      • Joy on a String
      • Changing Landscapes
      • Rites of Passage
      • Sowing and Reaping
      • Hidden In Plain View
      • An Emmaus Journey
      • God and Dog
      • Dear Julie
      • An Intentional Walk
      • The Widow's Might
      • Does God Exist?
      • The Sewing Basket
      • Advent: A Sacred Space
      • A Secular Liturgy
      • Your Call
      • Dance me To The End Of Love
  • "100 day" projects
  • Prayer flag project
    • Blessings on the wind: a year of blessings >
      • April blessings
      • March blessings
      • February blessings
      • January blessings
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      • November blessings
      • October blessings
      • September blessings
      • August blessings
      • July blessings
      • June blessings
      • May Blessings
      • April Blessings
      • March Blessings
    • Prayer flag blog
  • Gratitude Flowers

Day Eighteen ... seat warmer

31/12/2013

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Today I was told I was just a 'seat warmer' and a 'time waster'
when I said I was an artist-in-residence that did not paint.
So followed lots of pondering and soul-searching and engaging with the inner critic.
An acrostic poem (or a near approximation) came to mind ...

    Here I am, Stitching with soul    
  Engaging with visitors
    Articulating with textiles 
Touching the heart

Wrestling with angels
Arranging a welcoming environment
Rummaging through fabrics (my paintbrush)
Machining with meaning
Experimenting with design
I am a woman, Running with wolves
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Day Fifteen ... engagement

30/12/2013

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Engagement is probably a good word to describe my day.
I engaged with my 'inner child' again
and played with paper and scissors and glue
and created paper dolls to go on the postcards.
I engaged with Julie from Alaska
who was so delighted to participate in The Yarn Bomb Project.
We sat knitting for the tree outside The Arts Village
and talking about our love for textiles.
I engaged with designer Angela Croft
who is working on a stunning interpretation of William Morris on a Queen Anne lounge suite.
She enjoys working to music
so we fiddled with the gallery I-pod
and her song of the moment, 'If Only' by Gin Wigmore came on.
I came totally unprepared today -
how does one make cloth dolls without fabric:(
So I engaged with my muse
and we used a piece of fabric given by Shari,
a scrap languishing in my 'very useful box' and an old sock waiting for repair
to make BFF.
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Day Seventeen ... thinking about art

30/12/2013

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Today I heard the tippety-tap of a yellow typewriter,
and I thought ... can words be art?
Typography. Poetry.
I wandered past the New Zealand Origami Collection,
permanently on display at The Arts Village,
and I thought ... is origami art?
Design. Manipulation.
I browsed through a selection of art and craft books in the Mosaic Gallery,
and I thought ... which are art?
Creativity. Technique.
I sat with a visitor participating in The  Yarn Bomb Project,
and I thought ... when does knitting become art?
Concept. Outcome.
I danced with my dolls,
and I thought ... we are a work of art :-)
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Day Sixteen ... intimacy

29/12/2013

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I am finding the Cottage Gallery to be a very intimate space.
Each of the dolls tells part of my story,
like an entry in a personal journal.
Sometimes this is self-evident.
Sometimes I share their story ... and mine.

Dolls and textiles also encourage us to drop our guard.
We relax. We trust. We share.
I encounter people who are curious, vulnerable,
seeking connection at a very human and personal level.
I am graced and privileged to share in the life story of others.
For a brief time, we are soul sisters.
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Day Fourteen ... loose ends

27/12/2013

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Today I tended to lots of loose ends ...
changed my Advent display into a riot of colour as the stilt-walkers come to town;
made running repairs on a few doll casualties;
finished the last Blue Belle so she could join the parade;
and ...
played.

I took several of the postcards advertising The Open Studios Project
and created paper dolls to adorn them.
It was a reminder to me to ...
relax
smile
reflect
be attentive
be flexible
let the mind wander - and the heart respond.
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Day Thirteen ... change

26/12/2013

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This year I celebrated Christmas with another family for the first time in my life.
I felt welcomed, included, honoured. Thank you.
There are changes afoot, too, in the Cottage Gallery.
Down will come the dolls exploring Advent.
They have been companions for the journey -
but now is time for less reflection and more celebration!
It is time for Carnivale!
Come down and visit the stiltwalkers and Blue Belles -
all in party mood!!

I am hoping to be open every day from Boxing Day until Jan 22nd
from 10am until 4pm.
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Day Twelve ... community

25/12/2013

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Communities come (and go) for a variety of reasons.
I am, for a season,  part of a community of five women: creating and sharing.
We gathered for lunch today.
Julie Voss came along, a multi media artist from the first season of The Open Studios Project (and also my beloved daughter:-) Shari Cole, quilter extraordinaire from the second season of The Open Studios Project, also joined us. They both shared stories from their experiences at The Arts Village. I was encouraged and heartened by their presence.

I am nearly finished my first Open Studios project -
the Blue Belles celebrating life and living it fully.
They too are a community - complete in themselves,
but also connected by shape and design,
to Euphrosyne, Goddess of Joy, with whom they dance and play!
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Day Eleven ... perseverance

24/12/2013

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I feel my world has been turned upside down.
Instead of making dolls in the evening as a time
to relax;
to meditate;
to listen to my body, my mind, my spirit;
I am creating dolls during the day,
focusing on the doll for its own sake
rather than as an aid to transformation.
Instead of feeling rejuvenated and energised,
I am feeling tired and depleted.
To persevere,
I will need a new perspective; a fresh mind-set
that encapsulates dollmaking as a transformative process.
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Day Ten ... sabbath

23/12/2013

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Today is my first day of rest since I began moving into the Cottage Gallery.
It is the Sabbath;
a day of rest;
a day of recollection;
a day of gathering;
a day of reconnection - with self, with others.

On Monday June 9th, 2009, an arsonist destroyed our textile studio.
Much was lost, much was salvaged.
At this time, I rue the loss of all our Christmas decorations -
 handmade with love, treasured tokens of my children's love.
I went down to the local opportunity shop and bought a bag of old decorations.
Today, I am hanging them again.
Gifts from a stranger. Rich in story and Christmases past.

Many of my dolls use recycled and repurposed materials.
Like my bag of decorations, their story now continues.
Picture
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Day Nine ... discipline

22/12/2013

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dis·ci·pline  (ds-pln)
n.
Controlled behaviour resulting from disciplinary training; self-control
.

I thought about discipline, especially self-discipline, today.
I considered how much our environment shapes our behaviour.
I weighed this against the importance of my own character training and attitude.
I am a procrastinator by nature ... and sometimes by choice!
I quite willingly allow myself to be distracted by people, sounds, smells, day dreams.

I want to fulfil the potential offered by a dedicated studio and display place,
but I also need the vagaries and variances of each day
to nurture and fertilise new ideas and processes.
So I imagine this arts residency will be a daily juggling act
between busy-ness and day-dreaming, 
focus and dilly-dallying,
interaction and retreat,
all the while allowing my soul to sing:-)
 
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    Author

    My name is Liz Pearce. I create dolls. This summer, December 2013 and January 2104,  I am one of five resident artists in The Open Studios Project at The Arts Village, Rotorua, New Zealand.

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