Art Map Burlington, August 2006

ART REVIEW

The Strange Dolls of Beth Robinson

When I first came across Beth Robinson’s dolls in the artist’s online gallery, they seemed the stuff of nightmares - pale faces and large, iridescent eyes in sunken eyelids, crow’s heads and animal ears mixed with hair and teeth and fabrics. In person, the five dolls on exhibition at the Hallway Gallery of CCV are still disturbing, yet they have an additional air of vulnerability. The dolls are small, the largest less than one foot tall, and they perch on their shelves as if waiting for life to unfreeze and continue. Each doll has a personality very much its own, conveyed through the sculpted polymer and air-dry clay heads, hands and feet, the creative use of fabric in the costuming, and the hand-painted faces. The viewer can easily imagine a story - most likely quite grim - behind each character. “Insomniac” (polymer clay, air-dry clay, hand-painted, wood, antique silk and linen), for instance, sits on a simple wooden bed with an expression of such horrific fatigue that we dread to guess what dark secret is hidden in his past. Confronted with his painted half-closed eyes and pale complexion, we want only for him to stretch out and sleep and we are somehow certain that this is not possible. “Mr. Jones, the Rabbit” (polymer clay, air dry-clay, hand-painted), with his rabbit ears over a human-ish face, is somewhat more obscure. His name suggests a children’s story, and his appearance is more endearing than frightening, although the large glass orbs of his eyes are rimmed with the artist’s characteristic shadows. He is perhaps a jaded fairy-tale creature, disenchanted with the life of enchantment, still unable to escape it completely. Robinson’s dolls are intriguing and haunting. Their faces linger in the mind for days, unearthly companions to jolt the imagination.

AMANDA WRIGHT

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Insomniac by Beth Robinson (polymer clay, air-dry clay, hand-painted, wood, antique silk and linen, 2005) CCV Hallway Galleries-Cherry Street 110 Cherry Street (access to 3rd Floor and Lower Level Galleries) (802) 951-1252 www.ccv.edu/hallway_galleries Beth Robinson’s work can also be seen at www.strangedolls.net.		ART REVIEW The Strange Dolls of Beth Robinson When I first came across Beth Robinson’s dolls in the artist’s online gallery, they seemed the stuff of nightmares - pale faces and large, iridescent eyes in sunken eyelids, crow’s heads and animal ears mixed with hair and teeth and fabrics. In person, the five dolls on exhibition at the Hallway Gallery of CCV are still disturbing, yet they have an additional air of vulnerability. The dolls are small, the largest less than one foot tall, and they perch on their shelves as if waiting for life to unfreeze and continue. Each doll has a personality very much its own, conveyed through the sculpted polymer and air-dry clay heads, hands and feet, the creative use of fabric in the costuming, and the hand-painted faces. The viewer can easily imagine a story - most likely quite grim - behind each character. “Insomniac” (polymer clay, air-dry clay, hand-painted, wood, antique silk and linen), for instance, sits on a simple wooden bed with an expression of such horrific fatigue that we dread to guess what dark secret is hidden in his past. Confronted with his painted half-closed eyes and pale complexion, we want only for him to stretch out and sleep and we are somehow certain that this is not possible. “Mr. Jones, the Rabbit” (polymer clay, air dry-clay, hand-painted), with his rabbit ears over a human-ish face, is somewhat more obscure. His name suggests a children’s story, and his appearance is more endearing than frightening, although the large glass orbs of his eyes are rimmed with the artist’s characteristic shadows. He is perhaps a jaded fairy-tale creature, disenchanted with the life of enchantment, still unable to escape it completely. Robinson’s dolls are intriguing and haunting. Their faces linger in the mind for days, unearthly companions to jolt the imagination. AMANDA WRIGHT

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