Her Art Dolls are magnificent

One art booth that really caught my attention was the booth of Rosanna Pereyra at the St. Stephen's Art Show. I usually don't notice dolls, but Gigi called me over and insisted I check it out. Glad I did. Rosanna, originally from Uruguay, who now lives in Florida was born into a family of sculptures, architects and designers. Her specialty is "Art Dolls," as you see here. Really cute hand-made dolls, made of polymer clay.

"Figurative Art Dolls are a way for me to incorporate all of the things I love. It combines technical design for creating armatures to balance the weight, metal work, sculpting, painting, fashion design and jewelry making," says Rosanna.

Her work has been shown in galleries and sold to collectors world-wide.

Rosanna teaches the art of creating figurative characters in clay at CraftartEdu.com and at retreats.

She starts with a rough sketch of her idea and then researches the style of doll and era - epoque, style, age, etc.

A metal armature is created and then she shapes and bends it to the form she likes. It's wrapped in metal and then wrapped in layers of paper tape for the next step - adding clay. A few layers are laid over time and then the sculpting of the clay begins. Acrylic paint is added and then washes of watercolor give the doll depth. 

The costume is made from a pattern, then cut and sewn and the shoes are made from leather or fabric or sculpted. Dyed Alpaca or Mohair make the hair, jewelry and accessories are added and then it's added to a wood base.

It's a lot of work, each doll takes quite a long time to complete. 

Her latest project shown at St. Stephen's was inspired by fashions from the 2016 Gucci Spring Show as well as a few pieces from Dolce & Gabbana. The doll faces are her own stylized versions of models she likes.

Look for Rosanna's work at Booth 119 at the St. Stephen's Art Show. Both St. Stephen's and the main Coconut Grove Arts Festival run through Monday; 10 am to 6 pm each day.