;)
The transformative nature of doll making has been talked about before, and probably better than I could do it.
See Mother Plays with Dolls, by Elinor Peace Bailey, or the Way of the Doll, by Cassandra Light. Dolls make very powerful art
because they have personality; eyes that pierce, hands that hold; more so than a flat painting. Not only that, but because a doll is associated with a child, it has a connection with
innocence; our own, or the doll's, or maybe innocence lost. In any case, a doll lying alone seems like it could come to life and tell us something. Where has it been?
What does it know? What would it say? To whom would it speak, and in what language?
Though transformed fashion dolls are rarely considered art for some reason (well, admittedly most fashion doll makeovers look like redressed mass market fare, and not like huge expressions of psyche),
I still think they have blood and guts and become animated when we're not looking. But you can make a doll out of almost
anything; sticks, stones, and matchbooks, not to mention toys. The idea behind a Spirit Doll is that its main pieces come from nature or we find them in a meditative state. It is difficult
to animate a stick into a Madame Alexander, but that's not really the purpose, is it?
