Kiki Jung

I was just finishing my part of this doll a year ago. This is Kiki Jung, (daughter of Carl), one of the dolls in the Exquisite Corpse collaborative doll project. Kiki was started by Jo Goiran. I was the 4th artist to work on her. When she arrived, she was the head, torso and base that you see here. Jo made the 2 halves of the head with a string of lights and mailed it to Sue Beauchemin who hinged and finished the head. Sue figured out how to house the lights within a shawl around the doll's neck and resolved the battery pack issues. Sue also made the driftwood torso upon which she painted a beautiful flower mandala and her own hand. Jen Gingras then attached the wood to a glass jar base filled with sunflower seeds and laced with bead work.

I had dream before this doll arrived that the package came in the mail and I opened it and found a small white horse. So when I saw Kiki, I decided that I had to make a horse for her. Kiki's head opens and there are images and objects inside, including a light and a mirror. So if you look into Kiki's eye, you see your own eye looking back at you! I named the horse Bright Shadow (a Jungian term for our unrealized potential) and her head opens, too! I put a little horse shrine inside Bright Shadow's head. Kiki's journal became an art object on its own! The next 2 artists to work on Kiki and Bright Shadow painted the wooden base and filled the glass jar legs with sunflower seeds. She is wonderful!

I would love to do more collaboration in the future - it's alot of fun! I'm meeting many great new artist friends through this blog - maybe we could all cook something up together. There is a show in town right now at Whitney Artworks of collaborative diptychs, made by artists on the East and West coasts. I've only seen it through the window and need to stop in and have a close look. An artist in my studio building, Richard Keen, has work in this show.

Collaborative paintings and sculpture could be very interesting!

Jo Goiran, Jen Gingras, Sue Beauchemin, Martha Miller, Alex Rheault, Kristen Gingras
Kiki Jung and Bright Shadow, 2006