Please tell us about yourself. What is your name? Where do you live? What makes you tick?
My name is Kailee Maree I live in Narrogin Western Australia on a small sheep farm. I am surrounded by a fairly harsh landscape, at the moment it is acres of brown paddocks lashed by hot relentless wind. It has taken me sometime to appreciate the beauty in this landscape but beauty is there. I love to ponder and often sit for long periods lost in thought or watching the huge huge sky we have here. I tend toward the melancholic side of life though I try to pepper this with sardonic, irreverent humour and the odd bout of whimsical romanticism.
When did you start making dolls? Why did you start making dolls?
Until my move to the farm I was working full time as a teacher which didn’t leave much spare time. I moved to the farm in July 2009 and now teach part time, as a consequence have plenty of spare time. I have always had a yearning to make dolls or small avatars. For years I have heard myself saying “I really want to make a doll” but for one reason or another never did. I started making dolls at the beginning of 2010. I bought a book on cloth dolls and wanted more info so I headed to the web. That was the beginning, I found Etsy and so many amazing doll artists and their blogs. So I spent hours and hours on the web trawling for information, ordering books and materials.
Who or what influences you? Inspires you?
My mum has always made things. I grew up watching her sew, knit, crochet, stitch and fix anything, I think that certainly inspired my love of cloth and making things from it. My travel experiences have been profoundly inspirational, I spent some time in India and Vietnam. I have a great love of textiles and traditional textile production and embellishing techniques particularly South East Asian textiles.
When I was 14 I watched a documentary on an Australian artist called
Vali Myers. I had the opportunity to meet her in Melbourne in my early 20’s and that experience is still very much with me. She was a wild character!
West Australian artist Nalda Searles taught me to make baskets and to look at the bush with a different eye; I still love to make baskets. I love texture, tactility the feel of things, I will paw and sniff objects delighting in their feel!! Teaching has inspired a great love of picture books.
Shaun Tan is an amazing Australian artist who has illustrated magnificent books - The Red Tree my favourite is a beautiful, sad and lonely tale of a little girl.
Tell us a little about your dolls and your process for making them. Materials, preliminary sketches, inspiration, etc.
I am beginning to see the whole world through Doll eyes and find inspiration everywhere. The curve of the newsreaders lip would look really nice on a doll, that little girl’s boots with her skirt would be a good outfit for a doll – and so on. Experiences, I like bones and on a camping trip walking through a bushy track I found a magnificent little skeleton scattered through the bush. It required quite a bit of looking and collecting on my part and whilst doing it I came up with a number of characters for dolls. I keep a visual diary and most often jot little musings or meanderings about ideas or techniques to try. I have come up with specific characters but they haven’t come out when I’ve tried. I’m still very new to the whole process so for the time being whoever comes out at the end wins. They speak and evolve on the way. I first started making cloth dolls but my great love is creative paperclay, which is not readily available here. It revolutionised my process when I got it. I sculpt head hands and feet and attach these to a cloth body and limbs. I sometimes use a wire armature. I use hand made glass eyes, mohair, bamboo, tussah silk or viscose for hair. Their clothes are made mostly from silk with distressed, raw edges and lots of visible stitching. I studied Visual Arts and majored in Textiles at university so I have a strong base in process and construction though my work was largely conceptual at the time. This base and love of cloth and construction has been really handy in making dolls as that is basically what they are. It is a melding of all the processes I love.
Do you have a favourite doll? It can be handmade by you, handmade by someone else, or even (gasp) mass production.
Of my own it is the Red Queen because it was the first sculpted doll I made, I participated in the Wonderland challenge with her. I loved Baby Alive when I was little – I called her baby poo and chew, she was unceremoniously cleaned out underneath the kitchen tap often! I am also building up a little collection of ADO dolls which I am keen to add to. Clarissa from
Loopy Boopy was the first Art Doll I bought.
Besides making dolls, what do you do? Job, other creative pursuits, hobbies, etc.
I teach part time, the quite small variety – 5yr olds so lots of laughs. I love to read and probably spend more time reading than anything else, I usually have a few books on the go. When the weather permits camping is fabulous, I like to really get away and prefer places entirely devoid of other people. I am a member of the local art group, we meet once a week and have a wide range of artistic pursuits and lots of laughs. It has been one of the most valuable and supportive things I have found since moving to the country.
What are some of your favourite: movies, books, websites, magazines, foods, TV shows, music? (Any or all!)
Movies: Stand by Me – rocked my little world back then, Secretary, Bliss – brilliant Australian movie.
Music:
Lisa Gerrard, Antony and the Johnsons, Arvo Part, World music, especially classical Indian.
I read lots of science fiction and fantasy – total escapism!!
I spend most of my online time on ADO and various blogs and Etsy, I love blogland.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I always had a living in the country fantasy so I’m very happy where I am, but I would love to spend a good chunk of time in India again.
Where do you see yourself in one year? Five years? Ten years?
I would like to spend this year consolidating my doll skills, working on my blog and Etsy. In five years continuing to have a strong and healthy relationship. In ten years maybe a little house on the farm somewhere that we have built, some travel and lots of good health.
Where can we find you on the internet? (blog, website, Etsy shop, eBay, et al.)
