Grandmother Print

The Grandmother Marionette is a character in my collection of marionettes based on Hector Malot's classical book « Sans Famille ». It is one of my favorites since childhood. Recently my volunteering in Children's Hospital in Riga led me to think that dis-functional families hadn't changed so much since 19th century's France. My heart hurt, images of unhappy children hunted me till I started to make this collection. Grandmother provided her little stepson The Harpist with only unconditional love he knew. Her face has grown wrinkled with the age but you can still see what a cocotte she was in her younger days. Her cheeks may be shabby but her heart is still warm. The is a portrait-marionette, a moving sculpture which brings out traits of character that are hard to notice in a real life. My marionettes are always about soul-capturing, I search some human qualities I can't represent in a painting, a drawing or in a stand-still sculpture. Marionettes are in-between an object of art and a magical rite. I use abstract face and hair colors to get closer to my characters soul and to create a realistic personage by detaching it from self-evident reality. Grandmother measures 97x39x29 cm without strings and control. She is designed and hand-made entirely by me. Her body, arms and legs are soft, made from a collection of vintage denim, with a touch of golden brown decorative fabric and lace. Her body is stuffed with different weight materials (sintepon, scraps of fabric, stones) to maintain a natural balance of movements. Her body is jointed in head, shoulders, elbows,wrists, upper torso, hips and ankles. Each joint is hand-sewn together and carefully fixed with buttons. His face, hands and bare feet are made from papier-maché. At first they are sculpted as a clay model, then multiple layers of papier-maché are applied to create a harmonious mixture of perfect form and color. For me, hands and feet are as characteristic as the face to reveal puppet's personality. I use a varied collection of fabrics for my marionettes – vintage, designers' collections, flea-market founds, etc., to create a truly unique story and feeling for each puppet. I pursue a painting-like texture and surface, my goal is to create a painting which becomes alive. Every scrap of lace or a glass bead in a marionette has a special story or a good reason to be here. Grandmother's eyes are hand-embroidered with beads in different shades of brown to create vividness and charisma. Her figure is very feminine. She wears transparent chiffon skirt with lace ending and some tea-dyed Irish crochet motifs. Grandmother also wears a pair of beautiful blue shoes. They're made from papier-maché with a sash from striped organdie and a tiny crocheted silk flower with a blue crystal from my own granny's brooch.

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:9 W x 12 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:14.25 W x 17.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.