Stacking dolls; repetition; sculpture garden

I can’t explain it, but I absolutely love Russian stacking dolls. Even if they are handmade, there is a manufactured feel to the repeated shapes between the dolls in a set that must fit one inside the other. The hand painted faces and decorative elements even seem a bit replicated. I have a small set of stacking dolls from the area in Slovakia that my ancestors live(d). Although there is no profound story about who gave me these dolls or why, I still feel very connected to them to the point that I would consider them one of my favorite possessions.

I’ve said already in class that I enjoy repetition, and even in writing about my stacking dolls, I found this apparent. I have always known that I am attracted to the repetition of shapes; patterns; objects; etcetera, but recently I have been seeing this more and more in my work and in general. As a goal for myself I’d like to work toward figuring out why I am so attracted to repetitions. I’m not sure if it’s more an aesthetic or symbolic interest, and I’d like to explore this a bit more so that my concepts are better organized.

A few years ago I visited Washington D.C. for the first time with my roommates who are from the area. I loved it; especially the fact that most of the museums have free admission. The area that I appreciated most was the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden (http://www.nga.gov/feature/sculpturegarden/sculpture/). I wasn’t looking for the sculpture garden when I walked through it, so it was a very pleasant coincidence that I ran in to it en route to another location. I enjoyed that fact that there was so much variety between the works. Although they are all strong works individually, I feel they thrive off of being placed in the same environment.