Bertha Parnell

Biography

I married young and had three children, but I am now divorced. After having my daughter, I became a stay at home mom. I am now a single parent with my fourteen year old daughter still home. I am a non-traditional student back in school.

A dream comes true. I didn’t have the opportunity to go to college when I was younger. I love learning and always wanted to attend college. I had always wished that I could have gone to college. Now I am fulfilling that dream. I am a junior at The University of Toledo in the College of Arts and Science. I love the world of art and crafts and working with my hands. I am majoring in art and focusing in cyber art.

I have many hobbies. One of my hobbies is doll making. Making dolls is a great pass time and I love it. It gives me the opportunity to relax and think about the past week and what I need to do the next week. When I was a child, at home, I didn’t get to play like other children. I was the oldest of ten, so I spent most of my time helping my mother take care of my younger sisters and brothers. Sometimes, I think that making dolls gives me the opportunity to play with dolls that I didn’t play with as a child. Another hobby is sewing. Making doll clothes is a great way to express my love for sewing.

Statement

In this correlation of fine arts, there is an exhibition of porcelain dolls, photographs of night vision, digital created photographs, works of metalsmithing, and 3-D designs.  I enjoy all types of arts and crafts. Most of all, I love creating dolls.

I love making porcelain dolls, and I hand made every doll in this exhibition. The first step is to make the slip and pour it into a mold of choice. The next step is a very delicate stage because of the handling of the material called greenware. I really enjoy the cleaning process; this is when the dolls take on their own personality. Each doll can take on its own character. Some dolls have cloth bodies and some are completely made of porcelain. Dressing the dolls also gives them different character, depending on the choice of hair and clothes. Dressing the dolls gives me the opportunity to utilize my sewing skills.  I put a doll’s head inside a teddy bear’s head to give the teddy bear a different character.

I have entered most of my dolls in a doll competition. I have won blue ribbons, red ribbons, and rosettes, which are given to the best in that category.   I also won “people’s choice” for one of my dolls.  A tremendous amount of love and hard work goes into making these dolls.

The first series of photographs are scenes of cityscapes taken at night.  Night shooting is done without the use of a flash.  During the shooting of these night visions, I found the results to be very powerful.  I love experimenting with the unique techniques of shooting night vision.  It is amazing to see the effects that the different image shows, which the human eye did not detect.  Some of the blur configurations are created with long exposures while moving the camera.  I am fascinated with the way the films make certain distinctions between the different light sources.

The second series of photographs are a body of work using metaphors to express some of my emotions after a dream of marriage did not last until death. I struggle to be free of the past, even though I have encountered many obstacles.

I carved the elephant from a block of plaster and painted it black. The container was made to show a relationship and to house the elephant.  The container is made from foam board; texture was added to show character. The container is painted black and highlighted in red.

Bertha Parnell