Today we’d like to introduce you to Beth Robinson.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Hello, my name is Beth Robinson. I am a mixed media artist and art doll sculptor. I have been a professional artist for 23 years. My career as an artist began when my website, www.strangedolls.net, went viral in 2003 and I found myself thrust into a very unexpected career path. Strange Dolls have been exhibited internationally, are held in private collections, and have also been featured in a multitude of pop culture and art publications and media features.
While I was raised in the Bible Belt as a Southern Baptist preacher’s kid, I spent most of my adult life in Burlington, Vermont. Four years ago, I moved to Saint Louis, Missouri to take care of an aging parent. This move into Midwest culture and the art community in Saint Louis has profoundly changed the way I work, the way I view my creativity, and the way I think about my life as well.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I really don’t think any artist has a smooth road. Or possibly any human being. Many creatives come to the arts by way of trauma or life challenges, as a means to make sense of themselves and the world around them. I believe art making is a mental health practice, not simply a fun hobby or something to do to pass the time. There has been research to support that making art is a vital part of brain health and recovery.
Personally, I have been diagnosed with CPTSD. This diagnosis came at mid-life and I have a deep respect and appreciation for my art practice because I truly believe it saved my life. Strange Dolls gave me a way to express things that I simply did not have the words for.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am best known for my “Strange Dolls.” For two decades, the dolls were hand sculpted using polymer or air dry clays. They are hand made from top to bottom – from a lump of clay to the ruffle at a wrist.
Each character challenges perceptions of “dolls” as idealized beauty and the social expectation of perfection. Their proportions are often misaligned, their clothing a mixture of the past and the future. Their gender even leans into the androgenous and speculative, whereas traditional dolls have very defined heteronormative gender identities.
I have historically worked in “doll series” covering themes such as grief, mortality, anthropomorphism, the dark feminine, transformation, and social constructs of power. I have utilized organic materials such as human hair, bone, teeth, snake skin, even my own fingernails. I also incorporate dried flowers and black salt into the work. Any material that was once living or carries folklore, I learn about and utilize to deepen my connection with the work, and always with the hope that others will feel it as well.
More recently I have developed an obsession with sculpting in paper. Working with your hands for two decades takes a toll, and my switch from clay to paper began partly with the toll studio hours were taking on my body. I quite innocently grabbed some wax paper from the grocery store one day and that material ignited an obsession. There is a deeper resonance with paper as I explore a medium that can be burned and torn and is so seemingly delicate. I have been exploring its breaking points and how resilient this material truly is.
What does success mean to you?
What a tricky question. Artists are led to believe that success is tied entirely to monetary value, and within a capitalist system, it is hard to believe otherwise. But an artist’s career is not linear. There is no ladder to climb and no one ever really arrives.
I am actively redefining what success looks like for me at this stage in my career. It means slowing down enough to be fully present with the process, no matter how long it takes. At the end of the day, it means creating work I am deeply proud of and connected to. As I have learned, my creative practice is how I survive this mortal coil and it is what makes my life worth living. If the work does not ring the bell on both of those things, it is not worth my time. Being able to stick to that one rule is success to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.strangedolls.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strangedolls/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethrobinsondolls/
