‘HELLO, DOLLY!’

MAT-SU — “Dolls” may not appear on the list of items recycled at Valley Center for Recycling Solutions, but this fall, VCRS and Valley Arts Alliance are giving new life to some small effigies.

For the last 10 years, all 30 of the porcelain dolls have been known as “Kathleen” as they lay in their boxes in storage. The originals have been described as a Chinese artist’s poor interpretation of a freckled face American girl, and as “Chuckie,” of horror movie fame.

On Nov. 12, the 30 dolls with their major makeovers will be sold to the highest bidders at an outcry auction to benefit VCRS and VAA.

Up for bid will be a creative cast of characters, from the real-life-gone-horror-movie “Octomom,” by Terry Koch and Meaghan Folk-Freund, to the sublime “Dolly Llama.”

Few of the dolls bear much resemblance to the Kathleens donated to VCRS along with hundreds of other dolls when a store went out of business. Creations like “My Name is Anne,” a ragdoll-like piece by Rosemary Grant, totally obscure the original face. Some rely on elaborate costumes to inject personality into the former Kathleens — dolls like “Candice Rapper” by Wendy Strohmeyer and Lynndeen Knapp, and “Miss Rea Cycle” by Dorothy L. Boatright.

There are dolls with skin that’s green, blue and gray. One isn’t the doll at all, but rather a cast-iron sculpture that used the original doll in the molding process.

Few are less like their original designer’s concept than Dena Tanguay’s “Dolly Llama.” With the legs she removed from her “Dolly Varden,” she turned Kathleen into a quadraped man, complete with llama-like fiber and eyes closed in prayer. Armature wire connects the pieces, hand-stitched in place. He’s wrapped with a piece of muslin hand-dyed with saffron.

“He’s not the most ornate of dolls, but I just love him,” Tanguay said.

Tanguay, a professional artist whose usual mediums are painting and sculpting, said she knew just what she wanted to do with the dolls when the fund-raiser was announced.

“As soon as I knew we were doing dolls, it suddenly popped into my mind,” Tanguay said. “I have a sort of sick sense of humor.”

Her “Dolly Varden,” divested of her legs in favor of a tail made of recycled bubble wrap, wire, milk jug plastic and “lots of duct tape,” is outfitted in colors as close as Tanguay could find to the proper colors for the char. Her neckline is decorated with mylar fly-tying line and her earring is “The President,” a fly fisherwoman Tanguay tied that is used to catch the bright fish named for a Charles Dickens’ character.

“I had a ball doing these,” Tanguay said.

From the stream to the forest, Val Barber and Connie Harris turned their Kathleen into a woodsy girl. Barber is an associate research professor for University of Alaska Fairbanks’ School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, and runs its forest products program. She said it was natural for her to clothe her doll — ”Wakanda Woods Wanderer” — in birch.

“I did it to try to promote my program,” Barber said. For her, it’s about sustainable forest use, value-added products and using the resources around us.

“I don’t consider myself an artist but I’ve always wanted to do more artististic things,” Barber said.

Fresh from helping with birch bark workshops offered earlier this month, Barber pulled birch bark from a tree at her house to design her doll’s pinafore. She carved the shoes out of birch, her basket out of an aspen knot, and used spruce roots for the legging ties.

Her creativity ebbing and time getting short, she called on Harris to help with her hat — a mass of birch curly-Qs atop moss.

Next to the birch queen sits Jamilka, an “Arabian Nights Dancer” — a riot of color and culture.

She’s the brainstorm of Norma Thigpen, who was hesitant to submit a concept. She saw the call for doll artists at the home show, and debated if she had time. In the end, she sent in her proposal and it was accepted.

Her reaction: “Oh, my gosh. What have I gotten into.”

The First National bank teller said she was soon caught up in the creative process. She said she has always been inspired by Middle Eastern and Indian fashions. Add to that a little Hispanic flair, and Jamilka was born.

But not without some long nights of labor.

“She was on the kitchen table too many days,” Thigpen said. “I pulled some all-nighters because I was creating.”

Her favorite part is the dancer’s jacket, even though Jamilka is wearing the second one Thigpen made.

“The first one didn’t fit,” Thigpen said.

In the end, Thigpen’s vision came through.

“I want her to be feminine and strong at the same time,” Thigpen said. “Like a chick with a sword.”

Julie Hopkins’ doll has a harp, not sword. Mermaiden Alaska bears little resemblance to Kathleen — she’s blue.

“Because she’s cold,” Hopkins explained.

Like most of the dolls, Mermaiden Alaska is made with recycled materials — bits and pieces from Hopkins’ more familiar fiber arts projects, shells gathered from a beach in Hawaii and a piece of driftwood from Kotzebue.

Hopkins wasn’t expecting to do a doll, but when another artist didn’t pick up her model, Hopkins, state administrative officer for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Palmer, decided to stretch beyond her artistic comfort zone to help the recycling center.

“I’ve never really considered myself an artist,” she said. “I like to create wearable art.”

Carmen Summerfield, who spearheaded the project for VAA, was one of five artists who transformed Kathleen into a 30-pound cast iron sculpture molded using the original doll. The process can be seen, along with photos of most of the dolls, on the VAA website at valleyartsalliance.com in the archives section.

Summerfield said the project provided local artists a creative outlet, like Salmon on Parade or Veggies in Motion.

“It was really neat to see what everybody came up with,” Summerfield said.

The Nov. 12 auction is at the Palmer Moose Lodge and tickets are available at VCRS’s website and at the door (see related story).