Cara Carmina's Magical Dolls

Cara Carmina's Magical Dolls

A Mexico City native and the creative force behind Cara Carmina, Norma Andreu is showing her magical dolls at Artistri, 5319 Park Avenue, Montreal. As soon as I walked into the shop, I found myself wide-eyed in front of the display. When I think of dolls, for some reason antiques always come to mind, but these are modern and funky, and definitely worth a trip to Artistri to see.

The Dream Whisperers (left) are inspired from the Guatemalan quitapenas dolls. Before you go to sleep at night, you tell the quitapenas your troubles, then put the tiny doll under your pillow, and your troubles will magically disappear. The dream whisperer is the more ambitious version. You whisper your dream to the doll before you go to sleep, and in the morning your dream should come true.

My favourite collection was the Frida Kahlo (right) and Remedios Varo-inspired dolls (left). I learned from Norma that Spanish-Mexican painter Remedios Varo was a friend of Kahlo.The Frida dolls all have a quote from the artist embroidered on the stomach. 

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

The third collection is entitled No One's Children. These dolls have no parents and are waiting to be adopted.

Norma Andreu's dolls and other découpage work can be purchased at Artistri,  the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, la Librairie de Verdun, Perfide, or directly from her shop on her blog. Check out the prices. I found they were reasonable for the amount of work she has done.

You can join Norma Andreu on her Facebook page. 

Other Mile End-related posts: 

Hard Times and Used Books

The Lure of Fishing on Bernard

S.W. Welsh: The Nikolski Coincidence

Multitasker Foils Gentrification

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Images de Femmes 2010

Images de Femmes 2010

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I recently made a trip to the Mile End Library at 5434 Park Avenue to see the Images de Femmes art exhibit in celebration of International Women's Day. Fifty Mile End women artists are displaying their work from March 6 to 21 both at the library and at a few other venues throughout the Mile End. Unfortunately, I missed the opening event or vernissage on March 6, but was informed that fun was had by all. The work on the left, entitled Goddess of Love by Shola Doumma, is one of many works you will see.

This is the 17th year that Images de Femmes has been running, and it's a great opportunity to see the work of the many talented women living in the Mile End.

In addition to this exhibit, I also popped in at 5319 Park Avenue at Artistri, a boutique offering original handcrafted gifts and accessories from both local women artisans and women artisans from the developing world. To celebrate International Women's Day, Artistri was presenting Beyond the Silk Road: Glimpses of Contemporary Textiles in South East Asia. It features 14 interpretations of contemporary silk weaving by Cambodian and Laotian craftswomen. Owner Jennifer Lonergan, who recently returned from South East Asia, told me that Artistri was also taking part in the Images de Femmes project and showed me the work of a Mile End weaver displayed prominently in the front window.

Although Images de Femmes will be wrapping up shortly, there are still two cultural events not to be missed this weekend: the Prayer for the Women of Juarez on Saturday, March 20, (To find out why the Women of Ciudad Juarez need our prayer, click here) and Dance and Song from the Orient on Sunday, March 21.

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