Ju-Ju Muse of the Vieux Carre
Artist: Lois Simbach (Marshall, NC)
Honorable Mention, Alternative Materials
"Many an artist is influenced by the environment around her. Often she will travel and partake in adventures specifically for inspiration. Thus, I found myself in New Orleans—surrounded by a thickness of cultures deep in mystery, spirituality, intrigue and history. And flying in (in droves) to experience that culture were tourists, hungry for the taste of something different to take back to their American suburbs. At the time, I was living on a 5th-story walkup warehouse in the French Quarter. I remember looking out my window one day, down to the crowded streets, and asking out loud “There must be something I can sell to all these millions of tourists, but what?” I am a professional costume designer, so my 5th story was already full of fabrics and feathers and foam and adornments of all kinds. With that quest, I went window shopping, specifically to look for what was not there. And I found it! Or, rather, didn’t find it ... Eureka! Here were all these tourists, coming to New Orleans to partake in Jazz and Gumbo, street musicians, tap dancers, funeral parades, the funk and flair of it all, and there were no African-American Heritage or Contemporary hand-crafted items anywhere for sale. ...
“So, next I embarked to the public library and checked out all the books on Haiti, Africa, VooDoo and slavery, and went home to study. As I already work with fabric, I designed and created a line of Haitian-inspired VooDoo dolls which I called “Ju-Ju.” These were very crude and plain in the beginning. In Webster’s dictionary, “Ju-Ju” means a fetish charm one keeps close at hand, and the magic attributed to it. I did not want to call my dolls VooDoo, as it is not my cultural heritage, nor do I partake in the religion, or identify with it. My “Ju-Ju” dolls are all positively upbeat. They are a contemporary twist of an ancient practice. ...
“As time went on, the dolls became more and more elaborate, and now are completely covered on one side with beads, charms, words and items of all sorts. I hand sew everything. ... This Muse is approximately 3 feet tall. The size alone is impressive, with the addition of 100’s of beads and charms that are mesmerizing when observed up close. Because my dolls are African inspired, and because much of African Art is sexual, I always make either female or male dolls—i.e. large beads sewn in the appropriate area signifying which sex. The Muse is both, gathering its energy twofold—a little something for everyone! I am very pleased with going larger and wish to continue in size, perhaps giving more movement and expression to the limbs." - Lois Simbach
Review the 2008 contest details to see what this contestant was up against. And remember, it’s never too early to start planning for the 2009 contest!
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