Spotlight on Hannie Sarris, Fairy Fantasy Art

Hannie Sarris is a doll artist working primarily with air-dry clay (LaDoll) and specializing in fantasy figures. Hannie says: "I experimented with all kinds of figures, but slowly returned to my first childhood love: fairies and fantasy....I adore the timelessness and the lack of boundaries of the fairy fantasy world." The photos shown here are just a few of her lovely figures, see more on her website Fairy Fantasy Art.  These beautiful and delicate dolls are larger than many fairy figures you'll often see made of polymer clay.

Although Hannie will sometimes create with
polymer clay, most of her figures are created with LaDoll , a high-quality, stone-based air-dry clay. She even developed a new formula for the clay called "LaDoll Premix". In her book titled "Fairy Fantasy", she shows us in step-by-step photographs how she created the 12" fairy on the cover. It's a terrific book and one I have in my own library! You can purchase it from her website.

I've always enjoyed this quote from Hannie's website:
"The Art Doll is a work of art drawn from the mind and hand of the artist and not bound by the same rules as dolls in other categories.
It doesn't not have to be recognizable as a human form.
It may be dressed or not.
If dressed, the clothes may be carved, sculpted, glued on etc.
Any media is permissible and likely.
The art doll is judged by the same criteria as any other form of art, i.e., by the principles of design, scale, proportion, contrast, dominance, rhythm, balance, and must be judged for what it IS, nothing else."

If you want to know more about Hannie or see more photos of her art, please visit her website.   Here are some excerpts from her bio:

My name is Hannie Sarris.....I live in a beautiful small town called Houten, in the center of The Netherlands. Since I was a young girl I loved anything to do with art. Especially sculpting, drawing, and creating things from paper. As a teenager I took classes at different Art Schools and was determined to become a portrait artist.

It took a long time before I discovered doll making, I never thought of it actually, I was always concentrated on drawing and painting. I discovered it by accident, through a good friend. Surprised and excited, I tried to sculpt a doll myself and a new world opened.

I am entirely self-taught, of which I’m proud.... When I look back, I think I was lucky not to have examples to follow, not being able to copy. I was forced to draw from my own experience and my own imagination, not influenced by other sculptors. It has taken me many years of effort and struggle to learn how to sculpt an acceptable figure.

As I am always growing and changing, I don’t know what my sculpting future will bring, but my main goal is to learn, develop and most of all enjoy this wonderful art.
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Hannie Sarris passed away suddenly and too soon due to complications from pneumonia on Sunday, May 2, 2010   In Memorium