Paper Dolls On Display Are More Than Just Child's Play

This weekend I went on a little road trip to Coopersville – a small city just outside of Grand Rapids. I stopped in to check out a paper doll display set up at the Coopersville Farm Museum. The display case housed what looked like close to 30 or so different paper dolls. The collection is on loan by Jan Harings a local person with a passion for collecting paper dolls. The exhibit is dedicated to a collecting friend of hers, Julie Cain, who recently passed away.

This small sample of her collection is definitely worth seeing. It brought be back as I had forgot how much I loved paper dolls as a little girl. From the display it's interesting to see how different paper dolls were throughout the 20th century. The variety of silhouettes of the paper dolls, some looking like little girls, others like women and the different illustration styles. Having studied clothing history I definitely have a new perception of paper dolls than I did when I was dressing my own Barbie paper dolls in the early 90s! The fashions worn by the dolls show high fashions of various decades and are a great source for tracing trends.

Here are some web links to information on the history of paper dolls:

-The OPDAG (The Original Paper Doll Artists' Guild), "History of Paper Dolls "by Judy M. Johnson

-The OPDAG "Potpourri of Paper Dolls," 2010 Paper Doll Convention Info in Kansas City, MO

-"The History and Charm of Paper Dolls" by Roma M. Welsh

The Coopersville Farm Museum is charming museum with a real community feel. The exhibits are anything from model trains, artwork to historic displays and were created by locals. They are pretty random which is not a bad thing! When you have visited as many museums as I have it’s enjoyable to be surprised when visiting a museum. Next time I go to Coopersville I hope to ride the train which is also run by volunteers - so many volunteers in this city - what a nice community!

The paper doll display is on at the Coopersville Farm Museum until October 24, 2009.

(Photos by me)

ArtPrize - The Real Winner is Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, Michigan is a vibrant place to be! Today I took in ArtPrize. If you have not heard about this event, it is a city-wide art competition where artists have the opportunity to win 250,000. It's the first year running - hopefully it won't be the last as it has brought people out to share and celebrate not just the art but all of the great things this city has to offer: talented people, great restaurants, museums and a lovely downtown waterfront.

Today I saw a giant table and chairs on one of the city bridges by painter Sarah Grant. There is tons of contemporary art throughout the streets and some gems displayed inside various shops/restaurants that are hosting works of art.

This weekend the streets were crowded with people (10,000 apparently!) to see one of the events - the dropping of 100,000 paper airplanes from the tops of building by artist Rob Bliss. He created a rainbow of colorful airplanes flying through the Grand Rapids skyline. Check out the video!

A fantastic event that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is still on until the end of the week so get out and see some art!..It's clear that although this was an artist competition, the real winner has been the city of Grand Rapids - through successfully enticing people to get out and enjoy all the city has to offer.


(Pictures: Top: The Furniture City Sets the Table for the World of Art by Sarah Grant; Below: Project Propagate by Sally England and Nick Stockton)