These whimsical creations seem to capture the imagination of people of all ages and to my surprise they have become the focus of my art of late.
Fairy doors, houses and gardens have become ubiquitous in recent years and are created in a wide variety of media. When I became aware of this trend, I was busy making jewelry and certainly wasn't entertaining moving in this direction. I did admire many handcrafted fairy doors like those created with clean lines from wood accented with a few metal embellishments, others cobbled together mostly from found natural materials and many sculpted by polymer artists and adorned with canes and other ornamentation. The whimsy, story and imagination embodied in these little creations was delightful but they seemed to be for others to make.
Selling jewelry can be challenge for a variety of reasons but mainly as there is so much competition on the market. So, later on when I was looking to diversify my offerings for sales, I thought of those fairy doors and decided I would try my hand at making some. The first doors I created were simple in design and incorporated themes from nature...of course. They were purchased soon after placing them in a local shop and so began my journey into this enchanting world.
Anyone who knows me well is aware of the importance of the natural environment in my life. I am concerned with being a good steward and increasingly the decisions I make in my life involve thinking about the impact I personally have on our planet. I am fortunate to have many opportunities to connect with nature from my regular walks in local conservation areas to spending time in the near wilderness surrounding the lake where our family has had a cottage for 50 years. In addition, I get a great deal of satisfaction from getting my hands dirty working in my flower and vegetable gardens. Of course, my first fairy doors were created in response to this love of nature.
I was pretty pleased with these first efforts but after much more experience, I now look at these doors and focus on the awkward attempts at manipulating the material and sculpting details. I have to remind myself that this is inevitable as art is a process of exploration, discovery and skill building which usually doesn't happen at all once. Now that I have created many more fairy doors, I definitely see a more or less linear development toward pieces that I can say are more "successful." Their design elements are more cohesive and I have been able to more closely realize my expectations.
To this day I am still a little uncomfortable with the idea of making "fairy doors." Compared to making jewelry, it seems a rather quaint and unsophisticated form of expression. Not to mention that my initial impulse to give them a try was partially based on a need for sales. As someone with a degree in fine arts, there is a reluctance to embrace subject matter that can easily be dismissed as simply decorative, "cute," or even worse, "tacky" or kitsch. But I've gone ahead and done it regardless, in large part to allow myself the chance to experiment and because there was interest from the public. I received a large custom order for a series of seasonal/holiday doors which I have been gradually completing since the beginning of 2017. These themed doors have been a wonderful opportunity for examination and development and some have even moved beyond a focus on the door itself. During this time I have wondered about whether I would continue to pursue this subject matter on my own and if so, where it might lead.
I am a relatively pragmatic person so any mystical/magical associations that might be of interest for some aren't compelling for me. And I'm not a consumer of much popular culture so the content of books films, series and video games does not influence my work. I don't wholeheartedly believe that fairies or other spirits roam this earth but I wouldn't discount it either. Nevertheless, I suppose what is now beginning to interest me the most about the fairy door is the idea of the door itself as portal, a construct, which both separates and facilitates connection between distinct worlds, entities and/or states of being. I think there is lots of potential in that.
I do love the challenge of creating a unique and inviting portal into an imaginary world. I once received a great compliment from a person who said they wished they could walk through my door and discover the world waiting on the other side. I also like working on a small scale and enjoy exploring various themes and architectural possibilities. My fairy doors seem to bring pleasure to other people and that makes me happy. So for now I will continue to make fairy doors as long I receive requests and feel the desire to explore this realm. Perhaps if I could refer to them by a different name I might be able to better embrace this subject matter? I'm open to suggestions.
Thanks everyone for your interest in my art work! After decades of letting other responsibilities take priority, it feels good to be pursuing visual self expression in a consistent way and sharing it with a supportive community.