Dorote Zaukaite

Dorote's Dolls are an incredible work of art.  I spent ages going through her Facebook page.  Dorote's imagination is amazing and you can clearly see why she's an award winning artist.

This first doll is called The Fortune Teller, her features are just exquisite and I love her dress and her tattooed arm.

Dorote is from Lithuania.  She studied at Kaunas collegium Art faculty and for over 7 years her background was in Interior and Graphic Design before becoming a full time artist and her dolls have become her speciality.

"You can't be an artist on weekends or just 8 hours a day 

and stop when you go on vacation.  Being an artist

is being born with a strange state of mind and living 

with this never-ending need to create"

Dorothe Zaukaite

With the level of detail in these dolls you can clearly see that each work is one of love.  Every little tiny detail is taken care of from the doll itself, to the clothing and the accessories.  The doll above is called 'Each Bird Needs Freedom'  I love how that's depicted in the underside of her dress.

In Denmark there is an institue called DABIDA, which is the Dutch and Belgian Institute of Doll Artists.  They hold exhibitions to showcase dolls and their website is a showcase for some beautiful dolls.  Their whole website if fascinating!  You can look at all the award winning dolls from previous and current years.  For example the most current (2014) theme was 'Nostalgia'  I love all 3 dolls but 2nd and 3rd for me are just so expressive of the theme, for me anyway.

Back to Dorote one of her dolls was entered into the awards and won first place in the Hannie Sarris AWARD 2013.  It's a beautiful doll called 'Joy' and it's understandable why she won, it is a beautiful piece of art.

The detail is just incredible.  A thoroughly deserved first place, I'm sure you'll agree it's stunning.

Here is a picture of Dorote hard at work, she's painting some eyes here.  Below that are a couple of pictures of the beginning stages of some of her dolls.

I'm going to show you some more of her dolls and then Dorote was kind enough to answer some of my questions so we'll meet her.

Victoria and Albert

Dorote has a range called ' Tiny Tender Demons ' they live up to their name, each doll is around 21cm tall.  They are made of white resin and have about 20 articulation points making them very posable.  No matter how small they are Dorote still has a huge amount of detail in each doll as you can see from the two dolls below. 

Aren't all these dolls just beautiful.  There are lots more to see on Dorote's Facebook page and her website (links below).

So now let's meet Dorote....

Hello Dorote...

Tell us about your art and what you are doing right now..

I am a Doll Artist, creating unique dolls

What is your earliest creative memory?

Unless drawing on my family wall tapestry in my Grandfather's room counts, I have been drawing since I can remember.

Do you ever suffer from creative block and if so how do you get yourself out of it?

If I am working on something and I am stuck at some point and don't know how to solve it, I make myself go and do some boring mechanical work.  That way while the hands are busy my mind can be working on a solution.

Who inspires you?

I do not have particular people that inspire me.  I often stumble across artists on the internet and when I read their story I think 'wow, I am not alone there are people going down a similar path who are successful'  Such moments are a relief and inspire me to move forward, but it's not one particular artist.

Generally my inspiration comes from the world around me, nature, humanity, my own emotions and personal perception of the world.

What is your most favourite piece of artwork that you have created?

I have two dolls which are anthropomorphic that I love, one is called 'Sovereign' and the other is called 'Dream Seller' 

Dream Seller is a fox like creature travelling the world selling dreams and Sovereign is a cat like animal who is beautiful and full of character.  

Dream Seller

Sovereign

What are your creative ambitions?

It is hard to talk about ambitions really, I just want to implement my creativity in all the ways that come into my head and to live happily ever after.

How do you silence your inner critic?

I never silence it, I listen to it carefully and follow it's advice.  I am very self demanding and my inner critic helps me grow.

What do you do when you're not being creative?

I'm always being creative whether I am cooking, doing chores or walking the dog creativity is not something you can turn off for a couple of hours and then turn back on again, it's always there.

If you were on a deserted island, what 3 art/craft items would you like?

A knife, an axe and something to cut stone so I can sharpen the knife, I have stone age tools then.

Thank you Dorote, please tell us where we can find your work?

Dorote's: Facebook

Dorote's Website: www.dorotesdolls.com

Thank you for spending the time to answer my questions Dorote, I've really enjoyed getting to know you and your work.  Your dolls are incredible and I will look forward to keeping up to date with what you are creating.

Please check out Dorote's FB and website, she is an incredible art