Artist spotlight with…. Bo Bergemann!

For 15 years I took care of Hawaii’s most medically fragile foster babies.  When the first one was reunited with her extended birth family it was very hard to let go, so I made a doll to remember her by.  It was a sort of self help therapy as much of my art has always been for me.  This began a tradition of making a doll of each foster baby after they left.  It took intense focus which helped me not fall apart.  By the time I stopped taking in foster babies, I had a beloved hobby which my quest for excellence had lead me to become very good at.  Then once I lost that truly rewarding and purpose filled life.  The only thing that pulled at my passion enough to consider doing next was making dolls.  My family agreed and I gave it a try professionally.  Won a bunch of awards and magazine covers very quickly, so my new career was born.

There is nothing quite like the feeling I get when I finish a fine art doll and take photos.  Often when I’m editing and promoting, I think, “Wow!  Did I really make that?”  I like to have something I can point to that is real, in the physical realms, and know I did that.  I paint, do photography and handcraft all kinds of stuff all the time.  I always have.  I love making dolls because I can actually use all of these skillsets and many more in each project.  That way I never get bored, I just switch to a new technique or start work on another project!  I often have several projects at different stages going at any given time.

My art is always rooted in my life.  I love people.  Faces fascinate me.  Personality shining through in body language is also fabulous fun.  Being able to portray both in my art adds to my enjoyment and for me, enjoying the process is everything~! Whether I’m shooting for a Real look, fairy-tale, sci-fi or surreal, I can do so much to flesh it all out in my interactive 3D fine art dolls that is just not possible in 2 dimensions.

A. My original fine art dolls all start with me dreaming and imagining.  Some are inspired by something I see.  For example a movie, like with my Anne – The Trapeze Artist from The Greatest Showman.  The movie inspired two dolls actually.  But I did not sculpt Zendaya or anything. It was just serendipitous that I happened to have my newest sculpt ready who looks a lot like her as portrayed in the movie. I had these sculpts already and used two different sculpts.  But the pieces are about an artistic vision of beauty.  For me both pieces were about passion.  The first is about dreaming big and reaching for those dreams against all odds. The second is about loving beyond all barriers.  Both are concepts I believe in.  Part of the reason I loved the movie and it inspired me to make these two dolls.

As to timeline.  I’ve never figured that out, sort of on purpose.   It would probably depress me to figure out I earn like 20 cents an hour.  Or I may actually even lose money if I divided the prices I charge by the hours in.  I tend to price by actual expense of parts and product in as well as the last few weeks worth of work hours in along with what I asses as the value of the doll. Or I just price by what I know it will actually sell for in a reasonable amount of time.  But, like I said, I’ve never figured out ALL the hours I actually have in. So, what I don’t know can’t hurt me.

I can say that I sculpt the originals in clay, sometimes piece by piece and other times in whole then cut up and joint and fine tune.  Once all the engineering is figured out so the doll will take many poses and balance well, then everything is sanded smooth.  After which, I make silicon molds of every little piece. The average doll has 24 pieces to her ball jointed body.  Each piece is cast in resin, then strung up.  The whole doll is painted and costuming can begin.  Although if I already have a similar or same size body, I often work on costuming before making the actual doll.  Some costumes take as much effort as making a doll body & face.  Others much less.  But sewing and crafting everything (costume wise) in such small scale is far more difficult than making clothing, shoes and wigs for humans.  Thankfully the way I work is on inspiration not coffee but with passion pumping through my veins.  I avoid deadlines and just enjoy creating about half the time. Then usually the next show, convention, event or article comes along to put some kind of deadline out there that I must aspire to by which point I have several projects at least halfway done and some near done.  I’m a crammer by nature since school days.  So, then with a goal deadline in sight, I cram to finish the top several projects I’m working on in time.  Since my art tends to grow out of stuff going on in my life, I usually have several works in progress on a cohesive theme, that then becomes my theme for that show or event.  Sometimes when I’m really into it, the theme can last for a whole year’s collection like my 2018 collection which just recently debuted at WonderCon: Fangirl Fine Art Dolls.