Mannequin makeovers

By Michelle Saturley
HippoPress.com

Angela Bourgeois is excited these days. Not only has she been selected as the Artist of the Month at Déjà Vu Arts, but Angela has also done what many artists dream of: She's sold one of her pieces before her exhibit even opens.

"Angela brought in a few of her pieces to the studio, when another one of our other artists caught sight of them," explains Gayle Vanasse, owner of Déjà Vu in Langer Place. "He fell in love with one particular piece on the spot and asked to buy it."

Vanasse says the purchaser agreed to let the piece be part of the exhibit, however.

For Bourgeois, the sale of her piece was a major boost. She's been creating art for most of her life, beginning with drawing and sketching as a youngster.

"I started out drawing pen-and-ink silhouettes of people, and I'd decorate the silhouettes with these tribal tattoos," she said. She then moved on to decorating her own clay figurines, a pastime that brought her to her latest love: recycling old department store mannequins by making them over into works of art.

"I saw this old head and torso of a female mannequin at a friend's house," she recalls. "The minute I saw it, I had a million ideas on how to use it as art. My friend let me take it home, and from then on, I was hooked."

First, Bourgeois repairs the mannequins if they need it, and then spray-paints them all one color. She uses acrylic paint to apply delicate, tattoo-like decorations. Once the paint dries, she uses other accessories such as jewelry, dried leaves and yarn to round out the pieces and give them a theme. One of the mannequins, a piece called "Autumnia," is spray-painted a gilded orange and decorated with a wreath of fall foliage. She also accentuates each mannequin's facial features for a more lifelike look.

Bourgeois follows the credo that there are no mistakes when creating artwork. For example, one of the displayed pieces, which she named Sophia, was caught in the spray paint crossfire while she was painting another mannequin.
"She was supposed to be all light blue, but I splattered some black paint on her unintentionally," she says. "At first, I was upset, but then after the paint dried a bit, she really looked good. So I just went with it." Now, she says, "Sophia is one of my favorites."

One major obstacle Bourgeois has been working to overcome is the short supply of discarded mannequins. She prefers used ones because they have more character. Also, "they're really expensive to buy brand new. That's why stores hold onto them for a long time," she says.

So far, she's only been able to find head-and-torso mannequins. She's looking for a full-body mannequin. "Then I can decorate it, head to toe," she said.

Angela Bourgeois' mannequins will be on display at Déjà Vu Arts, 55 South Commercial St. (Langer Place), through August. There will be a reception for the artist on Tuesday, Aug. 19 from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information on Bourgeois' art, or any of the other guest artists at Déjà Vu, call Gayle Vanasse at 645-6700.

Michelle Saturley can be reached at hippo@hippopress.com