D.C. Expo Part II
Date: 08/17/98
Though Donna RuBert wasn't there, her big Native American baby, Skookum (797-530), was a hit with the audience. Those pudgy cheeks just asked to be pinched! And artist Ping Lau presented her baby, Kai (782-434), done in resin and weighing over five pounds. A beautifully costumed Oriental infant, he was an endearing sitter.
One doll we have seen before was Rose Pinkul's Colleen (705-072). Every time I see this doll, I am more enchanted. That haunting face, framed by lovely blond ringlets just gets me every time! I do hope that we shall see more work from Rose in future HSN shows. A very talented artist.
Cindy Koch, who rarely makes appearances anywhere, presented two rather interesting dolls. Both were very tall and slender with rather a foreign look. Lianna (779-803) is a young girl holding a Parisienne (china head) doll and Isabella (786-940), is a wistful young lady. Cindy generally works in portrait painted terra cotta and these dolls were reproduced in porcelain for HSN.
I was a bit confused about the doll presented by Michael Reid. As I understand it, Mr. Reid is a former buyer for HSN and is now involved in the production of a line of dolls. Colette (770-522) is the first and others, apparently, will be presented on future shows. A mention was made of Fred and Darlene McNeill helping with the sculpt and Fran Knight doing the design. However, Mr. Reid was seen to be signing the dolls at the show and I have no idea what the packaging might say. I seem to remember that Mr. Reid had something to do with at least the first 1st Impressions doll done in-house by HSN, too. Perhaps we shall be enlightened as other dolls in this new line are made available.
I have it on reliable authority that other artists did attend Expo even though they were not presenting dolls on the HSN broadcast. If you missed Janis Berard, Linda Steele, or Robert Tonner, you didn't blink. They were there, just not on air. Tina Berry and Alice Cleveland did an admirable job of keeping the show moving for six hours. They seemed to enjoy having the live audience there to respond to the artists and the dolls.
In my humble opinion, the Expo broadcast was a frolic not to be missed. Only being there could have topped it!
Coming up: I'm working on interviews with some wonderful doll artists!
