Narrative: Small Doll with Green Shirt

Small doll – green shirt
Brand: Mat’o
Handmade Slovak Folk Souvenirs
Cloth, felt, thread

This Handmade Slovak Folk Souvenirs was purchased directly from 200 craftspeople in Slovakia by gift shops. David Darst purchased this on a business trip to Slovakia and gifted them to me in 2008. The cotton has long growing seasons (as long as 7 months) so it's best planted early. Boll matures in period of 55 - 80 days pushing seeds outward where fibers begin to expand. Ten weeks after flowers appeared fibers split boll apart and cotton pushes forth. Fibers dry in sun, collapse, and twist together.

Wood from local forests, the felt made locally from sheep farms, and paint imported from India made up the other materials in the Souvenirs. It was flown by plane from Slovakia to New York, and moved with me from Queens to Manhattan to Brooklyn.