Last May the famous Dutch doll artist Hannie Sarris died a few weeks after the fourth DABIDA Day. She was the founder and the beloved first president of DABIDA. We miss her very much.

To honour her we decided to call the annual DABIDA Doll Award from now on the Hannie Sarris Award. In this way Hannie will still be part of DABIDA.

Last year the theme was Balance and Sandra Orteaga from Spain won first prize. Second was Tonia Wezerijn from the Netherlands. Third place was for Nefer Kane from France. Her beautyful piece you can see on the picture.

All DABIDA artists invite you to enter this competition.
Until February first you can still take part in this challenge, that should be a challenge to yourself in the first place.

The competition is open for everyone who makes dolls in any material and there  is no charge. This year´s theme is Time.

For more info please look at http://www.dabida.eu/page.php?page=Award2011 On this website  you also can find everything about DABIDA and the DABIDA artists.

The fourth DABIDA day on April 11th was a huge success. I was partying all day with so many old friends and students that came by. I was happy to see my Scottish friend Stephanie Lightbown there, who brought me a book made about the Scottish Doll Project that I did with here students. What a nice surprise.

First place in the DABIDA Doll Award 2010 was won by Sandra Arteaga from Spain. She was so happy! Unfortunately it took her some time to get home again because of the vulcanic ashes from Iceland. She put her pictures on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandraarteagadolls/sets/72157623909081582/
Next year the DABIDA Day will be held on April 10th. The new theme for the Annual DABIDA Doll award 2011 is “Time” . This contest is open for everyone. Look on the DABIDA website for more details.

After a very successful DABIDA Day last April we accepted this new DABIDA Artist member: Kamilla Meesters.

Kamilla Meesters is a very talented new young doll artist. She makes realistic portraits with a twist in Living Doll polymer clay.

She works in a style that was not yet represented within DABIDA. We are happy to welcome her and we look forward to meet her and her work on the next DABIDA DAY on April 11th 2010.

Last weekend was the closing date for sending in entries for the DABIDA Award 2009. We received more than 50 entries from all over the world!. All DABIDA artists received the entries in the meantime (without knowing the names of the makers) to give their votes for the top 10 pieces. The quality level is very high and it really is a joy to see this beautiful work. It was hard to decide on the best 10 pieces. What is best?: Best overall appearance? Best idea? Best technique? Best use of materials? Best in theme (Spring)?
I decide to vote with my heart: the ‘WOW” factor, even when it was a tiny little wow because sometimes these little wows can say more than the big ones.
A comfort is that I am only one of the DABIDA members who have to give their votes. All votes together will decide on the top 10 pieces to be featured on the DABIDA website from next week.
In March the 3 best entries will be announced. On the next DABIDA (April 5th) the DABIDA artist members will vote for the final winner.