Ben Strawn and Jessica Robin
The Artist’s Eye
by Maryevelyn Jones
Fayetteville Free Weekly
2002/3
Ben Strawn and Jessica Robin of Whalefish Studios
Ben Strawn and Jessica Robin are two artist who met in a sculpture class. Now, they live together are married, constantly inspire each other, and create things out of stuff they find.
Robin has a degree in theater and costume design from the University of Arkansas, but prefers sewing. Robin makes dolls and found object constructions. Strawn has a degree in painting from the University of Arkansas, but prefers drawing, making dolls, and found object constructions.
Strawn’s painting world separates from his drawing world. He loves illustration and the dolls fit into his constructions. Strawn spends his spare time planning six epic stories. He’ll use the dolls and constructions to narrate these stories.
Metal and junk pieces speak to Strawn. They speak in a narrative way rather than abstract. Viewers want to see the uniquely Strawn end product. He enjoys the process of finding something, not knowing how it will fit together later, and not seeing his own handprint in every aspect of the finished work.
Strawn knows he wouldn’t be making dolls if it weren’t for watching Robin make hers. Robin’s dolls are floppy and weighted while Strawn’s dolls pose. Strawn said the difference comes from their different childhoods. Robin played with Raggedy Ann as a kid while he played with GI Joe.
Starting from a blank piece of paper or canvas doesn’t fulfill either Robin or Strawn like finding a stick that already looks like a person or some thing other than a stick.
Robin said she wasn’t trained in art the way Strawn was, but she always liked reacting to clay. She sees the blend of theater and art. She loves problem solving through patterning. Watching the mixture of dance costumes and the way fabric moves really appeals to Robin.
She and Strawn create the faces, hands, bodies, clothing, etc. They invent the whole doll without using another designer’s molded head or dress patterns.
Robin says that her dolls fall somewhere between art and craft but never fully into one or the other. Once Robin puts a face and a body together, a character development has begun. She calls her dolls by their descriptions like “owl lady” or “cotton lady” instead of giving them names.
These descriptions do not prevent her from developing emotional attachments. She can’t fix a nose to be less crooked or a baked hand to be unburned. She said changing it would be cosmetic surgery where nature and chance should be. Sometimes Robin starts a doll then lets it sit around the house without completed limbs. After a while, the seemingly unfinished doll would look wrong any other way.
Armless things appeal to both artists and appear in their works. Even one of their dogs has only three legs and is a source of inspiration.
All the characters created by both Strawn and Robin show mysterious, timid, and curious personalities. See them for yourself at www.whalefishstudios.com to get a more insightful look at Ben Strawn and Jessica Robin’s work.