…and there is the butterfly stage at the exact moment the head comes out.
Can you believe I have been making dolls for years and I haven’t seen the butterflies before? I saw them yesterday evening.
So the transformation process starts with a butterfly and it develops into the fish stage.
My world is expanding now, it includes more animals, humans and non humans, and I love it!
Some people ask me if I don’t get bored making so many dolls. How come could I get bored… I am creating a world, a world where butterflies, fish and people are in peace and behave from a place of deep and true love.
On 27 October 2015 evening I went to the D&D event ‘Puppetry – Shackled by the Past?’ at the Little Angel Theatre in London.
Jemima, Amy, Seb, Sarah, Freddie, Harriet, Karol, Elaine, Zoe came to the session, we put dreams and hearts into the dolls and we did a short meditation connecting with our own pulse. Some dolls are finished and some I’ll finish myself sewing the legs.
Some people wanted to make dolls but unfortunately we run out of them. I brought eight as we would be working for just three hours, but I should’ve brought double!
It was good to be in a room full of puppeteers. Jemima offered to help me with some more dolls in the future, yes!
We stayed in the spot called ‘fairies’, it felt like a little tent inside the room, very cozy.
Some comments:
‘Using my hands helped lubricate my ideas and thoughts’
‘It was nice to come here and relax after intense conversations’
I spent 3rd October 2015 afternoon at Kingston Environment Centre at ‘Harvest Extravaganza’ making dolls with Jan, Marianne, Jane, Charlie and the children Leanne, Sam and Melody. We struggled with a weak fabric that tore easily. We lost three dolls in the process of stuffing them.
We had good conversations about Earth Angels, kind of people that do good, usually are alone and don’t feel lonely.
Thanks everybody for the special effort with the fabric, we luckly managed to finish 7 dolls, well done us!
Last Saturday 19 September 2015 we spent a lovely sunny afternoon outdoors at the New Malden Arts Festival making dolls.
People turned up from different backgrounds as India, North Corea, Jamaica, Japan, England, China, US… they were mainly fathers and mothers with their children.
Randeep ( light in darkness :)), Guk Hwa, Lucy, Suzanne, Li, Nathan, Henry, Charlie, Danielle, Simone, Jean, Laura and the children Irableen( emerging in God :)), Soo Jung, Leila, Corinne, Bella, Inesh, Hamza, Tashane, Jadah, Helena and Estelle.
Li brought five pillows full of hers and Nathan’s dreams, thanks so much Li!
We made 15 dolls, many are finished and few of them I’ll finish myself. Most of us meditate with our hearts including the children. We stayed together for 4 hours, until 6pm, one more hour than planned. I was invited to come again in the next event. I will.
We had great conversations about dreams. We talked about the dreams we have when we know that we are dreaming. They are called ‘lucid dreams’.I wonder how cool would be if we realised that we are dreaming when we are awake? Would be called ‘lucid reality’?
Phelim has just told me that there is a book by Arnold Mindell called Dreaming While Awake techniques for 24-hour lucid dreaming.
What he calls ‘lucid dreaming’ is what I am calling ‘lucid reality’, I guess.
‘It was very rewarding to shape those pieces of fabric! It reminded me of morphogenetic fields defined and demonstrated by Rupert Sheldrake, Cambridge University. Just as the spirit needs to become a morphic field that guides the biomolecules until they become alive, I felt that the cotton fibers were this morphic field giving ‘life’ to each doll! Contemplatively immersed in the richness of the creative process. Eternal gratitude!’
‘It is an invitation to share the present time, to be present together.You cannot be with others while paying attention to your mobile phone, but you certainly can do that while sewing and meditating. In present times, dreaming a better world is a kind of privilege. Regina is promoting a community experience – working together to donate the result of this togetherness to other person in another part of the world.’
I run two workshops this summer in São Paulo, Brazil, on 01 and 08 August 2015.
Claudia, Vera, Cecilia, Marina, Gabi, Fernando, Cynthia, Dani, Juliana, Jano, Thaiz, Catarina, Julia, Paulo, Aline, Caique, Bruno e Fani came over.
We were mainly actors, directors, play writers and health professionals as physiotherapists, psychologists and doctors.
We made 46 dolls.
Something different happened in the two workshops – we all made the doll’s meditation together at the end of the events during around 10-15 minutes. On the first, Juliana put on some music, what I usually would not like, but it turned out to be a perfect kind of music to meditate, we loved it!
On the second workshop Caique remind us about the “Lion’s Gate Portal’ which happens every year on 08 of August. Numerology says that this date vibrates the energy of continuity and harmonic balance. This year offered a rare triple 8 as 2015 (2+0+1+5) adds another 8 to the day creating a powerful portal to inspire new balance between our hearts and minds.
We made 26 (2+6) dolls and we realised that for us was actually an 8888!
We booked on this date just because it was the date when the space was available. We were blessed by this coincidence which gave an extra sense of joy to the workshop.
For me the presence of my dear teacher Jano at his studio made my 8888 a special day.
We also had an interesting conversation with Paulo, an oncologist researcher, about the similarities between genomics (our genetic code) and astrology. The graphic representation of the connections between the pairs of chromosomes is amazingly similar to an astrological chart. We can see them both as oracles!
I am grateful to everybody who came, Claudia, Vera, Juliana and Jano who helped to invite people to the events, Olivia who lent me her sewing machine, Claudia and Jano who gave us lots of pillows full of their dreams and Gabriela and Jano who shared their super cool studios allowing us to spend those lovely afternoons together.
Regina Mendes is a visual artist, a dance theatre director, a performer, a psychologist specializing in child therapy and a doll maker. In visual arts she has been exhibiting her art work since 2002 including the Brazilian British Centre.
Regina has created a project called ‘Atelier Knitting Enchanted Wool’ which, during four years, developed projects with children which were exhibited, sold and the money delivered to different communities of poor children.
The paintings and photos of this exhibition are inspired by the dolls project which also has a social dimension. You can sponsor a doll and everything you donate will go directly to the charity called ‘Plan’ JUSTGIVING.COM/DREAMSANDAHEART
Further Details
Date
From: 16/06/2015
Until: 13/07/2015
Time
Mondays 9am to 5pm
Tuesday to Friday 9am to 6pm
Weekends 10am to 5pm
