Luckily I had a copy in my email. Sadly all your great comments are gone. If I still have them in my email, I will add them. Please stay with me here, while Alberto and I migrate Visual Vamp anywhere but Google Blogspot.
This Barbie was done for an art exhibit
Barbie has been a doctor, a dentist, a vet and a race car driver,and now the iconic doll that has inspired and entertained little girls for generations takes on the job of architect. With the help of two American Institute of Architects members, Mattel Inc., now has Architect Barbie -- complete with hard hat and blueprints -- to be the latest addition to its ‘’Barbie I Can Be…’’ line of dolls.
This is what Matel produced
I Can Be.
What did you want to be when you were the age to play with dolls? I had dolls, but they were not my favorite toys. My first aspiration came around age 9. I wanted to be a scientist, and bugged my mother to get me a microscope. That was my favorite toy. She also signed me up for some kind of kid's book club, and I got a brand new "All About..." book in the mail every month. Books were my absolute favorite "toys".
My mother's aspiration for me was to become a ballet dancer. I was not so hot about this, though I took classes from age 3 until adulthood, was a "professional" child performer, and continued dancing on stage until my 20's. Everything was not beautiful at the ballet for me, but I marginally stayed in show biz via acting, and ending my career in a 80's pop/rock band in New York, and starting a soft show biz life again in 1995 to the present as a tango dancer.
This is a photo of my mother who was a dancer
The scientist dream segued into wanting to be a doctor. Realities of the cost of med school was the buzz kill my mother interjected into my dreams, so I ratcheted down to wanting to be a nurse. A stint as a Candy Striper at age 15 stifled that dream, I didn't dig the hospital hierarchy then, of nurses being treated like hand maidens to male doctors.
Perhaps my I Can Be ideal was a Gloria Steinem or Dorothy Pitman Hughes doll.
Gloria and Dorothy via
Art school was a logical choice for me. Along with all the dance classes I took as a teenager, I also took Saturday art classes at The Art Students League because I had an affinity for painting and drawing. I applied and was accepted to art school, and that was the leitmotif of my higher education.
I still took my daily dance classes for the sake of physical fitness, and later acting classes and singing lessons because I would occasionally audition for some small thing that caught my interest. Along with the rock band, I was a member of a conceptual performance group headed up by poet Max Blagg and musician/writer Jim Farmer.
My rock and roll days - more HERE - Hair by Danilo my friend at the time
I went to film school for awhile, and took a course in race car driving, and I also dabbled in poetry classes with Edward Field, Erica Jong, Michael Bennet, and Daniel Halpern.
I Can Be a dilettante ha ha. I guess I am a creature of the arts. My collection of I Can Be Barbies would be vast.
I have I had 10,000 jobs and 500 careers.
I would love to hear about your I Can Be stories...How many of us turned out to be what we wanted to be when we were children? How many of us are continually re-inventing ourselves?
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Posted By visual vamp to * v i s u a l * v a m p * at 5/12/2011 08:40:00 AM
I had an art teacher Marie Louise Schrodt who told me to stop wasting my time and just focus on my art. I was able to go to an exhibit she gave, her last one before she passed away and thank her for giving me the best advice.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, if one follows what they love then nothing ever truly feels like a job. I think we always evolve and take on new meaning as we gracefully age and mellow over time. You have not changed. You are still a creative diva and sprinkle magic where ever you go.
pve
you've had an exciting life! I've been an athletic trainer, a teacher, a realtor, a stager, now I'm an athletic trainer again and next year I will teach school once again. But I wish I had gone to med school!
ReplyDeleteAs I child, I wanted to be an architect, a private detective (preferably somehow becoming a hardy boy), and a writer. So far as an adult, I've managed accounting instructor, decorator, and artist with a retail stint thrown in for good measure.
ReplyDeleteGosh you look so like your mother.
ReplyDeleteHas Barbie been a blogger yet?
:)
Have a great weekend.
xxx
OK' you beat me! Although in a nut shell due to growing up in East Germany my aspirations to become a doctor were cut short, so I became a midwife. But art has always played a huge role in my life, so I was accepted to the Art Academy in Dresden, while working night shifts at the hospital, later continued my studies full time in Cologne, after moving to West Germany, had children, worked again as a midwife to make money after divorce, married again, moved to New York, had more children and started a business as a interior decorator. Result: Little art work, more child raising and little business.... Haha, feels like a million things, but so far nothing has surfaced as my break through....
ReplyDeleteDid I tell you that my husband and I dance Tango too? Rarely now for the pitiable reason of lack of time....A shame. Really! But there is retirement, eventually!
PS: I forgot to tell you how much I love your post, the pictures, the story and the photographs of your mom and you! Amazing!
ReplyDeleteYou certainly have a incredibly filled life, with stories and great memories too, I am sure!
Dance has always been a great part in your life and it was not what you though at first, right? This is life!
When can we expect your uncensored short film on decor, and 'un-decorating', et al, a la VV?
ReplyDeletevalerie,
ReplyDeletei have to say once again...you should write a book about your life--you are so interesting, have known so many famous/infamous people, are a great story teller and actually have a happy ending to share. this book should somehow relate great, interesting design to living a great, interesting life.
nanne in indiana by way of alabama
Lovely post...your photo of your Mother is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteA new follower...