Jackson Free Press

Erica Flannes, 28, met me inside Fondren Corner, just about where she sets up for Fondren's ARTMix.

"I love how many people are getting involved, how it's changing constantly," she told me. "ARTMix allows many artists to show and many to come and see their work." Flannes, trained to be an illustrator at the Rhode Island School of Design, scuplts doll-like creations that reflect her longtime love of mythology and symbolism.

Flannes saw the tiny creatures she dubbed "nokees" in a dream. "In the middle of the night, I woke up, immediately turned on the light and sketched what I remembered," she said.

She shapes each flesh-colored lump, then scores their faces, giving each one a poignant expression. With a dentist's tool, Flannes carves an "e" on their bottoms. Next she embellishes many of them with found items she's prone to collect; when she adds a tiny skeleton key or a bit of a metallic-spray-painted stick to a nokee's hands or makes heart-shaped indentions on their chests, they come to life, glistening with touches of metallic powder.

Before she bakes them, Flannes bends delicate wire into legs that help the little darlings sit up and view the world. Once they've cooled, she gives them a translucent acrylic coating, wiping it off before it dries too dark, but leaving some in each mark she's made on the nokee.

"I want the nokees to speak to people, to make them happy. Each one has a different personality," she said. "Some people don't know what to make of them because they're different. They scare some people, but I don't want that to happen."

On slips of paper, Flannes explains her intentions for nokees, among them that they be well-wishers, advice whisperers, late-night dancers, bad juju eaters, nightmare stealers, secret keepers, less expensive than your therapist and more loyal than your best friend.

Joining Flannes' nokees at ARTMix this week will be another doll she makes—jar people. They're named for canopic jars used to hold the vital organs of mummies in ancient Egypt. Flannes quickly pointed out that there are no body parts as such in her jar people, just other found objects she places there before adding the clay head.

"It makes me happy when my art makes people happy, when it reaches out and touches them," Flannes said. "It makes it all worthwhile."

— Lynette Hanson