Witch Irena
Witch Irena and her universe were created by Juliana LePine with the help of her daughters Julia and Luisa LePine. It all began with an online class were I taught to sculpt another witch (Philautia), where all the witch features and story would have to follow a funny game that I played with my students. Following this game, one of the students had to make a "shy witch" while I was making an "in love witch. I had an extra classs to help this student out, and sculpted a shy witch based on the picture that this student wanted to use. There was something very special about that face, and I felt like I needed to keep it. That head was laying on the shelve for about a year, and every time I looked at her, I felt like the face was asking for a body and a story... One day I decided to do it! But I didn't have any idea why this witch was shy... I posted the face on my Facebook page and asked my followers for ideas... they really engaged giving me a lot of very cool ideas about her! One of the ideas mentioned that she was hiding little creatures... and coincidently I had just created a few creatures with my daugthers while playing clay, we named them cronies... After reading all this ideas... I kept thinking about it... still not sure about what to do... One morning, I woke up and the whole story came to me! It was a story about empathy! After creating all the story, I had to find more pictures of that face... so I could finish it. I googled the image and found out that that face was known... it was the face of Irena Sendler, a holocaust hero that risk her life and saved many kids from the nazi. WOW! I couldn't believe! Her story was about empathy all along!! I dedicated the story to her and name my witch IRENA! That was the beautiful beggining of a great journey!
Irena's Universe
Irena and her Cronies
Media: Polymer Clay
Size: 11"x 4.5"x 4.5"
made in 2020
A long long time ago, the queen of the evil witches had a daughter. According to a prophecy, the girl was destined to be the most powerful witch of all.
She named her Irena.
As Irena was growing up, everyone expected her powers to bloom.
But instead, she turned out to be the weakest and most fragile among the queen’s daughters.
Every time an evil spell was cast, Irena would scream and suffer. Not only was she unable to hurt any living being, but she could feel the pain of others, including the pain that ruled evil hearts.
She could access and understand their fears, weaknesses, and anger.
So one day, weary of that burden, she ran away into the forest.
Irena then dedicated her life to finding a cure for wickedness and wrongdoings. She was determined to end the pain in those evil hearts, thus avoiding the pain they’d cause in others.
Since she didn’t want to be lonely, Irena created magical friends and helpers, the Cronies. Each Cronie was a lucky charm with its own special power: Healing, love, good fortune, fertility, strength.
One day, she finally discovered the formula for a potion that is the secret of happiness and eradicates all evil. The main ingredient was right there all along: her own tears.
Oh, but not every evil heart desired to be cured. However, since everyone wanted a Cronie, they spread around the world giving people whatever they needed, not knowing she also made them carry her secret potion… With every wish granted by a Cronie, people would also get a bit of it, and it was the most precious and powerful gift Irene had to offer: Empathy.
Meet the Cronies
Irma-
Meet Irma, the Queen of Witches. a new character that belongs to Irena's universe.
Irena is my first character with a background story and will become my first book. Irma is her mother, and I couldn't just give Irena a mother without a great story!
She doesn't appear much in Irena's first book, but she turned to be such a great character that had inspired me to create her own book in the future.
In her story, we’ll discover that children continuously teach parents just as much as parents teach them. Irena is the only one who can truly see her mother’s
heart.
Media: Polymer Clay
Size: 11"x 4.5"x 4.5"
made in 2020
Powerful and merciless. Cold and cruel. Words like these have been used to describe Irma. You
would think she is evil. Indeed, she’s a master of dark magic: an evil queen known for stomping on
those who threaten her throne.
It’s easy to judge from outside her shoes. But evil hearts are hearts in pain.
Long ago, when Irma was a little girl, her village was attacked by men accusing them of witchcraft,
even though they were harmless healers. Born with the rare gift of divination, she had seen the
attack in a vision and warned her mother. Sadly, her mother had time to prepare just one last spell,
only for Irma; the power to shape-shift into her spirit animal: an owl.
By the time the men arrived, Irma had flown away, and from a nearby treetop, she helplessly sobbed
as she watched the village burn.
Since then, when she closes her eyes, she’s tormented with visions of her sorrowful past. Trauma and grief turned her gift into a curse; but shape-shifting kept her safe.
With time, she gathered the strength to fight and conquer her land alongside other survivors.
Eventually, she became their ruler and queen.
I’d have to agree: Irma is ruthless! But she’s not an unfair queen: she just won’t tolerate exposing her realm to danger. And perhaps the inhumane assault upon her childhood village made her lose some of her humanity.
She cannot sleep; instead, she uses her time to perfect spells meant to protect younger witches and wizards from the outside world.
But recently, and to Irma’s surprise, she had another crystal clear vision: one of hope… a new family:a little girl! A daughter who is destined to become the most powerful witch of all, Irena.
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About
THE SCULPTOR
Juliana Lepine
Juliana LePine is a Brazilian sculptor living in Canada. She has never gone to Art School: LePine is a self-learner who started modeling with clay and papier-mâché as a child. Nine years ago, she finally had the chance to settle down and dedicate her time to her truest calling: figure sculpting.
After making her own wedding cake topper and getting lots of attention from her guests, she tested and created different techniques that allowed for many realistic features that were never achieved in cold porcelain before.
Driven by freedom and passion, LePine is an impulsive sculptor. Her miniature pieces stem from the necessity to create and capture the form and soul of what speaks to her – be a gleam in someone’s eye, a bashful smile, or the gentle resignation of a hand that touches one’s head. The focus of LePine’s artwork lies in portraiture.
In 2011, LePine started teaching her innovations on YouTube and attracted a large base of fans and followers from all over Brazil. In 2013, she switched from cold porcelain to polymer clay in order to create more realistic pieces with lively attention to detail – her most remarkable trait.
She has gained international prominence, building a fan base of more than 800K followers. With a loyal audience, many of her videos have gone viral, one of them reaching more than 86M views worldwide.
In addition to commissioned work, LePine takes part in several projects and continues to teach live online classes in English and Portuguese. Her current projects include a series of 30 famous musicians, as well as tackling the theme of domestic violence.
Whenever asked about her motivations, LePine has a hard time answering. How does one explain why one takes a breath? Exploring the nature of perception – so inherently human –, some pieces are commentaries on themselves, some are experiments; some are requests by loved ones or people that will cross her path.
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