«Փոքրիկ մոլորակը» - Լիլիթ Անտոնյան

Lilit Antonyan's article "The Little Planet" is devoted to the history of traditional Armenian doll-making art and to the work of Karine Mirumyan, Honored Craftswoman of the Republic of Armenia, who continues and develops this centuries-old tradition.

Introduction and Methodology

The author relies on an ethnographic and culturological approach, combining a historical survey of the ritual doll with a biographical sketch and an art-historical description of the contemporary craftswoman's creative method. The material draws on folklore sources (in particular, the records of Garegin Srvandztyants), ritual dialogue-songs in Armenian with translation, as well as personal interviews with Karine Mirumyan.

The Historical and Ritual Context of the Doll

The article traces the doll's path from the most ancient cultic and apotropaic functions to agrarian rain-invoking rites:

clay and wooden figurines as amulets and objects of worship since primitive times;
scarecrows and totemic symbols to protect fields and orchards from evil forces;
the ritual doll Nurin — an embodiment of Nar, the goddess of the water element, made from a pole, a broom, or ladles and wrapped in cloth;
the ritual of carrying Nurin around the village during a drought, accompanied by songs entreating rain and by dousing with water as a reciprocal magical act.

The author emphasizes the continuity of the tradition — from ancient ritual figures to contemporary original doll-making art.

Karine Mirumyan's Creative Path

A separate section of the article is devoted to the craftswoman's biography: her birth and studies in Etchmiadzin, her training in the painting department of the P. Terlemezyan Art College, her formation within a family closely tied to art (her husband is the Honored Sculptor Rafik Sargsyan, her children are a director and a cinematographer). It is noted that her interest in dolls was instilled in childhood through her grandmother's tales and homemade toys.

Artistic Method and Distinctive Features of the Dolls

The author describes in detail the technique and aesthetics of Mirumyan's works:

a copper-wire armature filled with cotton wool, observing anatomical proportions;
embroidered rather than painted facial features;
the use of old carpets and pieces of leather for costumes and footwear for the sake of ethnographic authenticity;
a variety of sizes — from 12 cm to 1 m 80 cm;
figures assembled from three parts for ease of storage and transportation;
a predominance of paired and group compositions reflecting narratives and characters.

Special attention is given to the emotional expressiveness of the dolls, each of which, according to the author's description, possesses an individual story, character, and movement frozen in dynamism, creating a sense of "arrested time."

Recognition and International Activity

The article notes the wide exhibition geography of the craftswoman's works — Armenia, Artsakh, the USA, Korea, Belarus — as well as the sale of her pieces via the internet and the conferral upon Karine Mirumyan of the honorary title of Honored Craftswoman of the Republic of Armenia. A forthcoming catalogue of her works is also mentioned.

Conclusion

The article's key conclusion is that Karine Mirumyan's work represents an organic continuation of the ancient Armenian tradition of doll-making, transformed into an original art that preserves ethnocultural memory while simultaneously creating an independent artistic world — a "little planet" populated by living, emotionally charged images embodying the historical and spiritual experience of the Armenian people.