By james art 
This is a well-known story: During the first days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sonia Dopper did many walks through her Como Park in search of something to do.
“I am very worried about seeing plastic things that will never break down,” she said. “In three hundred years, this part of the doll will still be here. I took these things and then I started to wonder if I could do anything with them.
She found a picture of the artist’s inspiration, Frida Kalo, and turned the junk she had collected into a detailed portrait into a collage. She then made another collage. And another.
Until January 31, the art of Dorr – the nickname “junk drug addict” – was displayed in the main atrium of the branch of the Ramsay County Library in Grandow. Some are celebrities such as Prince and Paul McCartney, while others, such as a portrait of a woman from the indigenous population, are inspired by strong photos.
The completion of any work of art takes a month or more, said Dopper. One of her greatest works, a portrait in gray shades of Abe Lincoln, includes more than a year of work.
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This is partly simply because she is busy, she said, but the portraits are also extremely detailed. Stand close and you will see how complicated the layers of buttons, zippers, parts for dolls, toys and plastic silver utensils are together; Take a look at Dopper’s ability to make the perfectly matching garbage color melted in excited fabric and emotional eyes.
And for the colors: no paint. If he wants a specific nuance, he has to go to find it. As can be expected, she has accumulated a large collection of junk in her home studio and everything is colorful encoded. Each color category – pink, red, brown, etc. -It has its own basket, and skin tones, which are more difficult to find and compare, are sorted with greater details.
In the works of the Dorr, the junk is more than the construction material; This is part of the history of the portrait object. You can find army men hidden in Lincoln’s portrait, for example, or plastic zombie toys in her portrait of horror actor Vincent Price. In her own self -portrait, she includes memories betrayed by her mother and pieces of champagne from a bottle champagne popped up on a special occasion.
Even before she became a junk drug addict, Dorper has always appreciated things that other people may have considered garbage.
Much of her early works of art, based on textiles, include deconstruction and reconstruction of clothing and other accessories. Almost all her clothes are used, she said. And she works at the Roshille library, which is not quite by accident.
“I just love the idea of reuse and sharing resources, which is why the library is so suitable for me,” she said. “This little I keep from the landfill will not change the world, but you always want to start conversations. Maybe people can think a little more about it.
Dapper is on Instagram at @junkartjunkie and on Facebook, looking for “Junk Art Junkie (Sonja Dapper)”.
Her work was exhibited until January 31 at the library’s atrium in a brief; 2180 North Hamline Ave.