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Articles by Art Dolls
Family Matters: Sandy Anderson and Her Family Blend Retro Whimsy With Futuristic Technology
When the Broadway League recently commissioned a poll about audience favorites, the musical The Sound of Music ranked as a favorite among theatergoers of all ages. The participants responded that they loved the relationship the von Trapp family shared — a troupe of siblings and their parents who sang, danced, and performed together. That same sense of domestic camaraderie exists within the Anderson household.
Nancy Malay Creates Folksy, Whimsical Fantasy Characters
Minnesota-based artist Nancy Malay has been making her whimsical, vintage-inspired creations for nearly four decades now. In addition to dolls, she creates ornaments, giftware, and decorative pieces inspired by folk art and seasonal vintage designs. Her work has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Crafts, Early American Life, Prims, and numerous other magazines. She recently took the time to share several of her fantasy creations with DOLLS readers.
Halloween Spirits: Marguerite Noschese’s Dolls Combine Whimsy, Scariness, Humor
By Marguerite Surich Noschese I came to the business of creating art dolls along a very circuitous path — I had been a dealer in antique dolls, children’s toys, and antique baby clothes. I was also an avid quilter and creator of fabric dolls, while later I worked as a child portrait artist. While I loved all these different artistic pursuits, it all came together for me artistically when I began making art dolls.
Pumpkins on Parade: Jennie Hepler Takens Carves Out a Career in Halloween Art
By Jennie Hepler Takens Years ago, a group of friends and I had to go to one of the friends’ houses for something. When we entered his parents’ home, I was immediately enchanted. His mother, Sue Shroyer, had the most delicious collection of antique German Halloween pieces I’d ever seen. She had artisan-made pieces, antiquities, and work by famed artists the world over. I just couldn’t believe my eyes! At that moment, I began my home-grown education into dollmaking and Halloween art.
Ghoulies & Ghosties: Linda Lyons Specializes in Haunting OOAK Creations
By Linda Lyons My inspiration for most of my dolls come from ghosts and animals. When I was young, I always loved the old black-and-white horror movies like “The Mummy,” “House on Haunted Hill,” “Frankenstein,” “Wolfman,” etc. I’m also a big animal lover, so many times I will create anthropomorphic dolls. For every doll I create, I start with the head. I wrap foil in masking tape and sculpt over that. Making the head and face are my favorite parts.
Carol Johansen Finds Joy in Dollmaking
A lifelong doll lover and a serious collector since the mid-’90s, Carol Johansen began exploring making her own dolls when, she said, “My taste in dolls outstripped my budget, as it does for many of us.” She took sculpting courses both locally and online from such artists as Diane Keeler and Deb Wood and began making dolls professionally in 2008. “Children and fantasy characters in polymer clay are my focus,” she said.
Elizabeth Cooper Carves Creative Niche With Clay Characters
By Wil Peterson During a nearly 30-year doll-design career, Elizabeth Cooper has unfailingly relied on the same successful formula. First comes inspiration, followed by motivation, perspiration, and when necessary, innovation. The impressive results are uniquely delightful, one-of-a-kind (OOAK) polymer clay characters that have fascinated generations of devoted collectors.
Anna Maryina’s Dolls Capture the Many Facets of Female Beauty
From a country and a culture located across the world to a happy home life in Pennsylvania teaching and sculpting, doll artist Anna Maryina has seen and done myriad things. She is truly a woman of the world, and her world is one of artistry and achievement. Maryina was born in East Germany to a Russian military family. “I grew up in Soviet Russia. Most of my life, we traveled in Russia and Ukraine. I was enrolled in gymnastics, dance, and skating classes. My mom would say I drew well, like my grandma.
Cindee Moyer Makes Her Mark in Multiple Careers
By Pam North Before she became a full-time doll artist, Cindee Moyer was a human resources manager for a manufacturing company in Iowa for 15 years. One of her accomplishments she’s most proud of was integrating refugees into the company’s workforce. At the time, Iowa was processing large numbers of refugees from Bosnia, Vietnam, and Sudan.
Autumn Bellar Makes Monsters, Fairies, More
Bellar’s award-winning Ladybug Fairy is a 10-inch OOAK made with Super Sculpey, Apoxie Sculpt, acrylic yarn, and resin. Texan artist Autumn Bellar entered the Dolls Awards of Excellence for the first time in 2021 and came away with an Industry’s Choice Award in the One-of-a-Kind Fantasy category for her Ladybug Fairy. Now living and going to school in South Carolina, Bellar said she’s relatively new to the dollmaking world. This 12-inch OOAK Santa is made from foam, Super Sculpey, and acrylic yarn.
Cast of Characters: Esther Manso Sculpts Heroes, Villains of Time-Honored Tales
The Queen, 20 inches. By Stephanie Finnegan A catastrophic illness — one that kept her in a medical facility on a respirator for four months — changed Esther Manso’s life and career path in 2010. At the time, she was married, raising a large family, and had been working as a comptroller for a large Miami car dealership — a job she described as rewarding but stressful. Her 30-year career came to an end with her illness.
Marianna Nardin’s Dolls are Delightfully Outside the Box
Zurahia the Gypsy Fortune Teller is part of Nardin’s 2021 Halloween collection made for the Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween show. By Pam North Marianna Nardin creates themed dolls that follow major holidays like Christmas, Easter, and, she said, “my favorite holiday, Halloween, as you probably could guess from the spooky nature of my characters. The walls in my studio are decorated with a Halloween theme all year round!” Born in Venice, Italy, Marianna Nardin was a creative child.
Women’s Club of Glen Ridge marks National Doll Day with Figures of Fantasy Exhibit
From left: Princess Anatasia and Queen Alexandra, both wax dolls by Crees and Coe; Snow Queen by Susan McMullen (woman holding bird with child on polar bear). To celebrate National Doll Day (August 1), the Women’s Club of Glen Ridge will unveil a selection of their newly acquired collection of fine art and commercial dolls in an exhibition entitled Figures of Fantasy, A Collection of Doll Artistry.
Poised for Flight: Linda Zalme’s OOAK Fairies
Rosanna is a blue morpho fairy. One of the most striking features of Linda Zalme’s one-of-a-kind (OOAK) fairy dolls are their detailed, realistic-looking wings, all patterned after real butterfly and moth species. Both her love of art and drawing on nature for inspiration date back to her childhood, the artist said. Traveler, with gypsy moth wings, won a 2020 Industry’s Choice award in the DAE competition. “I grew up in a small town in a rural area and spent a lot of time outdoors.
Grounded by pandemic, Ankie Daanen, other artists find teaching alternatives online
By Ankie Daanen With a dollmaking career that’s lasted more than 35 years, Aankie Daanen has become not only an accomplished artist but a sought-after teacher. For years, she has held regular classes and workshops at various shows and other settings around the world. When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everyone’s plans for 2020, Daanen faced a choice: simply discontinue teaching for the duration or learn new ways to share her dollmaking knowledge.
Winsome Waifs: Liliya Volkova creates OOAK BJDs
Russian artist Liliya Volkova creates OOAK polymer-clay BJDs. By Pam North Dolls come in all styles and sizes, and the very best ones are those that have their own unique charm and precious innocence, the ones that look like no others in the doll world. They seem less like dolls to be purchased and more like precious little people to be adopted and cherished. Such are the creations of Liliya Volkova, a resident of Moscow, Russia, and a superb dollcrafter.
Gayle Wray’s ‘CJDs’ capture personalities in cloth
Empress Elizabeth of Austria lived from 1837 to 1898. Wray’s 24-inch OOAK cloth depiction is jointed at the shoulders, upper arms, hands, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. She wears authentic silk underclothes, undershirt, and breeches, a functional corset, bustle, and petticoat. Her jacket skirt is made from black watermarked fabric trimmed in black lace and heavily hand-beaded trim. She wears low-heeled slippers with beaded bows and carries a handmade hand fan.
Wonderland Aesthetic: 4 Generations Create Dolls, Miniatures
Jennifer Latham-Robinson (left) and her mother, Nancy Latham. By Sharon Verbeten “It was a wonderland over there.” That’s how Jennifer Latham-Robinson describes her mother’s house — filled to the brim with antiques, vintage children’s books, and old dollhouses. It’s no surprise, then, that Robinson fell in love with fanciful old things. Alice is one of Robinson’s silicone dolls.
Marguerite Noschese creates OOAK characters
An award-winning professional doll artist for about a decade, Marguerite Noschese had been looking forward to a varied roster of shows at the beginning of the year. “Unfortunately, many shows have been cancelled this year,” she said. “I did, however, partake in the Quinlan Virtual Show and Sale that was arranged for the participating artists. “This year I have also been invited to attend the ODACA Conference in Dallas in July as a ‘considered’ artist inductee.
Staying Positive: Collette Hatch finds her happy place with art dolls
Collette Hatch with her award-winning doll Evalena. Fourteen years ago, award-winning doll artist Collette Hatch was looking for ways to keep a positive outlook. After being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, and living with the fear of a recurrence, her normal optimism needed a boost. She saw a picture of an art doll online, which led her to contact Jack Johnston and enroll in one of his classes. “Sculpting became a very happy place for me,” Hatch said. “Luckily my cancer was caught early.
Personal Messages: Elizabeth Cooper’s dolls tell stories about life
One of Elizabeth Cooper’s wholesome and winsome 6-inch characters from the artist’s Down on the Farm series. I know a lot of people turn to familiar movies, dog-eared novels, or even big bowls of mac and cheese to find comfort. For me, I love seeing the familiar faces of beloved dolls. Over the years, I’ve been lucky to get to chat with an array of talented men and women. One of the most earnest and empathetic is Elizabeth “Liz” Cooper of Elizabeth Cooper Studio.
Seriously Quirky: Kim Arnold is very serious about her dolls and collectors
It’s been nearly a decade that Canadian doll artist Kim Arnold has been “seriously sculpting.” Yes, it’s true that Kim has been working steadily for nearly 10 years as a doll artist. However, the “seriously” part is up for interpretation. When a collector looks at Kim Arnold’s dolls, they see everything but “serious.” Asked to describe her work, Kim knowingly says they are “adorable/quirky/comical.” She insists that her Trinket Box BJDs are what the world needs today.
Small World: Anna Zueva is international treasure
Walt Disney was right — though maybe a tad misguided with that cloying theme song — but it is a small world, after all. Yes, social media has made it smaller. You can post a clever comment or a thumbs-up encouragement on Facebook, and then find yourself swamped with marriage proposals from Nigerian princes and other faraway “fortune hunters.” Yep, it is a small world, after all. Lithuanian-based doll artist Anna Zueva knows that universal truth for sure.
Epic Creativity: Ankie Daanen’s dolls become a cast of thousands
I love getting good news! Though “snail mail” is slowly and surely crawling to eventual extinction — I can count on two hands and one foot the number of Christmas cards I get via postman nowadays — the daily give-and-take, back-and-forth, of e-mail is picking up more and more momentum. (Not to mention texting, Facebook messaging, and IMing!) A new doll by Ankie Daanen. That’s why I am so happy that I opened my cyber in-box and found a cheerful and jubilant message from doll artist Ankie Daanen.
Creative Curtsey: Ms Mollie O’s porcelain pieces deserve standing ovations
Photos courtesy of Sarah Maldonado The past few months have been very busy for me. Beyond work duties and family commitments, I’ve also been very involved with catching up with my personal passion — the theater, darlings. Yes, one of the many careers I’ve had in my life involved the footlights, the bright lights, the big-city egos and the small-town dreamers. I loved the years I spent first as an intern and then as a marketing manager, casting assistant, and new development administrator.
Beautiful Dreamers: Looking Back at Some of Sherry Rawn’s Sleeping Cherubs
Photos courtesy of Sculpty’s Creations Dreams are an odd thing, aren’t they? For many folks, if they get a notion in their head, they feel they have to pursue it immediately. If they fail to respond in a certain, calculated number of hours, then that’s it. Game over. Dream over. For Canadian doll artist Sherry Rawn, her professional life proves that a dream never dies.
Outlander Porcelain Dolls from Creations in Porcelain
(Claire Randall is the newest romance heroine from Monica Reo.) Photos Courtesy of Creations in Porcelain One of the greatest joys of penning a doll blog is the chance to see so many lovely dolls visiting in my in-box. It’s always a delight when I get a note from an artist acquaintance — my far-off, faraway friends — and they are eager to share a brand-new design or theme with me. Just recently, I got a very upbeat, happy e-mail from an artist that I have always admired.
Miss Ingenuity - Doll Artist Kari Byron
Kari Byron is the typical girl-next-door; that is, if the girl-next-door can detonate a bomb, swim with a shark and good-naturedly pal around with a frat house of techno-savvy dudes. The Californian native is the cheerful and remarkably competent host of the Discovery Channel’s MythBusters series. True to the show’s title, Byron’s presence with her four male counterparts busts all the myths about females being afraid of things that go bump in the night.
Dolls Around the World
Can’t afford a trip around the world? Fortunately, doll artists and companies bring international flavor and their dollmaking perspectives to collectors everywhere. Each widens the scope and breadth of dollmaking in her own special way. Dolsballad, Japan Dolsballad represents Japanese artists Yabe Fujiko and Wakatsuki Mariko. Wakatsuki Mariko may be Japanese, but her work is quite similar to that of Western artists.
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