I'd like to share with you some pictures of my artwork, as well as a few words about the work, myself, my life, my processes, and my sources of inspiration. I welcome any comments or questions, but hope you will patiently understand if responses don't come quickly from one who attempts to spend limited time on the computer.
As a lifelong artist, I've been involved for many years in a variety of pursuits, including design and illustration work, toymaking, printmaking, creating animation, and needlework.
My current focus is on making one-of-a-kind cloth, soft-sculpted art dolls. I am inspired by fine textiles, artful patterns, soul-nourishing colors, and tactile textures. I incorporate all these things into my work in a collage-type manner, creating surprising juxtapositions and attempting to turn the chaotic-seeming array of materials which I've collected into harmonic compositions.
I've chosen to work with the human figure because of the profound, familiar, inherent meaning that its form language communicates. I also have a long-held love for the doll as an object, and believe in its artistic potential. I'm gratified to call myself a dollmaker and thereby link myself to the tradition of artists involved in similar activities throughout almost every era and tribe in human history who have been fascinated with making likenesses of their own form.
You can see a typical example of my work in my premier posting, the photos of "Remy" below. My dolls are made entirely of stuffed cloth, with the exception of pipe cleaner wires in the fingers, wooden ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees, and some cardboard material in the soles of shoes. There are no rigid armatures, but they sit on a stand made of welded metal covered with cloth at the base. Skin is a cotton knit fabric, and the stuffing I use is sheep's wool. Facial features are embroidered on a soft-sculpted head, which is made by needle-sculpting a seamed, stuffed form to achieve the shaping, then covering it with the stretchy skin fabric.
I'm happy to have this platform to share the images of my work that I will be posting, and hope that you will enjoy checking back with me and seeing where my artistic explorations lead me. THANK YOU for your interest in my work.
Warm regards,
Shelley
As a lifelong artist, I've been involved for many years in a variety of pursuits, including design and illustration work, toymaking, printmaking, creating animation, and needlework.
My current focus is on making one-of-a-kind cloth, soft-sculpted art dolls. I am inspired by fine textiles, artful patterns, soul-nourishing colors, and tactile textures. I incorporate all these things into my work in a collage-type manner, creating surprising juxtapositions and attempting to turn the chaotic-seeming array of materials which I've collected into harmonic compositions.
I've chosen to work with the human figure because of the profound, familiar, inherent meaning that its form language communicates. I also have a long-held love for the doll as an object, and believe in its artistic potential. I'm gratified to call myself a dollmaker and thereby link myself to the tradition of artists involved in similar activities throughout almost every era and tribe in human history who have been fascinated with making likenesses of their own form.
You can see a typical example of my work in my premier posting, the photos of "Remy" below. My dolls are made entirely of stuffed cloth, with the exception of pipe cleaner wires in the fingers, wooden ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees, and some cardboard material in the soles of shoes. There are no rigid armatures, but they sit on a stand made of welded metal covered with cloth at the base. Skin is a cotton knit fabric, and the stuffing I use is sheep's wool. Facial features are embroidered on a soft-sculpted head, which is made by needle-sculpting a seamed, stuffed form to achieve the shaping, then covering it with the stretchy skin fabric.
I'm happy to have this platform to share the images of my work that I will be posting, and hope that you will enjoy checking back with me and seeing where my artistic explorations lead me. THANK YOU for your interest in my work.
Warm regards,
Shelley
