Fanciful Figurines in Clay & Cloth - Soft Sculpture
All of my dancing figures leap over head in my studio, juggling stars and twirling their skirts. They came out of my vivid imagination, many inspired by the pages of a beloved children’s book.
I majored in art since kindergarten and received my Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976. I began dabbling in clay while a student at Blackburn College. After a trip to Mexico, where I saw wonderful marionettes, I began making puppets. The dolls and mobiles evolved from there and I began focusing on images of the circus and medieval performers. For the past thirty years, I have been working in clay and cloth in the same studio in Corvallis. Each doll is a one-of-a-kind piece. The bodies are made of white stoneware, hand-painted with demure mercurial expressions and colorful lips. Each figure is dressed in elaborate hand-made costumes, a tribute to my ancestors who were Austrian tailors. A series of five of my mobiles hang over the bar of downtown Portland restaurant, Pinocchio, the figures personally chosen by the owner, Michael Bazzani.