(Almost) Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Dolls!

 

 

 

 

Ever wonder how those beautiful porcelain dolls are made?  Well, Michele Cotner explained the process at Brunswick Art Works Meet the Artist on Wednesday evening.  She also explained the difference between creating a bisque (porcelain) doll and a cloth doll  and had several examples of each on display.  Michele talked about her personal history of doll making and doll collecting and it was a fun and informative presentation.

DOLLS, DOLLS, DOLLS!

 Michele’s Passion for the
Art of Doll Making to Doll Collecting

We hope you will join us on Wednesday, March 7, as artist, Michele Cotner shares with us her story of how doll making evolved into doll collecting.  Michele will also be bringing some of her creations, a few of whom are pictured above.  This is going to be a delightful evening for all ages. 


Michele Cotner became interested in doll making when she moved to Columbia, Missouri and has continued to make dolls when she returned to Cleveland. She attended a craft show in Missouri and met a porcelain doll teacher. From that time on, Michele has been making all different types of dolls. She has made reproduction porcelain dolls for twenty years created by many known artists (ex. Dianna Effner) and during that time she also learned cloth doll making. One of her favorite dolls is a reproduction of Lady Grace which is a 5 foot doll dressed in her wedding dress. She attends workshops, conventions and belongs to two doll organizations (Cleveland Doll Club (the United Federation of Dolls in Kansas City and High on Dolls Cloth Doll Club). She is also a doll collector of some of the following dolls: Jan McLean,
Patsy, Bluette, Tonner Fashion Dolls, Betsy McCall, Anne Estelle, Fancy Nancy, Eloise, Pinkalicous, and Ellowyne BJD dolls. Michele has many art interests besides her dolls, such as mixed media with paper, punch needle, mosaics and sewing to mention a few. Michele enjoys her passions for the fine and performing arts.

Jan Householder and "The Giving Dolls"

Jan Householder and The Giving Doll

Meet the artist Jan Householder on August 3, 2011 at 7:30 PM at our regular monthly meeting at Brunswick City Hall.

Jan is Founder and Executive Director of The Giving Doll, Inc., a non profit volunteer program that gives faith, love, joy, hope and comfort to children at times of special need, through the construction and distribution of a cloth handmade doll.  Since the program was founded in 2006, over 8500 dolls have been constructed and given to children worldwide.

Jan retired from Wadsworth City Schools were she taught Family and Consumer
Sciences at Wadsworth High School, was the Advisor for Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and Volunteer Opportunities for Teens Organization
(VOFT).

Most recently, she was selected as a recipient of the Medina County YWCA Woman
of Distinction Award, received The Women’s History Project of the Akron Area, Inc,
Women of the Year for Creativity, was inducted into the Wadsworth City Schools
Educator Emeritus Hall of Fame and the Wadsworth Older Adults Foundation Senior
Advocate Hall of Fame.

Jan lives in Sharon Center with her husband Mark.