Name: OOAK Dolls by Sylvia Curry
Years Made: ca. 2008 to present
Individual Descriptions:
The elderly woman in the chair is 22 inches tall. Originally named “Good Book,” this one-of-a-kind doll was recently renamed “I Think I’ll Sit for a While,” because the ‘Good Book’ is lost. Wool was used for the hair and the eyes are hand painted.
Ms. Marmalade is an elderly woman dressed in hot pink. This 17-inch doll has hair made of wool and inset glass eyes. She wears a double-strand pearl necklace and “earbobs.”
(The two elderly women were made over 15 years ago.)
The other three dolls by Sylvia Curry are more recently made, unnamed, and described by the artist as follows:
“I call the one in white and the one in pink and green, ‘Big Girl #1’ and ‘Big Girl #2.’ They are each 28 inches tall. ‘Big Girl #1’ has human hair and painted eyes. ‘Big Girl #2’ has synthetic hair and painted eyes.”
The cloth doll in black is 25 inches. Also unnamed, the artist wrote, “You could call her Goldie because her outfit is gold and black. Her eyes are glass. Her hair is wool yarn.”
About the Artist: Sylvia Curry has been making dolls for over 30 years without the use of molds. According to Curry, her dolls are “just straight sculpting out an idea.” She started with porcelain but now prefers polymer clay. The polymer clay dolls have cloth bodies. She makes the wigs, clothing, and shoes for each doll. Sylvia Curry signs the dolls when they sell. At the time of this installation, Curry is working on a fully-jointed BJD (ball-jointed doll).
Slideshow (All photographs are courtesy of the artist.)
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