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Additional Artworks

From NIADA Gallery

  1. Wool blended felt vintage spool by Christine Shively Benjamin, Image 1.

    Christine Shively Benjamin

    Wool blended felt vintage spool

    Wool blended felt, thread vintage wooden spool

    4 x 2 x 2 in (10.16 x 5.08 x 5.08 cm)

    $55

  2. Pink Vintage Flower Wooden Spool by Christine Shively Benjamin, Image 1.

    Christine Shively Benjamin

    Pink Vintage Flower Wooden Spool

    Felt, vintage wooden spool, seed beads and vintage flowers

    3.5 x 2 x 2 in (8.89 x 5.08 x 5.08 cm)

    $55

  3. Humpty Dumpty by Connie Smith, Image 1.

    Connie Smith

    Humpty Dumpty

    mixed media, LaDoll painted with watercolors and sealed in beeswax, fabric, wire, beads

    5.5 x 3.5 x 2.25 in (13.97 x 8.89 x 5.72 cm)

    $550

  4. Rhapsody in Lavender by Christine Shively Benjamin, Image 1.

    Christine Shively Benjamin

    Rhapsody in Lavender

    Fabric, paint and vintage touches

    14 x 3.5 x 2.5 in (35.56 x 8.89 x 6.35 cm)

    $875

  5. Things That Go Bump In The Night by Christine Shively Benjamin, Image 1.

    Christine Shively Benjamin

    Things That Go Bump In The Night

    Wool blended felt, fabric and mohair yarn

    16 x 4 x 2.5 in (40.64 x 10.16 x 6.35 cm)

    $700

  6. Under The Big Top by Christine Shively Benjamin, Image 1.

    Christine Shively Benjamin

    Under The Big Top

    Wool blended felt, fabric and mohair yarn

    14 x 4 x 2.5 in (35.56 x 10.16 x 6.35 cm)

    $700

  7. Harlequin White Rabbit by Connie Smith, Image 4.

    Connie Smith

    Harlequin White Rabbit

    Stoneware clay, wax, vintage fabric, glass beads, et. al.

    16.5 x 7 x 4 in (41.91 x 17.78 x 10.16 cm)

    $999

  8. Birdie by Shelley Thornton, Image 1.

    Shelley Thornton

    Birdie

    29 x 10 x 10 in (73.66 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm)

    NFS

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About the artist

Connie Smith

I’ve been sculpting, drawing and sewing since childhood and have pursued art-making all my life. For more than 30 years I’ve explored the anthropomorphic genre of figurative sculpture and was elected into NIADA Artist membership in 1996. At the heart of my daily practice is an abiding sense of sustainability—a commitment to using natural, archival materials. My dolls are constructed like antique china dolls, with heads, hands and feet or shoes directly sculpted from high-fire porcelain or stoneware clay, pigmented with high-fire ceramic stains, then fired in a kiln and finally sealed in pure beeswax. (I have lately been exploring a similar process using air-drying clays painted with watercolors and sealed in beeswax.) They are then sewn onto an armatured or articulated cloth body. The costume is usually integrated into the doll’s body design.

Vintage fabrics and linens beyond restoration are the mainstay of my fabric stash and costuming impulses. Every component of a piece informs my process, and often a nuance of personality will arise out of the fabric remnant itself or from a button, buckle or bit of lace—my subtler way of doting on both the planet and the palpably silent past of such storied objects.

A decade lived in New York City (2007-2017) provided opportunities to explore the processes of fine art printmaking and curation, as well as stop-motion animation, and further stoked an internal drive towards creating my own impossibly impractical and esoteric short films and long books. My work is in private collections all over the world; I’ve exhibited across the United States and was a featured artist at Doll Prague in 2019. For the last year, I have been developing Course Content for the new NIADA Academy and discovering a love of teaching that I hadn’t known was in me!

academy.niada.org
doters369@gmail.com
doters.etsy.com
Image of artist

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