"The Art Doll is a work of art drawn from the mind and hand of the artist and not bound by the same rules as dolls in other categories. It doesn't not have to be recognizable as a human form. It may be dressed or not. If dressed, the clothes may be carved, sculpted, glued on etc. Any media is permissible and likely. The art doll is judged by the same criteria as any other form of art, i.e., by the principles of design, scale, proportion, contrast, dominance, rhythm, balance, and must be judged for what it IS, nothing else."             ~Jane Covington – One-of-a-Kind Dollmaker

There’s no hard and fast definition to be found for an art doll. They can be made out of almost any medium or mixed media. They come in various shapes, sizes, styles, and designs. They can be very realistic or very abstract or somewhere in between. They can be human, humanoid, anthropomorphic, alien, fantasy, sci-fi, or just about anything in between.

“What is an art doll?” is as loaded a question as “What is art?”

The two main defining points about art dolls that you will find consistently are:

1. An art doll is a work of art. The chosen form might be a doll but the piece is art and is intended to be treated and viewed as such.

2. Art dolls are not toys. Usually, an art doll is for display with little to no direct interaction but even art dolls designed to be interacted with (e.g., puppets, marionettes, jack-in-the-boxes, and automatons) are made for adult collectors and are not toys or usually even considered child friendly. Most people wouldn’t allow their children to play with a bronze sculpture or painting on the wall and art dolls fall into the same category.

3. Art doll are One-of-a-kind (OOAK) is a phrase that shows up a lot in the art doll realm. It denotes something very specific for doll artists. A OOAK art doll should be an original doll (made from start to finish by the individual artist; from conception through design, sculpting, and finishing the piece) that will not be reproduced again.

Just like other art forms can be expressed through multiple media, art dolls can, as well. Art dolls can be fully sculpted or partially sculpted from clay with soft bodies. They can be soft sculpture which involves very detailed sculpting of foam and fabric with a needle to make incredibly realistic features. They can be assemblage taking a combination of various materials and making a doll form out of them.

They can even be altered dolls, sculpted over, painted and turned into a wood nymph…to the point where you barely recognize her original form. But each of these media follows the same defining points of an art doll–they are works of art first and they are not toys to be played with by children.

Further breakdown can take place within each media. There are such a variety of clays to use, from high-fire to air-dry and epoxy clays. Some porcelain dolls fall into the art doll category because they are individually made by the artist, rather than being mass-produced from a mold. Polymer clay, air-dry clays, two-part epoxy clays like Apoxie Sculpt, paperclays and papier mache are all used for sculpting either full-sculpts or partial sculpts with cloth bodies.

Soft Sculpture includes using foam, batting, fabric and nylon to make highly detailed realistic figures. Like sculpting in clay, these figures are sculpted using a needle and without a cloth pattern. It also includes needlefelting which can make some amazingly life-like figures, as well. The key to recognizing soft sculpture is how well defined and how detailed the cloth sculpting is. A simple cloth doll with painted face, mitten hands, and rounded feet doesn’t fit into the soft sculpture definition, but a doll with a needle-sculpted face, individual fingers, and defined muscles is exactly what soft sculpture is about.

Assemblage dolls are much less traditional, cobbling together a variety of items from old doll parts to kitchen utensils to make a doll form that’s somewhat recognizable as such. Just about any item is game to be included in an assemblage doll. Their very nature makes them eco-friendly, upcycling and recycling items that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Human beings of all ages, circumstances, and cultures understand and respond to dolls/figurative sculptures as objects of personal meaning and artistry. 

Teachers such as Sandra Self, Barb Kobe, Patty Smith, and Maureen Carlson facilitate a process where dollmaking students learn to make personalized objects for self-expression, to mark occasions, to release or contain emotion, for play, power and performance. Each figure becomes a tangible reminder of what they have learned, a community-building experience, and a reminder of their own self-worth and humanness.

Sandra Self says, "The excitement of making a doll calls forth a spiritual connection as a never-before-made object is realized."

So what is an art doll? Essentially, it’s an original work of art the artist uses to express herself of himself. The reasons for creating art dolls are as varied as are the artists who imagine them into being, just as is true for all types of art, whatever the form and whatever the medium.

 
thank you to Eva Buchala  www.theladyartisan.com  and Maureen Carlson www.weefolk.com and Sandra Self for their contributions to this essay.