I first met Alice when I was about 5 years old. My grandfather had a 16mm movie projector with reels and reels of cartoons, shorts and old movies like Abbott and Costello or Woody Woodpecker. One reel that we asked to watch over and over again was Alice in Wonderland. It was pre-Disney, black and white, with live characters and stiff-moving marionnettes.
I don't really know what the fascination was with the story except that Alice escaped her reality and dreamed a far more exciting one. And we fell down the rabbit hole with her.
In the book, Foolsgold, by Susan Wooldridge, she made reference to an Alice quote that made some sense to me about why I make dolls. Whether I am thinking about the design, making a rough sketch, creating the pattern or finishing the piece, I am 'stepping through the looking glass'.
It is at that time that I am in my own wonderland.
"Through the Looking Glass"- detail of sides and top
Mad Hatter
Artist's Statement
