Baltimore, Maryland
February-March 2023
Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Museum
Compiled and Written: Camila Bryce-Laporte
Cover Art: Francine Haskins
Graphic Design: Kibibi Ajanku
"Dolls and puppets, as artistic creations, always transcend the materials they are made of to become more than objects."
Kibibi Ajanku, Judy Boldon-Bain, Diana Baird-N’Diaye, Camila
Bryce-Laporte, Schroeder Cherry, Julee Dickerson-Thompson, Francine Haskins, Jeri Hubbard, Sehar Peerzada, Imani Russell, Cynthia Sands, Paula Whaley
Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Museum
Baltimore, Maryland
February-March 2023
"The Village of African American Doll Artists" represents a collection of creative works that are defined by spirit and supported by legacy and history. No mere words can describe the appreciation of the artists, their time, talent, vision, and stick-to-itiveness as they have pushed the boundaries of image making.
Curatorial Team: Kibibi Ajanku, Camila Bryce-Laporte, Julee DickersonThompson, Francine Haskins
Catalog (compiled and written): Camila Bryce-Laporte
Additionally, "The Village of African American Doll Artists" received the generous and ongoing support of Henry Morris, Jr.
Lastly, the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Museum sits on historic land. The very pier it is built on was the location where Isaac Myers, an African American entrepreneur, owned a boat repair business that employed Frederick Douglass, an enslaved man, before he courageously manumitted himself. Thank you to the Living Classrooms Foundation for the opportunity to embody such a beautiful gallery overlooking the Baltimore Harbor, a place with so much historical difficulty and significance.
"The Village of African American Doll Artists" is an art exhibition that takes an intriguing look at images through the lens of identity. The show is stellar. The curators and image makers are a grouping of renowned African American doll and puppet artists who are unparalleled among their peers. They are living legacy. They are seasoned culture keepers. Their work includes dolls and puppets made of fabric, wood, papier-mâché, ceramic, air-dried clay, found items, and so, so much more.
Several of the artists got their start as textile creatives, while others began working in other art forms before being drawn to the making of dolls and/or puppets.
The utilization of dolls as objects dates back to the oldest civilizations. All peoples of the earth have used doll making to see themselves and grow, as well as to encourage a pathway for connectivity. In the same vein, dolls actually are varied and expressive replicas of ourselves, and thus an important vehicle for identity. The objects in "The Village of African American Doll Artists" are identity pieces that portray the human experience through the use of imagination and cultural awareness. The dolls look like their makers, as well as the communities that they have grown from, exist within, and lean towards. The artistry shows value, attitude, and ethnicity in a most positive and natural way.
Additionally, use of dolls as a lens for identity, can present an interesting study of culture, history, legacy, and social life. "The Village of African American Doll Artists" is definitely an expression of ethnicity... and quite assuredly a play date that frolics between past, present, and future. The exhibition artists love to share culture, folklore, and folkways, with a hearty dash of history, through the creation of one of a kind iconic original works of art. In addition to enriching a sense of identity, the exhibition conveys ideas, customs, and lifestyles with a particular, and consistent, nod to a robust and royal ethnicity.
"The Village of African American Doll Artists" is an exhibition situated in a nonnarrative environment. In this way visitors are encouraged to investigate, contemplate, and engage with the artwork as intimate objects linked to identity, while considering form, symbol, and meaning… or maybe just enjoy the aesthetic beauty in the collection of work within art gallery ambiance… or fold into the artistry, focusing on each doll as an analysis of social life. No matter the choice, an uplifting experience is a promise.
In closing, our dolls are our mirrors. Through our dolls, we see ourselves clearly as we break down the many taboos that are stacked unfavorably against us. We are artists who use our work to speak volumes. We are fighters in an ongoing effort to bring more beauty, justice, and balance to the global landscape.
Kibibi Ajanku, MFA Artist and Curator"The Village of African American Doll Artists" is an exhibition created by seasoned African American doll, puppet, and fiber artists. Their artworks chronicle historical eras, depict folk legends, religious deities, and people in our communities, and articulate our hope for the future.
These artists came of age in African descended communities during the height of the civil rights movement. They were raised with a strong sense of familial, social, and cultural considerations. These artists are storytellers who chronicle the history and culture of their communities using needle and thread, paint and brushes, hammer and nails, wire and clay, and more. For many of the artists both the subject matter and the materials used have significance. The subject matter and materials are approached purposefully and have a spiritual life that calls to the past, the present, and the future.
For the majority, their artistic gifts were identified and supported by family and community during their formative years. For others, their gifts as figurative and fiber artists would emerge in their later years in response to overwhelming life altering events. These artists recognize their work as healing and transformative for themselves and the communities they represent.
Camila Bryce-Laporte Artist and Folklorist
Kibibi Ajanku makes and presents ethnically charged art. Her passion embodies the thrust of the African Diaspora. Kibibi’s creativity is the ongoing and ever evolving effort of her life journey. Her work is eclectic and innovative. It is ancient while at the same time new-world and always changing. Ajanku’s muscle as a visual artist spans from contemporary fine art to village inspired craft, and the performance. Her artistry is layered with… and entrenched in… indigenous folkways. Her work embodies research, identity, and the gathering of elements of African retention, in hopes of evoking intuitive memories that reach back into ancestral histories and stories that impact the here and the now.
Kibibi Ajanku’s passion for art began early. She was nurtured by “grandma’s hands” as she sat at the knees of a quilt making maternal grandmother and soon followed on the heels of fashion forward seamstress aunties. This fueled an artistic journey as an exploration and execution of an indigenous aesthetic. Ajanku is empowered by international training and workshops: adire fabric design in Osogbo, Nigeria; tapestries in Theis, Senegal; adinkra fabric printing and kente weaving in Kumasi, Ghana; mud cloth acquisitions from the Mali railway; embroidery work in Medina, Senegal; and Orisha attire in Havana, Cuba. Ajanku has traveled the African diaspora to study, teach, and perform with many masters, and each trip has included fabric and fibers. Ajanku believes that when presented properly, art is the perfect vehicle to move forward into greater intercultural awareness for the global community.
Spirit Work (2018)
Ibeji (2022)
Black Lives Matter (2023)
Born 1938 in Trinidad, Ms. Boldon-Bain attended Tranquility Girls’ School. Upon graduation, she entered Port of Spain General Hospital’s School of Nursing, where she became a registered nurse. Subsequently, she attended Canada’s McGill University, where she received her degree in occupational therapy. One of the rehabilitation processes she studied was basketry. In 1983 Ms. Boldon-Bain relocated to St. Croix. There her involvement in basketry moved from a therapeutic to an artistic phase. In 1990 Ms. Boldon-Bain created her first Caribbean cultural doll, the “Quandrille Dancer”. The doll was woven from rattan reeds. Next came “The Market Woman”, “The Bele Dancer”, and “The Moko Jumbie”. In order to fulfill her desire for true Christmas Caribbean ornaments, Ms. Boldon-Bain created small woven ornaments, which were sold in gift shops and street fairs along with story cards that explained the design. In 2014 Ms. Boldon-Bain returned to Trinidad, where her dolls were nthusiastically received. As she did in St. Croix, Ms. Boldon-Bain taught ocal villagers her method of weaving. Within two years she added “The Jah Molassie”, “The Midnight Robber”, “The John Bull”, “The Baby Doll”, “The Burroqueet”, “The Dame Lorraine”, “The Moko Jumbie”, and “The Long Nose Sailor”, all characters of Trinidad”s Traditional Mas or Ole Time Carnival. Caribbean Cultural Dolls now has three production lines: Ole Time Masking in Carnival, Caribbean Dances, and Cultural Characters. Ms. Boldon-Bain is now researching these characters and their connections to her African ancestors: to their beliefs, and their resistance and rebellion against slavery.
Dr. Diana Baird N’Diaye is a multi-disciplinary artist, scholar, and cultural activist whose work interrogates the connections between textiles, personal adornment, history and identity across global Africa. As Senior Curator and Cultural Heritage Specialist at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, N’Diaye directs three Smithsonian living cultural heritage Initiatives: the American American Craft Initiative, the Crafts of African Fashion, and the Will to Adorn: African American Style and the Aesthetics of Identity. The latter is the subject of an upcoming book. Her awards include the Smithsonian Secretary’s Research Prize for the 2016 co-authored book, Curatorial Conversations: Reflections on the Folklife Festival.
Dr. N’Diane’s artwork is represented in the collection of the Michigan State University Museum, in several private collections, and in a recent exhibition at Toledo Arts Museum entitled The Radical Tradition: American Quilts and Social Change. She was recently a featured artist with the American Craft Council’s Critical Craft Forum, Series Two. In 2022, N’Diaye was cited as a crafts visionary by the American Crafts Council. She is a Fellow of the American Folklore Society, a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Craft. Dr. N’Diaye maintains an active studio/design practice as a member of Prince Georges County’s Gateway/Brentwood studio and is an alumna of Red Dirt Studio.
Black Girl with White Doll/Black Girl with Black Doll: Restorative Identity (2022)
Camila Bryce-Laporte is a folklife specialist and community scholar. Her academic work at Sarah Lawrence College and the George Washington University focused on the arts and the humanities. For over four decades Bryce-Laporte has utilized her visionary creativity to develop programming for a stellar list of cultural institutions, to include, Children’s Television International, The Children’s Television Network, CBS, Inc., the Smithsonian Institution, The Library of Congress, and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.
Ten years ago, Camila Bryce-Laporte focused her lens on the visual arts as a jewelry maker and doll artist. Her dolls are inspired by Black and Brown heroines who have made major contributions to the cultural landscape of the Americas. Her research is not only focused on historic figures but also the cultural and spiritual nature of the doll making tradition.
This immersion in these mediums continues to be physically and spiritually restorative. Camila's use of material is an art form of its own, intertwining history, culture, and spirituality. This is legacy work dating back more than a century and handed down by family members. The skills incorporated in these art forms both sustained and entertained. It is through this work that Camila Bryce-Laporte has found her voice and her calling.
Yemonja, Ocean Mother (2021)
Grandma Justice (2022)
Mattie Lowe, Farmer (2017)
A native of Washington, D.C., Dr. Cherry is an award-winning, Baltimore-based artist and puppeteer. He played with puppets as a kid, and later in college tried puppetry to see how he would respond to his childhood interest. He apprenticed to a puppet artist in Chicago while in college, then joined a troupe before setting out on his own. He earned a bachelor’s degree in painting and puppetry from The University of Michigan; a Master’s degree in museum education from the George Washington University; and a doctorate in museum education from Columbia University. Dr. Cherry has performed original shows with puppets in museums, libraries, and cultural centers for adults and children across the U.S. His performances include "Can You Spell Harlem?”, The Land of Primary Color”, “Underground Railroad, Not A Subway”, “Tuskegee Airmen”, “ How The Sun Came To The Sky”, and The Civil Rights Children’s Crusade”. Dr. Cherry is the museum curator at James E. Lewis Museum of Art (JELMA), Morgan State University
DarkAnne Lovely (2022)
Cheff (2022)
Rodney (2022)
My mother, Ann Stewart Dickerson, and I embarked on a mission to put a little spice in everyone ’ s life BROWN SPICES was born on October 2, 1979. The dolls & dudes were inspired by my 1st child/daughter. “Family Reunions” followed with homespun entertainment. Roland Freeman commissioned doll quilts (c. 1985). Here he combined our stories and the traditional quilting of Southern craftswomen. Meanwhile spin-offs such as griots, coloring book, cut- outs, newsletters, cards, and classes followed. Before long, the classes lead to a program, The Young Masters, which still exists today. The Brown Spices workshops continue to teach the art to young dollmakers.
The BROWN SPICES dolls and other related soft sculpture works have been exhibited in places such as The Smithsonian’s Anacostia Museum, The Banneker-Douglas Museum, The Jazz Museum, Jazzonia, and Sun Galleries among many other places. The Quilts are featured in Freeman’s book, “A Communion With The Spirits” . They have traveled internationally with his collection.
Today, there are new stories yet to be told. Stickdolls, Frannidolls, and Who-Do’s are waiting to be born. Brown Spice dolls (& dudes!) were promised a last reunion. I got the call now I must respond!
Super Kid Shauna (2022)
Francine Haskins was born 1947 in Washington, DC. She is a mixedmedia artist, fiber artist, doll maker, quilter, author/illustrator, teacher and storyteller. Francine graduated from the Corcoran School of Art (Advertising Design) and trained at Catholic University in oil painting and the Smithsonian Associate Program in fabric design.
Ms. Haskins began her art career at The New Thing Art and Architecture Center as a graphic artist. Later she shifted to a retail career at Garfinkel’s Department Store (in the Buying Office) that laid down the foundation for her becoming an “independent” artist. She quickly became outstanding in artists’ trade shows from the Black memorabilia and doll shows, to the great Black Arts Festival in Atlanta Georgia, and the Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival. Her work was not only distinctive and original but her professional flavor from the retail sector set her apart from all other fine arts craftspeople. Ms. Haskins has exhibited widely in museums and galleries across the United States and has been part of numerous panels on folk art and folklore. She is one the founding members of the legendary 1800 Belmont Arts (Arts collective). Ms. Haskins is renowned for her quilts, soft sculpture dolls, note cards, and wearable art but it is her children’s books, “I Remember 121” and “Things I like about Grandma”, that have brought her the broadest amount of fame— allowing her work to delight children and adults alike. Currently she continues to explore and evolve creatively. Her work is featured in the Museum Shop at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Dolls and soft sculpture are representation of the human form. People think of dolls are made for kids, but they are not. They can be made from anything. Slaves used to make dolls from anything-rocks, sticks.
So people thought they were insignificant, but they were wrong. Those dolls meant something”.
Fabricated Couple (2014-2016)
The Bluebird (2022)
Tuti-Fruiti (2020)
Jeri Hubbard has been making dolls for several decades. She worked the Black doll circuit in the 1980s and 1990s, where she forged relationships with other artists and collectors who understood the importance of her work and encouraged her professional development. Designer Anthony Haskins introduced her to Butterick Publishing Co. that published her doll patterns. Doll artist and close friend, Francine Haskins, encouraged Jeri to move away from the machine and sew her art dolls by hand. Francine’s advice changes both Jeri’s execution and relationship with the art form.
Each of Jeri’s dolls is a work of art. They are well-crafted with small fine stitching and meticulous details. As an educator, her dolls are inspired by historical figures, significant events, or her personal journey. Jeri’s signature doll collections include “Black Women Development,” which celebrates the achievement of women like Josephine Baker, Harriet Tubman, and Toni Morrison; and “Black Lives Matter,” a collection initially inspired by the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trevon Martin.
Jeri has also supported ambitious ventures in the Black doll community. In the 1980s, she was among the first artists to participate in the William Grant Still Center’s Black Doll Show. This show, inspired by Kenneth and Mamie Clark ‘ s Black doll test, was created to uplift the self-esteem of Black children. “I want Black children to be knowledgeable about their history. I want Black children to accept themselves as Black people.”
Big Mama (2010)
Black Lives Matter (2022)
Ms. Peerzada creates “Urban Masala”, wearable art clothing, home goods, and dolls. Born in Washington DC, Ms. Peerzada works from her home studios in Baltimore, MD and Lahore, Pakistan. An alumnus of Howard University and the Rhode Island School of Design, Ms, Peerzada studied Eastern design concepts and cuts, along with the ancient art of hand block printing in Pakistan. She collaborates with Pakistani artisans to create her signature block designs which are incorporated in her own hybrid clothing and fabric. Ms. Peerzada was recently a presenter in the American Folklife Society Conference in Baltimore (2019) and was selected to participate as a designer with The Baltimore Natural Dye Initiative and Maryland Institute College of Art presenting in 2020. Ms. Peerzada is a member of the African American Craft Initiative.
Ms. Peerzada’s clothing line has been carried in stores such as Nordstrom, Densua’s African Treasures, in Macy’s, Toast and Strawberries, Zawadi in D.C., The Reginald Lewis Museum, Maja, and Sankofa in Baltimore, and many other venues. As a costumer Ms. Peerzada worked with Rafi Peer Theater Workshop, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Sweet Honey In The Rock, The In Series Opera, The New York Fringe, The San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company, and others.
Ms. Peerzada has been featured in several newspapers and magazines including The Washington Post, the Washington Times, The Afro American News, The Virginia Pilot, Pakistani Glamour, Dubai Times, Black Elegance, Upscale, Ebony, the book Threads of Time: The Fabric of History, and more.
Rakiyah (2022)
Bahia (2022)
In the early nineties, after the unexpected death of a dear friend, Imani Russell gathered materials found in her home and created her first cloth doll. Her novel and cathartic experience and affinity for the Gullah culture of the Southeastern U.S. inspired the creation of Indigo’s Friends Studio. Ms. Russell credits her mother and grandmother for their creative influences. She quotes, “childhood remembrances of summer visits to the homeland of my parents in the rural south and a fascination with my Gullah muse, Indigo, are the underpinning inspirations for my art creations. Barefoot on red dirt, blanketed cotton fields, ancestral history, and social issues influence my ideas of Beautiful Blackness. I compose sculptural figures, wall art, and utilitarian wares with reclaimed fabrics and found objects. Most of her supplies are sourced from flea markets and antique shops. Mindful of a no-waste approach, she uses the materials on hand. Intuitive resourcefulness and earth-friendly applications keep with her maternal ancestral practices and are nuanced in Indigo’s world. Repetitive layering and mending with hand stitches strengthen and transform the cloth, merging the past with the present, manifesting a thing of curiosity and beauty.”
Gullah Princess-On My Way To Mali (2022)
Messenger (2022)
In 1976, Cynthia Sands moved to Zaire changing her life forever, thus beginning a 26-year odyssey of living in Africa. Years of exposure to the day-to-day cultural, social, political, and economic realities of life in Zaire, Uganda, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana and Guyana led her to study the signs and symbols on textiles as a visual history of indigenous African people. She calls textiles the indigenous newspaper – a visual record and organic methodology that preserves traditional art forms.
Ms. Sands’ art career includes creation of new dye and color applications, utilizing and experimenting with original methods and materials in Africa. She has also launched and conducted training, apprenticeship and income generating activities in Benin, Cameroon, and Ghana and Guyana, among other countries, to investigate uses of indigenous artistic applications for social development, income generation, skills transfer, and art education.
Ms. Sands has exhibited her works of art, lectured, and given demonstrations throughout Africa and the U.S. Today, she lives in Washington D. C., where she continues to paint, manufacture textiles, research, and document indigenous uses of textiles in African life to preserve a visual record of traditional art forms. Today Ms. Sands works with Ghanaian textile artist helping with their product design and quality issues.
A'Kuaba Doll (2020)
Spirit Doll (2013)
Paula Whaley began her professional career in the fashion industry. After graduating from New York’s Fashion Industries High School, she continued her education at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Cadres Couture in Paris France. Early in her career she worked with notable fashion icons like Zelda Wynn Valdes, Lois Alexander, and Carl Graham. She served as coordinator for Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited. Eventually she opening her own boutique, called ”The Pant Shop” on 125th and Lexington Avenue. Paula became a figurative artist in 1987 after the death of her beloved brother, author, and activist James Baldwin. One day a friend, concerned with the depth of her grief, gave her what proved to be life-changing advice: “You are in deep trouble. If you want to live, put your hands in some clay.” Taking this advice to heart, Paula poured her grief and trauma into clay, resulting in work that is gripping and soulful.
Paula’s work reflects her training as a fashion artist. She creates elegant, elongated dolls draped in layers of billowing gauze, paper, and natural fibers. These ethereal figures, captured in meditation, mirror Paula’s delicate bone structure and expressive eyes. Through their subtle poses and gestures, Paula’s figures elevate the human form and convey a broad array of human experiences joy, sorrow, strength, fortitude, peace, and spiritual resolution. Her work is well respected throughout the country. Her honors include serving as Artist in residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Paula Whaley writes, “My work has always been concerned with the act of making art as a source of healing. With figurative expressions as my primary focus, art has also allowed me to connect with others who respond to this theme. So, many aspects of the human experience find their way into my work.
I am captivated by the ephemeral nature of life, the role of gesture and the subtle combination of elements. The underlying spirit within, makes each figure an expression of deep personal reflection.”
Aunt Sadie (2022)
Mrs. Mitchell The Healer (2022)
The Recovery (2022)
