Forgive the cross-posting. Couldn't resist....
Let me set this straight: no matter what my chronological age is for real, inside, I still feel like I am about 23. Outside? Don't go there. But inside? Groovy....
When I really WAS 23 I was living in Buffalo, New York. My husband and I were puppeteers performing shows and I was also making cloth dolls/soft sculptures full time in addition to that. I sold those dolls at juried craft shows like the 100 American Craftsmen show at Kenan Center in Lockport, NY, and the ACC Craft Fair in Rhinebeck, NY. I also did some gallery shows around the country. We were young and the decade of the 70's was still pretty innocent, even after having survived the sixties.
For the record, all this "Greening" stuff was already going on back then, with organic food, and the idea of eating local produce in season, and no chemicals, and so on, and so forth. Ask me, I was there. I ate whole grains bought in food coops, and I made really disgusting vegetarian dishes like "Sweet and Sour Soyballs." My husband STILL, to this date, will complain about being subjected to that dish. And I cannot tell you how many times I insisted that I could make brownies and cookies with organic honey instead of refined sugar (answer: I couldn't). So we all were on the Green bandwagon more than thirty years ago. It just didn't have a catchy name, and it just wasn't quite so "trendy." And I say this to the stars that I heard went on Oprah and said, "use only two squares of toilet paper" : WIPE THIS.
But I digress. I meant to talk about making dolls. I made quite a number of hand made, one of a kind figures. Where are they now? In various collections, here and there. Many of them went to who-knows-where since they were purchased at craft galleries and sold to people I never met.
But here is what happens when you make art for more than 30 years: people unload stuff, and sooner or later your work shows up on ebay as a "collectible." Here is the listing for one of my creations . It's "Harry , The Used Car Salesman." I made this doll in 1976, even before I was an illustrator.
The estate auction seller contacted me to get more info. I suggested she hold off until my book, Tex and Sugar, was published. She did and even got a book signed. She is selling the book with the doll.
I can't begin to tell you how many "vintage" collectibles I have bought on ebay over the years. Tons! And to think--now I "IS" one!
Man, those years flew by....
