The Story of Susan Fosnot
by Ann M. Leis
"As a choice of materials, cloth is
closer than anything else to the
real essence of a doll."
usan Fosnot is one of the most
exciting contemporary cloth doll
makers of this century and UFDC is
proud to present Susan as the souvenir doll artist
for its sixty-sixth annual convention, "A Dream
Come True" in 2015. Susan has been making dolls
almost her entire life but over the past twenty years
has perfected a painting technique that rivals those
of the great cloth doll makers of the early twentieth
century. Susan carefully designs and crafts each of
her one-of-kind dolls and elaborately hand paints
their faces. Her trompe l'oeil painting style gives
a unique quality of richness and depth. The three
dimensional illusion is so captivating, the dolls'
faces seem to come alive and will simply take your
breath away. This unpretentious artist says she
spends a lot of time thinking about the dolls she
makes which is evident in the details of her work.
Susan's dolls are visually exciting yet simple in
rag doll form. They seem to parallel the artist who
creates them as Susan says she enjoys her simple
quiet life style.
Susan grew up in a culture of making things.
She was exposed at an early age to different ideas
about how things could be made. Her father was
a printer and ran an offset lithography press and
her mother worked for a time as a graphic artist.
"When other little kids were working on coloring
books, I was using a magnifying glass to take apart
Adela is a classic nineteenth century style doll.
She has wide sloped shoulders, long curls and a
classic dress made from antique sprigged cotton
with cartridge pleats and embroidery. Her coral
beads are created with paint. She is 13 inches tall.
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WINTER 2015
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Winter 2015