Highland Character Dolls by Sheena MacLeod This grouping of MacLeod dolls is, left to right: Scottish Fishwife; Crofter Making Creel; Skye Woman; East Ross Fishwife; Shetland Woman Knitting; West Highland Woman at her Spinning Wheel. By Loretta Nardone (all items from the author's collection) S heena MacLeod was known for her realistic dolls depicting the everyday people that inhabited the Highlands of Scotland. As a proud Scotswoman, she thought it was important to preserve the heritage and history of the people she grew up hearing stories about from her parents and grandparent. She recalled visiting with her parents at the only inhabited Blackhouse on the Island of Lewis in Breasclete in her brochure that accompanies her dolls. MacLeod remembers the simplicity of life of the country folk which she would incorporate in her dolls. The dolls would represent real people not the typical tartan kilt and bagpipe dolls that were sold throughout the United Kingdom for tourists. MacLeod attended art school in Aberdeen in the early 1960s. It was at this time that she decided to turn her talents to doll making. As a mother of three this decision to start a new career to earn a living was indeed courageous. She spent ten years researching Scottish heritage, studying old photographs, and learning to sculpt, 122 SPRING 2021