I am an artist residing in Edmonton Alberta, Treaty 6 territory. I make hand sewn felt dolls, stitched together meticulously using embroidery thread. I aim to honour craft-making and folk art by keeping my handiwork visible, stitching around the outside of the dolls using contrasting thread colours. I feel compelled to follow the path of women artists who disregarded the narrow perceptions of fibre arts and crafts and brought these historically underappreciated mediums into the fine art world. I’m interested in exploring how humans have always had the impulse to create miniature human forms to be held, carried, and revered and I’m inspired by paleolithic “Venus” figurines as much as antique Raggedy Anns. That it was often women who carried this tradition forward through centuries is even more compelling. The dolls I create are both familiar and numinous, evoking a sense of comfort, adoration and mystery. By creating objects that exist in a dichotomous space between human and animal, earthly and dreamy, I hope to thrust viewers into a state of wonder, curiosity, and playfulness.

contact: oliviaforsyth5@gmail.com

instagram: olivia_forsyth