Barbara Piano is a self-taught doll maker who has been teaching and selling her work for the past 15 years. Her work is available in local galleries. She is developing patterns for some of her original dolls. Art Doll Quarterly has published her dolls.

Artist's Statement

My work as a fiber artist has roots in my Irish heritage. My Aunt Jane's stories of "the little people" made them real. My dolls represent these elves, fairies and leprechauns. I use fabric for their skin that is green or has a woodsy print. I love making pointed ears and great noses. In honor of my mother they most often have red hair. My belief in selkies will always keep me connected to the sea as I continue to live in the Colorado
mountains.

Autobiography

I, Barbara Piano (nee Fell), was born in 1939, and I spent most of my life in New Jersey. I am a self-taught seamstress and artist. My formal education resulted in a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Education. After graduation, I taught for many years in elementary schools. During these years I also raised a family where my children received many birthday and holiday gifts of handmade clothes and toys. I also sold cloth toys through a local consignment shop while the family was living in Pennsylvania. As my children grew and life was filled with duties of parenting my doll-making rested in the back of my mind.

In 1989, my daughter, Ann, sent me a book, Mother Plays with Dolls by elinor peace bailey. There is a modular doll pattern included in this book and I made several interpretations of this doll: Checkered Doll With a Past, Susannah Sunburn and a self-portrait doll with wild purple hair. The dolls were back! I bought patterns and books and made dolls to increase my skill as a doll maker. I taught doll making in the summer enrichment programs at my school in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. During this period, I began  experimenting with dolls of my own design. It was during this time that I resigned my teaching position and moved to Colorado.

In Boulder, where I now reside, I continue to make original cloth dolls. The dolls are most often made of printed fabric bodies with hand painted faces and hair of various fibers. They have human features and are made to represent the world of fairies and elves - I love to sew their little hands.

I am currently involved in submitting work to various competitions. I enjoy the process of inventing a piece using pre-selected fabrics; e.g. the annual Hoffman Fabric Challenge. These competitions also allow my work to be seen by a wide audience in other parts of the United States. My lifelong fascination with fabrics has come into its own through this medium of doll-making.