An Artist in Wonderland
After a life on the move, Nancy Wiley settles in for her latest whimsical creation.
Nancy E. McCarthy
Living – November 9, 2009 - 2:15pmWhen Nancy Wiley and family relocated to Canandaigua in 2007, she was on an impromptu sabbatical from making art. After her second child was born, Wiley had taken a break. A health issue extended it. Packing to move to Canandaigua prolonged it and, before she knew it, two years had whizzed by.
So Wiley’s new neighbors didn’t realize that, in certain circles, she was a Big Name. Wiley is considered one of the country’s premiere doll artists—a term that usually conjures wrong impressions. These are art dolls, not toy dolls, for display not play. Her work is exhibited in museums and galleries and is sold privately to collectors.
Wiley’s dolls are inspired by fairy tales, mythology and fine arts and are painstakingly rendered and painted. Some are fashioned from paper, clay or porcelain; others are made from wire frame and padding with sculpted limbs. Costumes, hair, hats and accessories must be carefully glued in place. A lot of steps, layers and time go into creating a single doll. Wiley creates a full range: Her dolls sell from $30 to upwards of $10,000, and her fans include Hollywood stars such as Demi Moore, who even arranged for Wiley to dress her as one of her dolls for a magazine cover shoot.
That’s glamorous, résumé-building stuff, but it hardly defines her. Wiley’s motivations run much deeper.
Wiley, 45, was one of four children. Because her father worked for the State Department, the family moved 22 times during her childhood. Relocating from Florida to Germany—with its vaunted toy and doll-making tradition and fairy-tale-like castles at every turn—was especially formative, Wiley says.
“At Christmastime, the Christkindl Marts are magical,” she explains. The medieval town squares “are all lit up with white lights. Booths sell beautifully made toys, tree decorations, woodcarvings and handcrafted items of the highest quality.”
That approach stayed with her: “It gave me the sense that dolls and toys were not ‘cute’ and ‘frivolous’ but were works that craftspeople could take great pride in and would appeal to adults as well as children.”
Yet it was her older brother, Bill, who first created art dolls as a profession. Nancy preferred drawing and painting, setting her sights on becoming a children’s book illustrator. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design then moved to New York City in 1987, where she met her future husband, Robert O’Brien.
Everything changed in 1989, when her brother was diagnosed with AIDS. Wiley helped to care for him, and when he regained some strength, he started working again and encouraged Nancy to make art dolls, too. So she started, with his guidance, seeing the figures as three-dimensional canvases.
Her fine art background set her apart. Nancy used oil paints instead of china paints, and she painted eyes instead of using traditional glass ones. Details such as these helped make her style distinctive.
It was a poignant time, helping her brother and also moving in a new direction as an artist. When Nancy and Rob married in 1991, Bill rallied long enough to be at the wedding. But he died soon after. Wiley lost not only a brother but a mentor, teacher and best friend.
And it was happening on the cusp of a boom time for art dolls. The vibrant economy of the 1990s helped fuel an interest in collecting. During her debut at the 1990 American International Toy Fair in New York City, Wiley sold nine of her fairy-tale-inspired Storybox Dolls. A few years later, her dolls were featured in “The Art of the Contemporary Doll” exhibit at the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City and were being sold in galleries in New York City and elsewhere.
One of those was CFM Gallery in Manhattan, owned by Neil Zukerman, who says, “There is a depth of understanding of the human condition and spirit that Nancy conjures up, whether it is a whimsical subject or a beast from the dark side. There is always an underlying story to be told.”
By the mid-1990s, Wiley had a celebrity following—Anne Rice, Demi Moore, Andy Garcia and Ray Liotta among them. Moore especially liked the Pannier series, featuring a costumed 18th-century woman in wide-hooped pannier skirt. In 1996, Moore took one from the series to John F. Kennedy Jr. as inspiration for a cover of George magazine, the political-celebrity publication he founded. Wiley was hired to dress Moore as the doll for the photo shoot.
“I had a week to prepare,” she recalls. “Sleep just wasn’t an option.” To this day, people remember the cover’s provocative mix of pop culture, art and politics.
Doll collecting was hot, and Wiley says she knew she “was riding a wave as it was happening.” But when the economy began to turn, and then after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, collecting slowed. Wiley also was starting a family: a son, Henry, and later a daughter, Elizabeth.
That’s when she and her husband discovered Canandaigua—while visiting relatives in Fairport—and were taken with the beauty of the architecture, the tree-lined streets and the lake. “When we found out the local schools were very good, we made a life decision to make the move here,” Wiley says.
Her hiatus was in full swing upon her arrival, but she soon found a flourishing artistic community here. Eventually, Wiley opened a gallery of her own on Main Street in Canandaigua, alongside kindred spirits. Pat Rini Rohrer, of the Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery on Main Street, says: “Nancy rounds us out. Our arts community all benefits from her presence here.”
Wiley’s latest project is a fusion of several longtime interests: doll-making, children’s illustration and her favorite children’s story. Her recent release of a new Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland book features the beloved text by Lewis Carroll paired with eye-catching photographs of character art dolls posed in vibrant, painted backdrops.
When asked why she was reluctant to define herself as a doll artist to her new neighbors, Wiley responds, “I say I ‘make dolls’ rather than I am a ‘doll artist’ because, to me, it sounds pretentious. I do consider my work an art form, but not everyone does. So I leave it up to individuals to interpret what I do.”
Nancy and her family have settled easily into their new community. She says, “To me, Canandaigua is actually the anti-Wonderland—not at all chaotic or confusing like the world that Alice experiences. It is an inspiring and peaceful place for my family and me.”
The wandering artist seems to have found a home for now.
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