ALISON DEZOTELLE

"I will be showing original work and sketches involved in illustrating the book 'Lullaby for Birds,' which Sarah Willey, a local woman of many talents wrote and published this fall. I will be bringing copies to sell. I spent the summer working on it. The book came out just before the holidays. This is the first time I have actually illustrated an entire book. My moods during that period ranged from serious doubt about my ability to do it, to elation when a picture worked out better than I thought it would! I would love to do it again and have plans to create another book in the next couple of years-- this time, with my daughter's father-- an original story he wrote."

ALISON DEZOTELLE

Alison Dezotelle can be found picking up rocks, seed casings, lichen and twisted sticks on her walks in the woods and along streams and rivers in and around Northern Vermont.
Recently inspired by the depth and layers of history in her trip to East Germany this year, she has decided that elves and trolls may indeed exist, and has created faces of polymer clay embedded and emerging from the twisted pieces of trees and roots which she has amassed in her cramped, windowless basement studio. 'I have studied the work of northern European doll makers and am inspired by their unique approach to features and dress,' said Dezotelle between mouthfuls of salted peanuts and chocolate fudge.
Another facet of her work is the cloth dolls she has spent the year working on. Dezotelle has collected fine fabrics from various small fabric stores in Vermont, Connecticut, and Leipzig, Germany (she thinks nothing of accosting women in airports when she sees something made in a fabric she covets). In making the dolls, she tears apart fine linens and silks, creating a contrasting dress of fine material on a simply designed doll. These creations are inspired by doll makers from France and England, and by couturiers worldwide. The dolls continue to evolve as her collection grows.

ALISON DEZOTELLE

Alison Dezotelle, as a young girl growing up in southwestern Connecticut, spent her time in fields behind her house pretending she was a lost princess from a Grimm's fairy tale. Since then, she has pursued a life of drawing, illustrating, painting, and most recently making polymer and cloth art dolls. The human figure has always been prominent in her art, be it life drawing, clothing a person or sculpting a face and hands. Combining a love of fabric with a love of drawing, as well as a warped sense of humor, Alison has come up with doll designs that continue to evolve as new ideas emerge.