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| Anne Freels -- Wingshuck Corn Shuck Dolls |
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I fell in love with corn shuck dolls in 1975, when I learned how to make one in an Appalachian Studies class during my senior year of High School in Oak Ridge, TN. I have been making the dolls ever since that day. In addition, as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to the beauty of other natural materials, and this led me to a pursuit of another passion: natural skin care.
My soaps, creams and other aromatherapy products sprang from my desire to care for my skin with natural materials, and with the exception of a few classes and workshops in both arenas, I am mostly self-taught.
Call it fate, call it destiny, call it grace; I call it my saving grace. Because as a teenager, I was restless, bored, trapped in High School, and had no real plans for the future until I enrolled in an alternative education school for my senior year and chose Appalachian Studies as my history requirement. It was here that I was introduced to the traditional art of corn shuck dolls, and it was like "picking up an electric wire" for me (as my friend Hugh Bailey, the potter and watercolorist put it when he discovered his muse). The connection was powerful for me, and not just because I had found an art form that I was crazy about, but because it linked me to my paternal heritage that I grew up and around in, and allowed me to accept and appreciate the Appalachian American in myself. I became a student of the culture instead of a whiner about it. Proud instead of ashamed.
I have been making dolls out of corn shucks (husks, to some) since 1975, and challenge anyone who claims that you can't learn anything of value in high school...who knew 31 years ago that I would be happy making corn shuck dolls for a living now? Certainly not me. I kept at it, joined a craft co-op, set up at small festivals and fairs, attended Arrowmont School of Crafts (a cornshuckery workshop taught by Lila Marshall), got a "real" job working for a government contractor and worked my way through college, where I earned a BS in Communications. I became a member of the SHCG in 1989 but continued to work my full-time job until 1997 when I decided to leave that world and become a full-time craft artist.
I now make my living by creating and selling my corn shuck doll creations and handmade soaps and creams.
You are invited to browse through my site and discover the joy of keeping this Appalachian art alive. |
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| photo by Gary Heatherly |
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| Corn Husk Kitchen Witch |
| Made of hand-dyed natural corn shucks, she is riding a broom and her multi-colored skirt is swooping up behind it. Made of hand-dyed husks, wool for the hair, and a wisteria branch for the broom. Comes with a filament line for hanging. |
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