Joy in the Palm of My Hand

Joy is a one-of-a-kind art doll by Sharon E. Tucker.

After seeing Joy's adorable face as the doll advertising a Dollmaking Party event posted on Facebook by the artist who made her, I thought "how precious!"  The event is a cloth dollmaking workshop, which takes place on May 6, 2017, in Philadelphia.  I knew it would be impossible for me to attend, but that did not prevent my adoration of Joy.

Later that day or within the same week, the artist, Sharon E. Tucker, posted Joy for sale along with several other 8-inch-in-the-seated-position Tub-It Dolls, some of which were already marked sold.  I considered inquiring about Joy, but the price was not indicated, so I did not bother to ask.  An update to that post a day or so later revealed the price after someone else inquired.  The price was reasonable, so I named and claimed Joy as mine.


She arrived quickly.  It was at that time I discovered her head is permanently positioned slightly to her right, which gives her an inquisitive demeanor.  Something has happened or she has heard something she is not quite sure about.  She wants to know more.

Joy has a light brown upholstery-type fabric face, onto which most of  her features are hand drawn.  Two tiny black beads serve as eyes. A cowrie shell headband frames her forehead, and she has a beauty mark on her lower left cheek. 

The artist added her signature and included the year made on the back of Joy's right arm.

Her arms, as shown here and immediately above, are made of the same fabric as her face. Her legs and feet are sewn of pink fabric. A ribbon with cowrie shell is tied around her left ankle.  Her sewn-on clothing consists of two pieces of multicolored floral material, the bottom portion of which is pellet weighted.

Joy's hair is made from tan, white, and brown yarn.  A section of the top is pulled up into a top-knot with a PVC-coated wire clip.  Take a closer look a the back of her hair below:

Too cute!

Joy wears a necklace of three wooden blocks that spell out J-O-Y in any direction the blocks are turned.

She is made to sit, but...

...with the assistance of a doll stand, Joy can stand, too!  In the standing position, she is 14 inches tall.

The artist drew this sketch on the back of a handwritten thank you note that accompanied Joy.

This is my second doll by Sharon E. Tucker.  My first one, that I named Sandy in honor of Sandra Bland, was purchased in 2015 and can be seen here.

dbg
Follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black
Check out my eBay listings here.

2001 Dolls of Color Calendar and Sharon E. Tucker Original Doll

In 2003, I became aware of Sharon Tucker's Dolls of Color 2001 "New Beginnings" calendar  (shown above) which features a pair of her Raggedy Butt kids on the front cover.  It was in 2003 that Janice Larsen-Tyre became a member of my former Yahoo doll discussion group.  In her introduction post, Janice shared that her doll, Jimmy, is the January doll featured in this calendar.  Even though the calendar had been published for the year 2001, I wanted to include it with my black-doll memorabilia.  Janice made that happen for me.

Back cover of 2001 Dolls of Color "New Beginnings" calendar

The back cover of the calendar contains images of the variety of soft-sculptured and mixed media art dolls featured for the 12 months of 2001.  With the exception of the January doll and artist, the other images do not include the artists' names.  My calendar is still shrink wrapped; therefore I am unable to identify the artists of all dolls or know whether each artist provided a quote as Larsen-Tyre did.  Base on individual styles, however, I am able to recognize some of the featured artists.

January - As indicated, Janice Larsen-Tyre's doll, Jimmy is the January doll with a quote from the artist which reads:  Like a sunrise on the ocean, one of God's many gifts to us, I thank him for the inspiration & Talent to create Jimmy. The other artists that I recognize are as follows:

February - Anne Myatt
March - Paula Whaley (sister of the late-James Baldwin)
April - Unknown artist
May - Patricia Coleman-Cobb
June - Contains four doll images; one is by Rose Chapman.  The next doll appears to be one of Sharon Tucker's dolls.  Two dolls are in a single image by an unknown artist and one additional doll by an unknown artist follows.
July and August - Unknown artists
September - Doris McGillan
October Tonia Mitchell-Floyd (possibly)
November - Unknown artist
December - Kor January

For years I had wanted to own one of Sharon Tucker's dolls but, until recently, never took the steps to make that happen.  She and I have been Facebook friends for quite some time, but it was just recently that I saw images of her newly created art dolls in posts by her on her timeline as well as in two Facebook groups where we share membership.  After viewing the photos of several, I chose the one that pulled at my heartstrings the most.  I have named her Sandy.

Original art doll by Sharon Tucker

Sandy is 18-inches tall, hand painted with sculpted features.  She has black yarn hair styled in three braids hidden underneath her funky hat which matches her Bohemian chic-style clothing.  She has painted fingernails and toenails and wears platform sandals.  This one-of-a-kind doll was completely handmade by the artist.

After Sandy arrived, I was as pleased with her as I had been based on her online images.  I took several photos of my own which are shared below.

This close-up image shows Sandy's wooden necklace of beads and spool.  She has permanently attached gold tone earrings and a beauty mark below the corner of her mouth.

The trim around the soles of her sandals matches the trim at the hem of her pants.

Yarn was used to create her three fat plaits which are held together at the ends with fabric that matches the top of her hat.  The same fabric was used for the bands and soles of her sandals.  Sandy's original jacket matched the yellow fleece of her top and pants, but after a few messages back and forth between artist and collector, Sharon changed the coat to the tan and brown jacket. That change met with my approval and, in my opinion, bumped up her Bohemian look a notch or two.

Sandy's asymmetrical top can be seen better with the coat removed.

The flip side of her hand-signed tag contains the artist's contact information including email which is sharontucker3@hotmail.com.  Tucker can also be reach through her Etsy shop.

Contact her if you are interested in adding a one-of-a-kind original art doll to your doll family.  Better yet, she is hosting a Doll Making Party on August 22, 2015 where attendees can construct their own doll using materials provided in the prepaid party package.  If you reside in the Philadelphia, PA area, this might interest you.  For more information contact Sharon for specifics.


dbg