lynne hodgman

Lynne Hodgman is new to the Doll Project this year. She jumped right in by asking me for items that would be particularly relevant to the child who made the doll in the first place. Her interest in the written word lead me to gather some letters I had received from the children at the orphanage. She happily left my house with the doll, some tie-dyed fabric the kids had made and those letters. I was thrilled to see what she had come up with when she delivered the finished doll a few weeks later.

Lynne wrote this about her work:

“I have to make things. Every day. A meal, a knitted garment, a painting. I am compelled to transform materials. To change things. To make one thing into another!

I learned to sew soon after I learned to write. For me, stitching and writing arise from the same mysterious source. I use stitches and invented language symbols as parallel abstract forms.

I use a variety of materials. I often explore without a specific destination or configuration in mind. The process is primary; the result is evidence of the particular materials being transformed by the chosen processes.

My work thus tells stories of its own composition: marks on paper, knitting, sewing, weaving, tying, knotting, folding, molding, shaping, layering, attaching, cutting, puncturing, altering and amending. This activity is universal and cross-cultural. It comes to me unbidden; you give it meaning with your looking.”



And she wrote this about her lovely and thought-provoking doll:

“My doll’s name is Frieda Gloria. She is grounded in gratitude. She wears a skirt made of slices of letters written by the students to their sponsor. Her shirt is made of fabric tie dyed by the children. I crocheted her socks and gloves and market basket. She stands in a ceramic pot I made many years ago; it was waiting for Frieda to appear. The ‘grass’ in the pot is also made of the students’ letters, as is the grass around it. The basket is also overflowing with pieces of letters. The letters were heart‐felt and individual; now they are also universal.

I designed a matching adult jacket to be simple and one‐size‐fits‐all. It will be for sale the night of the event.”