Nancy Wiley

Nancy Wiley, graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and American doll artist, has always considered her figurative dolls and sculptures as three-dimensional canvases to provide the medium for her classical and romantic themes, inspired by the Masters and imbued with her own remarkable creative spirit. Her work has been shown internationally in galleries and museums, and has been featured in many publications, including the New York Times, In Style and the Harvard Law Review. Her work appeared on the cover of GEORGE magazine in 1996 when Demi Moore and John F. Kennedy Jr. hired her to dress and style Demi Moore to mimic one of Nancy's own one of a kind doll creations. The actress was outfitted by Wiley in a life size Panniere doll dress, with skirt drawn back like curtains to reveal a stage complete with a George Washington marionette. In 2004 the Muscatine Art Center in Iowa featured her work retrospectively.  Reverie Press published A Dollmaker's Art: The Creations of Nancy Wiley, by Louise Fecher, which is a full color book with Nancy's biography and over 100 images of Nancy's fabulous work.

Nancy attributes much of her own talent and development as a doll artist to her brother, William Arthur Wiley, who was himself an established doll sculptor, but who tragically passed away in 1991. She has collaborated since William's passing with her mother and husband,   The range of doll medium for her talent includes one of a kinds modeled from paper clay or porcelain to Chavant (an oil based clay used by the auto industry), reflecting her painterly technique. She incorporates fabrics, feathers, beads . . . you name it! . . . to create what are undeniably works of art.