A Steampunk Tale of the Curious Canine, His Best Friend and the Lady Who Flew: Paper Dolls and Storybook
Charlotte Whatley was born in the Appalachia area of western Pennsylvania in 1950. There she shared a passion for paper dolls with her three older sisters. When times were hard, and ten cents could not be found for a precious book of movie starlets, the sisters created their own cities of paper dolls complete with sets, props and folio carrying cases. In 1958, young Charlotte met George Reeves, star of TV's Superman, and was given an autographed photo of him wearing the Superman costume. Charlotte promptly took it home, cut it out and drew it a Clark Kent costume.Charlotte now has a Master's degree in fashion design and historic costume from Colorado State University. She is a noted artist of wearable art, a certified leathersmith, historic costume consultant and art instructor. Her reputation as a fine artist and designer is proven by her works in international shows and collections such as the Texas Tech Museum Southwest Collection, the Bernina Fashion Designer Diamond Odyssey Runway Show, and earned first place for the Steam Punk Division of Costume Con 2009, an annual convention dedicated to the art and craft of costumes.Her accomplishments as a paper doll artist include a wide variety of self-published pieces, several commercially published books, and numerous trade journals. Her paper dolls have been acquired by the Bethnal Green Toy Collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and highly sought after by discriminating collectors around the world.Charlotte achieves astonishing realism in her work because of her keen understanding of anatomy and textiles and her unique approach to obtaining a likeness: "It's not just about making marks on a paper," she says. "It's not even about making the right mark. It s about making each mark tell the story, sing the song or dance the dance of the zeitgeist so that the finished piece transcends accurate recordings by capturing a deeper life essence of the subject. A good drawing is really a love affair with the paper."Other Paper Studio Press paper dolls by Charlotte include'50s Fads and Fashions, '60s Fashion Revolution, Reigning Cats & DogsandWestern Star Style. She also creates paper dolls for Dover Publications. Charlotte presently lives with her husband in rural Southern Iowa, where every sunset is a palette of inspiration.