Fabric Sculptures

Tea & Fantasy at Three Sisters Sanctuary

Berkshire artist Sally Jane Howe grew up in Conway, New Hampshire on a farm with an outhouse and cold water. She has been making cloth dolls for as long as she can remember, first for herself, then for her five children, then the grandchildren and now for the child in each of us. During the 70’s and 80’s she decorated many a store window in Pittsfield and Lenox, from Either Or bookstore to Patrick’s Pub and Glad Rags.

Her Work is inspired by the world of Faeries and by the illustrations in the antique children’s books she collects such as Lewis Carrol, Brian Froud and Arthur Rackham. A nature lover and avid gardener, Sally Jane resides in an old country house surrounded by beds of herbs and flowers. Many of these, when dried and combined with other natural and found objects, trim and decorate her work. Every Sally Jane sculpture is one of a kind and is signed and dated by the artist.

Sally Jane works with various fabrics and found objects to create soft sculptures, many with armatures so they can be posed. Her earliest works included a little mouse family. The characters are not toys and not for small children since they have parts too small and easily removed. More like collectibles. Some people have several.