Dolls have existed since the beginning of humankind, and in all corners of the globe, serving as companions and playthings but also as containers of ancient wisdom, healing and transformational powers. Contemporary dolls can have the same power as ancient dolls, to hold multiple layers of meaning, and serve as mirrors to our deepest truest selves.

Artist, writer and healer, Erika Cleveland was trained as an art therapist and worked clinically for many years with adults and children to provide release, learning and guidance through art. Her current focus, in her dolls and in her doll-making workshops, is on the ways in which changes, big and small, cataclysmic and celebratory, force us to grow and reinvent ourselves.

Erika will show her dolls and describe the process of making her needle felted and soft sculpture dolls. She will discuss the ways in which she finds her inspiration in her personal life and in a wide variety of mythological and spiritual themes. She will address the theme in her work of shedding the skin of an outworn life and how this provides the chance for renewal, replenishment and the spaciousness for new growth.

WHERE:  Morrison House, 116 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 / Phone: 703-838-8000

WHEN:  Tuesday, January 6, 2015, 6-8 pm