Akira Blount

Fashioning Figures in Cloth

Course Description
This workshop will present the necessary techniques for making cloth figures. We will cover needle-sculpting both faces and hands, as well as stuffing cloth forms. We will investigate many ways of articulating figures and will generate creative ideas for clothing and costumes. In addition, attention will be paid to incorporating different materials (like air-dried clay) in an aesthetically pleasing manner. One should be familiar with sewing machines and simple sewing techniques, but no advanced skills are necessary.

Artist's Biography
Akira Blount was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1945. She moved shortly afterwards to Madison, Wisconsin where she eventually graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1963 with a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education. She took those skills with her to Chicago, Illinois where in 1970 she started making sock and stocking dolls for her infant son. This activity struck a chord with Akira’s past and current love of fabrics and design: as a child, she had spent many hours with her grandmother who taught her to sew clothes for her dolls.

In 1977, Akira met her current husband and partner Larry Blount and in 1979, they moved to Bybee, Tennessee with her two children to start a new life ‘in the country’. In 1981, she joined Southern Highlands Craft Guild, and in 1989 she became a member of NIADA (National Institute of American Doll Artists). In 1994 she was nationally recognized by inclusion as one of 70 craft artists in the White House Collection of American Crafts. Since then, she has expanded her market to include commercial installations, international doll shows and a site on the world wide web. She has served on the board of several regional and national organizations and is the past president of the National Institute of American Doll Artists, an international organization dedicated to the art of the doll.

Since 1990, Akira and Larry have worked together full-time, and in the past few years their work has become more collaborative in nature.