Dolls, it turns out, aren’t just for kids. From ancient Egyptian burial figurines all the way to fluorescent Troll Dolls and today’s ubiquitous fantastic, plastic Barbies, miniature figurines have endured for millenia. This October, Terri Regh’s Midtown art gallery and store, Art of Toys (1126 18th St., Sacramento), is celebrating this long-lasting tradition with a month-long exhibition of the world’s most talented doll artists, including Gwen Akacin’s Blythe dolls, with their oversized heads and bulging eyes, and Marilyn Radzat’s fanciful, hand-sculpted pieces, which incorporate antique treasures and found objects like a page from a 19th-century French journal. In other words, you won’t find any Barbies here. And for those who want to harken back to the halcyon days of childhood and reminisce, the exhibition will also host a variety of vintage dolls from Yolanda Bello and the award-winning Wendy Lawton of the Lawton Doll Company. Art dolls like these—some of which cost thousands of dollars—can take months to finish, and some are made entirely from scratch with diverse materials like fabric, clay, wood, synthetic hair and felt. The Art of Toys, which also sells other art toys like puppets and dragons, is open from 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
**This write-up first appeared in print on page 10 of issue #303 (Oct. 23 – Nov. 6, 2019)**
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