Chicago polymer clay artist Dan Crowley loves characters. His favorites are his “Lady” characters which are loosely based on his aunts. Each face is made up of at least 18 pieces of clay.
Inspired by puppeteers like Jim Henson and Bill Baird, Dan began sculpting heads and finger puppets in 1992. His creations have grown in scale and complexity. His Christmas windows for Tiffany & CO won awards and his sculpted “Character Shoes” for Stuart Weitzman shoe stores have been a hit from Madison Avenue to Rodeo Drive.
I love the idea of sculpting heads onto small wood mannequins as Dan has done here with the Rolling Stones. There’s wonderful work on his site. Don’t miss his shoes, his puppets, and his characters. Some of his links aren’t working but it’s worth the wandering around.
Many thanks to another character expert, Maureen Carlson, for sending the link.
Kim Cavender ,
Dan’s work is wonderful and amazing. I love the Frankenstein shoe !
Lori G ,
The Stones are brilliant! The shoes are pretty flippin’ cool too. Thanks for the links. Inspiring as always.
Elizabeth Bonura ,
What a riot! I love his style – you can’t help but smile!
Thanks for sharing!!
William Spitler ,
Dan made those stones figures for me per my request. I still have them along with one of Bill Wyman and Brian Jones and his original working sketches of them