Biography: Myra Sherrod

Once a newspaper editor and reporter who created dolls as a hobby, Myra Sherrod has successfully transformed avocation into vocation. In the early 1990s, she left her “day job” and formed her own company, Born Yesterday Art Dolls Inc., and now devotes her time to the creation of dolls.

Fascinated by dolls early on, as a child Myra learned to sew by making clothes for her dolls. Creating the dolls themselves soon followed.

In adulthood, she was blessed with two daughters who shared her love for dolls. As a result, Myra sewed dolls for her little girls, replete with lavish wardrobes.

Eventually, she branched out to sell her cloth creations at local craft shows. Ever eager to expand her doll-making knowledge, Myra learned to cast porcelain reproductions. That progressed into her “trying her hand” at sculpting her own dolls, then making plaster molds of them. She also dabbled in the process of making felt molded-face dolls.

A new job in a new part of the country led Myra to a new way of making dolls. Attending a doll show one day, she met an exhibitor who sculpted dolls from polymer clay. Fascinated, Myra tracked down this new “wonder medium,” tried it out and never looked back.

At that time, there were no instructions for its use other than the directions on the back of the box, so Myra learned to work with it through trial and error.

Although her choice of clays has since become more selective, Myra still creates her one-of-a-kind dolls in polymer clay – but she’s branched out to embrace the new paper clays, as well.

Today, the work of this award-winning artist is eagerly sought by many and can be found in galleries, museums and private collections worldwide.