CDU Honors the Legacy of Master Doll Artist Floyd Bell
CDU honored the extraordinary work of Master Doll Artist Floyd Bell. The event highlighted dolls from his “American Heritage Collection” and other historical figures, including President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Crispus Attucks, George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass, Ella Fitzgerald, and more.
With a career spanning over four decades, Mr. Bell has garnered numerous accolades locally, nationally, and internationally.
“My dolls tell a story. A story of a great people; a people in the Diaspora from the Motherland – Africa,” said Bell. “Through my dolls, I tell the story of a people torn from their homeland and enslaved in foreign lands. I try to capture in the faces of my dolls their pain and suffering and the dignity and resolve of the people who endured.”
Bell’s journey began in 1976 as an Industrial Arts/Woodshop teacher at Westchester High School in Los Angeles. Over a 33-year teaching career, he inspired countless students before retiring in 2009.
His devotion to doll making was notably recognized when former First Lady Hillary Clinton commissioned one of his handmade wooden dolls to be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House during Christmas 1999. His Harriet Tubman doll was later featured in the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.
In 2011, Mr. Bell’s dolls, including Sojourner Truth and Praline Lady, were honored in the permanent collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Mr. Bell’s original sculptures are hand-carved from wood or molded from clay, often using Black Walnut, Alderwood, Basswood, or Mahogany. He meticulously crafts hand-sewn clothing, costumes, and accessories for each doll, ensuring historical accuracy through extensive research.