Ranging from 5 inches to life-sized figures of over 5 feet tall, these realistic sculptures are made with nylon by sculptor Lisa Lichtenfels. “Working with fabric has been a liberating experience because it is intimate, responsive, and informing, and it allows me to pursue my primary interest, which is the nature of personality and character, and the study of the face as a medium of primary communication, ” states Lichtenfels.

Notes about the artist (from bio):

Lisa Lichtenfels studied traditional oil painting at an early age, attended the Governor’s School while a teenager and continued her education at the Philadelphia College of Art. There she met Judy Jampell, who was becoming well known for her three dimensional soft-sculpted facades. Inspired, Lisa was going to be an illustrator until the prospect of independent animation and filmmaking fascinated her. Graduating with majors in Illustration and Film, she was immediately hired by the Disney Studios as an apprentice animator.

While working at Disney she developed three-dimensional figurines with posable skeletons for stop-motion animation. Like Judy Jampell’s constructions, they had nylon stocking skins. Lisa left Disney to explore the potential of these techniques, expecting to return to animation in a year or so; but it has now been over twenty-five years, and she is still working in nylon and feels she has only barely begun to realize what is possible in the medium.