(Cindee Moyer)

Embracing the World of Creative Fantasy
by Pam North

Prior to diving into doll making full-time, Iowa resident Cindee Moyer had a far different and diverse background. She was a human resources manager for a manufacturing company for 15 years. One of the things that she accomplished that she was most proud of was integrating refugees into her company’s workforce. At the time, the state of Iowa was processing refugees from Bosnia, Vietnam, and Sudan in large numbers. The company that employed her was expanding rapidly, so it faced an ongoing need for workers who could start immediately. Working with the Bureau of Refugee Services, Moyer initially was able to hire thirty refugees in the first month, and that was just the beginning.
As the non-English-speaking employee base grew, the company needed to do something to bridge the language barrier. Moyer contacted an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor in the area, and together they developed a job-specific ESL curriculum, which was offered on Saturday mornings as a 12-week program which included a class on the Citizenship Test. At the end of the program, the students were tested by both oral and written methods, and if they passed the tests, the company awarded them a $250 bonus. The program and Moyer’s efforts were written about in several magazines (Forbes, ESL, and HR). At the time, the program was a unique approach to integrating non-English speaking employees into the workforce. When Moyer left, the company had 850 employees, 360 of which came from 17 different countries. 
Moyer has always crafted, her shifting interests including basket weaving, quilting, woodworking, and  mural painting. “I always had an urge to create something,” she commented. “The medium didn’t matter.
A doll making workshop was the pivotal point that changed everything for her. “When I attended a doll making workshop with Akira Blount in 2003, I knew I had found my niche. Doll making encompasses so many different types of the crafts I had done over the years, and adds even more. The best thing she did was show us how she made the pattern, but then we had to make our own, as there was no pattern supplied. That was very freeing and enlightening. I had made dolls from other people’s patterns before, but I had never considered designing my own. We made two cloth dolls in that workshop. I came home and made more, pretty much the same doll over and over again, varying the fabrics and hair. Interestingly, the more I made, the more they evolved. I started making smaller dolls, getting braver as I worked, and I noticed my own style imprint in the newer pieces.”
At the suggestion of an online shop owner who had seen those pieces, she began making more doll patterns, and she started traveling to teach. She was enjoying both the process and progress in her craft, and also the teaching. She then took a workshop from Olga Roéhl on sculpting in paper clay. “My world changed that day. I loved it!” she exclaimed. “I began adding paper clay legs to cloth bodies; then I started sculpting full bodies in paper clay over a wire armature. Today, I work primarily in paper clay, but my patterns and tutorials for cloth dolls are still available on my Etsy site. I find a lot of inspiration in fashion. I love haute couture – both vintage and modern. Haute couture is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted, high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start to finish. Fabrics, paintings, sculpture, movies, even book covers have inspired me. I’m always looking at things with a doll in the back of my mind.”
She also was inspired to begin making African American dolls. “I was influenced in part by the beautiful Sudanese women I had hired, who have wonderfully hued skin and are so statuesque, and also by an amazing woman, Gracie Coleman, who hosted me to teach a workshop in Charlotte NC. Seeing so much African American artwork in her home made me realize that I had been missing something incredible. I began researching African American art, as well as fashion designers. I fell in love with the art of Olivia Pendergast, and the fashion design of Stella Jean, but there is so much more there that inspires me.”
For the past three years, Moyer has been the president of NIADA, an international organization established in 1963 to promote the art of the doll. Due to COVID-19, NIADA had to cancel in-person conferences for the the past two years, and the decision was made to create two virtual conferences. An online doll making academy also was added. Online presentations were new to all of them, and they faced a huge learning curve, but they succeeded. “We have been able to reach so many more people than before - more doll makers and past collectors – but also new collectors who had never heard of the art doll. I also created a monthly NIADA Artist Newsletter  as another outlet of creativity that I am really enjoying; it gives NIADA a voice in another medium.”
She was able to leave her job 2006 to focus primarily on dolls because she has a very supportive husband of 25 years, Mike, to whom she has been married to her husband for 25 years; together, they have five adult children and sixteen grandchildren. Five years ago, they added an upper floor to create a studio for Moyer, allowing her to have her own space, where she can leave her mess and walk away, which she claims is “an inspiration in itself.”
With all of her activities, Moyer’s doll making time has limits. "My brain never stops churning, though, with too many ideas to realistically bring to fruition!”  In 2021, she was a winner in the Dolls Awards of Excellence Industry’s Choice competition, in the OOAK Teen/Adult Dolls category. 
Moyer feels that doll collecting has changed. “We are in a minimalist cycle right now, but dolls are an interesting phenomenon. They can speak to someone who hadn’t planned to hear, and then you’ve found a new collector.”
Contact Information:
Name: Cindee Moyer 
Email: Cindee.moyer@gmail.com
Website: www.cmoyer.com   www.cmoyer.etsy.com
Address: 8249 NW Oakwood Dr. - Ankeny, IA 50023
Telephone: (515) 971-3008