Nambour’s Molly Galpin is a self taught artist who started her creative journey back in the 90s, after completing a lead lighting course.

“I have always been inspired by recycling and nature, and lead lighting opened my world to creativity,” said Molly. “I renovated several old houses and windows with colour, mosaics, unique lampshades and mirrors, and that was the start of my love affair with art and colour”.

“In 2018 I started to paint with acrylics, a big change from soldering, however I mainly paint reverse on glass, and I dare to be different,” Molly said. “I love to create whimsical and unique pieces”.

Molly’s art  journey has evolved as she has found new ways to express her ideas.

“Last year I hand stitched 4 dolls which were representations of my grandchildren,” said Molly. “It was the beginning of my new passion to make portraiture dolls. They were sewn up on my trusty Elna sewing machine that I bought when I was 17!

“Since moving to the Sunshine Coast, I have made a great many connections, and dear friends amongst the artistic community, and I decided to make ‘the artist the subject’. I approached  a couple of local artists and am so thrilled that they were happy to participate”.

Molly’s dolls are made with a  “soft face“ of fabric which has hand stitched features, enhanced with acrylic paint. The clothing is matched to the artist’s personality.

“Others dolls are ‘hard face’ and are made from air dry clay, paper mache,or recycled lawn bowls,” Molly explained. “Their bodies are often recycled pottery vases, boxes, bottles, teapots, fabric and glue.

Molly has made over 70 dolls and each original doll takes on an uncanny resemblance to the artist. At the recent Immanuel Lutheran College’s annual Arts Festival, Molly’s representation of Ketakii- Jewson-Brown, was awarded Best Sculpture. And this month, Molly will be exhibiting her work at the Pomona Railway Station Gallery.

“It has been a playful and happy experience creating these dolls and the exhibition will be fun to see. The featured artist dolls will have their details posted to Instagram and Facebook so guests and visitors can ‘look them up’ to see the fantastic diverse art they do”.

The exhibition will run from June 3 to June 29 at the Pomona Railway Gallery at 10 Station Street, Pomona.