Christy Lou Sexton is an American artist whose body of work is known as Dolls and Dead Things. She is based in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
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Doll design
Largely this work consists of dolls made by combining pre-manufactured fashion doll parts with hand sculpted heads and occasional other features. All of the costumes and accessories are made by hand without the use of sewing machines or patterns. The dolls are inspired by historical villains, story characters and old legends. There are also entirely handmade rag dolls and hand sculpted figurines sometimes produced by Sexton within the Dolls and Dead Things brand.
Controversy
Dolls and Dead Things gained wide notice when some of the dolls were made with pieces of real human bone, taken from old, disregarded teaching skeletons. This revealed that within certain stipulations it is not illegal to own and use human bones for artistic purposes in the US, the main point of using bone, says Sexton, was to start a discussion about our own mortality and to examine beliefs about the state of being dead.
Exhibitions
The dolls have been exhibited in a variety of places including the annual Altered Barbie exhibit and several magazines in the horror genre.