“I have always loved dolls, seen them as friends. A tree’s broken branches cannot come back, but I plan to make a doll friend that will be created from a tree friend. I deeply appreciate the trust of Kogawa House in giving me a way to help remember friendships that live on after heartbreak and loss.”

― Kjerstin Mackie

Artist Profile: Kjerstin Mackie

Kjerstin Mackie, Wood Artist
Retired textile conservator at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, Kjerstin Mackie makes the most amazing wooden dolls. Most often these dolls are inspired by Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, a children’s novel by Rachel Field that won the 1930 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children’s literature, told from the point of view of a tiny six-and-a-half-inch doll named Hitty (short for Mehitabel). Hitty was carved from wood in the 1820s and travelled around the world, through many different owners, and she has many tales to tell.
Hitty’s story has been reimagined and retold over the years by other writers, including Rosemary Wells, Susan Jeffers, and Jody Provost. The story is also well loved by dollmakers, whose wood creations all must be six-and-a-half inches tall and no taller!

When Kjerstin Mackie heard that cherry wood for carving new dolls might be available from the downed branch of the Kogawa cherry tree, she emailed right away. Kjerstin remembered reading Joy Kogawa’s Naomi’s Tree and thought that maybe this book could also inspire new tiny wooden dolls.

In Joy Kogawa’s children’s picture book Naomi’s Tree, “Naomi played with her dolls and had tea parties in the shade of the tree.” In Obasan, Naomi longs for her dolls after evacuation and, when she realizes that the doll she left behind on the train is not coming back, she learns a sad and wrenching lesson about loss and acceptance.

“I have always loved dolls, seen them as friends. A tree’s broken branches cannot come back, but I plan to make a doll friend that will be created from a tree friend,” Kjerstin said. “I deeply appreciate the trust of Kogawa House in giving me a way to help remember friendships that live on after heartbreak and loss.”

Find more of Kjerstin’s work at https://quimperhitty.com.

Click on the Gallery to see some of Kjerstin’s work.
Quimper Hitty Wood Dolls by Kjerstin Mackie
Quimper Hitty Wood Dolls by Kjerstin Mackie
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