Mary Holstad with her cat Harry. Harry has his own following of fans who enjoy seeing his various poses and antics with Mary's mohair creations offered on eBay.
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The Wonderful World of Mary Holstad and Friends™
Sharon Damkaer
MARY HOLSTAD HAS been winning friends and admirers for her distinctive mohair animal artwork since 1982. Her trademark Mary Holstad & Friends™ was established when she began creating one-of-a-kind (OOAK) and limited edition teddy bears with dog and cat pets. Each of her teddies (usually girls) is made to show a loving relationship to the pet she is holding, but the pet becomes the focal point of the ensemble. In addition to creating the animals, Mary also designs any clothing they wear.
Maltese Tiffany 2 - Number 2 of a Limited Edition of 15 or less - 12" long, 11" tall.
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Mary entered and won many prestigious awards over the years, but she has not entered her artist animals in any contests since the year 2000. In recent years, Mary has been making fewer and usually more expensive animals and spending more time on each one.
Mary Holstad was born in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and spent her childhood drawing paper dolls and sewing doll clothes. As time went by, Mary tried many art forms and crafts until she discovered that making three-dimensional figures brought her the greatest pleasure. After buying a book on how to make teddy bears, she began designing and making bears.
Cairn Terrier Boo 2 - Number 2 in a Limited Edition of 3 or less, 16" tall.
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In 1984 her love of cats worked its way into her love for making bears when she combined a teddy bear with a cat. Her first set was titled Katie's New Kitten, and its immediate success brought Mary special recognition among bear artists.
Mary's business had become so successful by 1991, her husband Mark left his job as a computer programmer for the Boeing Company to help Mary. Mark handles the "business end" of the business and miscellaneous jobs associated with that.
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy Belle - One-of-a-kind, 15.5" long, 14.5" tall
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In the beginning, he also assisted with the nonsewing parts of the animal production. However, now that Mary has more time to spend on each animal, only she is involved in the design and production of the animals.
Since 2002, Mary Holstad & Friends™ has been selling OOAK and limited-edition teddy bears and dog and cat mohair figures on the Internet auction site eBay.
Pomeranian Buffy - Number 1 in a Limited Edition of 3 or less, 13.5" long (not counting tail), 12" tall (to top of head.
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Her dog figures have realistic anatomical features thanks to Mary's use of her large collection of reference materials. The posable armatured legs and jointed heads combined with the animal's mohair coat, hand-embroidered waxed nose, foot pads, and premium glass eyes make her dogs life-like. Her offerings on eBay are unique in that each has a special locket containing a photo of the animal with Mary and signed by Mary.
As of this writing (April 2006), Mary's canine creations for eBay have included the following breeds of dogs: Norfolk Terrier, Golden Retriever, West Highland White Terrier (Westie), Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkie), Cairn Terrier, American Cocker Spaniel, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Springer Spaniel, Poodle, Shetland Sheepdog (Sheltie), Maltese, Pomeranian, Havanese, Bichon Frise, Papillon, Beagle, Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier, and some mixed breeds.
Norfolk Terrier Corky 2 - Number 2 in a Limited Edition of 3, 14" long, 14" tall.
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The models are mostly puppies, though Mary has also offered "full grown" Yorkies.
This writer is the proud owner of Mary's wonderful OOAK buff Cocker Spaniel puppy Taffy that was auctioned on eBay in March 2004. After 22 years of serious Cocker collecting, I had thought my days of buying special artist-made Cocker items was behind me until I saw Taffy in the beautifully posed photographs Mary and Mark created for the auction pages. An added inducement was Taffy's resemblance to our Cocker, Polly, when she was a puppy. Mary has also produced limited-edition posable Cocker Spaniel figures. On the following pages, linked below, is a recent interview with Mary Holstad along with a gallery of images of Mary's creations. The pictures in the gallery are larger than featured in this article and allow the reader to fully appreciate Mary's beautiful work and talent.
For more information on this artist and her products, see Mary Holstad's Internet website: http://www.maryholstad.com/.
This article has been updated from an earlier version that appeared in the October 2004 issue of Canine Collectables Courier published by Jan Irving of Berwick, Australia (http://www.erinrac.com/).
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