Marla Niederer is a self-taught artist who has been designing and creating dolls for 22 years. She infuses her work with the inspiration and beauty that she finds in nature, dreams, animals, children, and other people. Marla has been heard making the statement, “I could no less stop creating art than I can stop breathing,” and has always been engaged in one art form or another. Marla has been focusing on needle-sculpted cloth dolls for the past several years but also has experience with several other mediums including paper clay, and polymer clay. The expressions that she captures on the faces of her dolls brings a warm, nurturing quality to her art. It is hard to view Marla's dolls without finding a smile upon your face. Her love of antiques is also often reflected in her art by the use of vintage fashions, fibers, lace, and beads.   

Marla has a Masters degree in Education and has worked in the public school system for 20 years. This experience adds to her workshops the skills of a seasoned teacher along with a sense of humour  Her work has been exhibited throughout New York State and has been seen in Doll Collector on several occasions. Always striving to learn new techniques and sharpen her skills, Marla has taken workshops from a variety of talented doll artists such as Peggy Wilson, Barbara Schoenoff, Kate Church, and Colleen Babcock. She is currently an active member of the All Dolled Up Cloth Doll Club in Ottawa and has presented several programs to the group utilizing techniques and patterns that she has designed and developed. 

You can keep up to date on Marla's most recent projects by viewing her blog