Out of Wire, Fabric and Forest: Olive Cardwell’s Wildway Plantation Dolls

by Melissa Vandiver, Lynchburg Museum System

Olive Cardwell was a local folk artist known for her wire armature dolls depicting plantation life. Born in 1897 as the youngest of 11 children, Cardwell spent the first nine years of her life on her father’s Appomattox plantation, named Wildway. After this, the family relocated to a Bedford farm on a rural road that would later become Mimosa Drive in the Boonsboro area of Lynchburg. Cardwell lived the rest of her 93 years in that home, but she never forgot her experiences on the plantation and recreated them in her artwork.

Olive Cardwell with her armature figurines.

Cardwell opened a doll hospital and shop on Mimosa Drive and made a name for herself in the folk art world in Virginia; she named the shop Blanche Gibbs Dolls. Cardwell discovered a passion for doll making when she decided to recreate for her grandchildren a ragdoll, named Blanche Gibbs, which her father loved as a child. After taking a course in the making and repair of dolls, Cardwell began making her cast of characters based on her recollections of life at Wildway. Cardwell used the wire armature method of doll making, and each has a wire base covered in fabric and natural materials like sticks, walnuts, cones, pods, lichen, acorns, driftwood, etc. Cardwell was active in the folk art world, and belonged to the Virginia Handicrafts, Inc. group based in Lynchburg and had her doll shop advertised in national directories. She was also featured in several local news articles throughout her career, especially when she published her booklet, “Life at Wildway,” in 1968. Cardwell also gave presentations about her Wildway dolls to the Lynchburg Historical Society, showcased her dolls in the Lynchburg Public Library, and exhibited at the Smithsonian in the Cooperative Crafts Exhibition in October 1968.

Apple Peeling Time

The Wildway dolls Cardwell created cover a large cast of characters and activities that were interesting to her as a child. Some of these characters include blacksmiths, banjo players, checker players, and people walking or reading. Also common are scenes of plantation activities such as wheat threshing, feeding or processing animals, and scenes related to her father’s country store on the property. A selection of Cardwell’s Wildway Plantation Dolls are currently on display in the LMS--be sure to stop by and see them!