Kit Cropper Studios

Art- the modification of things by human skill to answer the purpose intended.*

Whimsy - an odd fancy, an idle notion, a whim.*

Whim ---- a sudden turn or start of the mind, a capricious notion.*

*All definitions from Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Second edition, 1979

For many years I was stopped short and often rendered mute by the simple question, "what is it you do"? After several stammered and incoherent attempts at explanation, the questioner usually walked away scratching his head, and I usually walked away wondering to myself, just what is it that I do?? Now I simply answer - "I make things". I suppose sometimes that I modify things "to answer the purpose intended", but that is for others to judge for themselves, not me. I know that often when I sit at my work table, I have no idea what the "purpose intended" is, let alone what the "answer" is or will be. That is the wonder and the joy of it!

I have been making "things" for most of my life. My mother, Elsie Taylor Stocking, stimulated my interest in crafts of many kinds from the time I was very small. She taught me to sew and encouraged me to make other things with my hands - all kinds of things using many different materials. I think that established the pattern early for me to use and experiment with a wide variety of materials (before I ever heard of the term "mixed media") and to always want to be doing something new and different. I get restless repeating techniques and am always on the lookout for the next thing to learn.

Most important of all, my mother passed on to me her joyful, childlike spirit and imagination. She was always singing to me and my sister, and while she sang she acted out the song with hand and head gestures and facial expressions that made us laugh. We called them silly songs. She also read to us a lot, fairy tales and nursery rhymes like Mother Goose. Looking back now, I think it helped in the development of my imagination and in how I see the world. In fact, I think that it helped in the inspiration for yet another world, a mythical world that I have created in concert with Warren over the course of many years - a world which forms the backdrop to and provides a home for, all that I make. We call it Nonesuch.

We are a wife/husband team that have worked together for many years. Kit is the artist- she designs, builds, sculpts and paints. I do things like write the "about us" page, photograph her work, scribble stories about the pieces and maintain the website. Kit is a mixed media artist who works with Cernit, paperclay, hydrostone, found objects, resin, wood, gatorboard, paper, metal, styrofoam, wire and acrylic paint. She draws inspiration for her themes from her own life interests such as gardening, sewing, quilting and painting as well as from fairy tales, nursery rhymes and literature.

Kit began her work in the world of scale miniatures sculpting a whimsical variety of people, dressed animal figures, and collectible cottages. She was regularly featured in mainstream miniature publications, and was very well known for her Cernit figural sculpture. Kit made the jump into the wider world of collectibiles in the 1990's when she sculpted a line of commemorative bears for the Knickerboker Company. She introduced her own line of Limited Edition collectible cottages and figures at the 1997 International Collectibles Exposition in Long Beach, Ca. This was followed by the release of her popular Housemother Collection at the 2000 International Collectibles Exposition in Chicago. The Housemothers are a whimsical line of charming creatures that are part animal and part cottage. Her work was featured on the cover of Figurines and Collectibles magazine and write-ups in other collectible publications. In recent years, Kit has focused on designing custom display pieces for her own work as well as for other lines of collectible figurines. She has lately embarked on yet another path - creating one of a kind pieces of art from mixed media that she likes to call the art of whimsy.