.BIOGRAPHY
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Jerri McCloud (Geraldine Gibson McCloud), creator of Dolls by Jerri, was born in Newton, N. J. She lived with her mother and father in Baltimore, Maryland, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Everything seemed wonderful for the little family until a devastating automobile accident left Jerri and her sister orphaned at the tender ages of 4 and 5. After being shuffled from family to family, the two girls, Jerri then nine, settled in Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. It was there that the sisters attended school.
After high school graduation, Jerri continued her formal education at Strayer Business College in Washington, D.C. It was in Washington where she met Jim McCloud.
Jerri and Jim married and have made North Carolina their home. They have two sons, Jimmy and Scott.
For many years Jerri enjoyed creating craft items, painting and anything pertaining to art. She attended all types of ceramic seminars, became a certified teacher, taught classes at her church and then at the urging of husband Jim, opened up a ceramic shop, Jerri's Ceramic Arts, Inc.
With the success of the ceramic shop, the specialty teaching classes, etc., Jerri became a distributor for a national porcelain company. It was through a very crowded seminar with that national company that Jerri rekindled her love for dolls. (At 12 years old she was the only kid around still playing with dolls). This was her first exposure to the art of creating porcelain dolls. Upon returning home from this seminar, Jerri continued to experiment and perfect the art of doll making. There was tremendous trial and error back then as there were no classes teaching the trade. Also, there was virtually no information and definitely no supply sources.
Once the talent and skill became perfected, Jerri taught doll making classes. At the same time, she continued developing her own technique in order to produce a doll unlike any on the current market. It had to be appealing, not like the harsh toned antique dolls of long ago. It had to have the soft, delicate colorization that is now Jerri's trademark.
Early on, Jerri sold some of her dolls to friends, friends of friends, and later on consignment to Doll and Toy Stores. Little did she or Jim realize what the future held for them in Doll Making!
Jerri was an active member of the Queen Charlotte Doll Club, a chapter of the United Federation of Doll Clubs. Through the years this continuously stimulated her love of dolls. The Club since then has disbanded but she remains a member-at-large of the United Federation of Doll Clubs.
From the beginning, husband Jim handled all the business responsibilities of Dolls by Jerri. As the business flourished, Jim decided to give up his job as executive vice-president of a cable manufacturing company and devote all his expertise as management specialist to Dolls by Jerri. Jerri was relieved as she did not enjoy that part of the business.
Jim acquired a License from Walt Disney for Dolls by Jerri to produce their characters in porcelain. The first was Cinderella and Prince Charming followed by the most successful Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. Mickey Mouse was the last Disney Character to be produced by Dolls by Jerri.
Jerri won the first ever DOTY award, "BEST MANUFACTURER'S DOLL ARTIST DOLL", with "Scottie". She has continued to win numerous awards. In 1984 Jerri created the first ever commercial doll that actually looked like a child rather than a doll. This doll was Emily, fresh from her bath with hair piled up on her head, a nightie and furry white slippers and, of course, her "blankie". Gary Ruddel, of DOLL READER MAGAZINE, stated "please make more dolls that touch the hearts of all who see them, as Emily does!" This set a trend in doll making that changed the entire industry!
Having been orphaned at a very young age, Jerri has always had a burning passion for adoption. Their second son, Scott, is adopted and Jerri always says how wonderful it is to know there is no difference between the love for a biological child and an adopted child. Her passion is so strong, she has created dolls for adoption and has written a book entitled "THE ADOPTED BABY DOLL".
Other interests consist of Politics and fishing (as long as someone else baits her hook). You can count on her hands to being the only clean ones around when fishing! Unfortunately, Dolls by Jerri takes away all of her leisure time, but maybe ... someday.
Dolls have always been Jerri's love and she continues to bring her art to collectors all over the world.