Paula Whaley

By Alecia L. Dean

Baltimore doll designer Paula Whaley ’s work reveals“ an understanding of the human experience that is obvious in her dolls:spirituality and grace.” Interestingly, the most notable features on Paula Whaley ’s dolls are their expressive faces and highly detailed couture out fits, which are painstakingly hand-created. According to Barbara Whiteman in the book Black Dolls –Bold, Proud, and Beautiful, like the “mixed media pieces she creates, evoking both emotion and elegance in fluid whispers of things past and present, ”Paula ’s life is“ born of equal parts of love and loss.”She creates out of her “evolution to the pain ”of losing her brother, distinguished author James Baldwin,whose writing and lifestyle was ahead of his time. She has channeled her grief to create dolls stately enough to make their home in a museum or cozy enough for a home display.

Paula Whaley was born in Harlem, New York City, the youngest of nine children to Berdis and David Baldwin. Her oldest brother was the late author James Baldwin, expatriate and activist, who immortalized the streets of New York City with his literature. When her father died on the day she was born, it was her older brother James who stepped in immediately to help raise her. Whaley recalls, “He was much older than me and had already lived in Paris. I was a baby but he felt so guilty about me not having a father, he felt responsible for me.”

She was encouraged early on in life to explore her creativity. Paula graduated from the High School of Fashion and Design and at the age of 18, she moved to Paris, France to live with James and her youngest brother, David,a wood restorer. Living abroad changed her life, allowing her to live a life and forge an identity without the racial and socio-economic restrictions that denied many other African Americans their personal freedoms.“My relationship with James was extremely positive.He was like a father to me.