Martha Nelson Thomas (born Martha Marie Nelson, November 29, 1950 – May 26, 2013) was an American folk artist, known for her work in

soft sculpture Soft sculpture is a type of sculpture made using cloth, foam rubber, plastic, paper, fibres and similar material that are supple and nonrigid. They can also be made out of natural materials if combined to make a nonrigid object. Soft sculpture ...

. Thomas was the creator of "Doll Babies," later plagiarised as

Cabbage Patch Kids Cabbage Patch Kids are a line of cloth dolls with plastic heads first produced by Coleco Industries in 1982. They were inspired by the Little People soft sculptured dolls sold by Xavier Roberts as collectibles. The brand was renamed 'Cabbage ...

Biography

Martha Nelson was born in

Princeton, Kentucky Princeton is a home rule-class city in Caldwell County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 6,329 during the 2010 U.S. Census. Princeton is home to several notable attractions such as Adsmore Museum, ...

to Ralph and Ernestine Nelson. As an infant, her family moved to

Mayfield, Kentucky Mayfield is a home rule–class city and the county seat of Graves County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 10,017 as of the 2020 United States Census. History 19th century Mayfield is in the center of the Jackson Purchase, an eig ...

. She graduated from the Louisville School of Art. Martha Nelson married Tucker Thomas on October 10, 1981. They had three children Seth, Carl and Mara. Martha is the sister of Louisville-based stone carver Albert Nelson. In 1971, while a student, Thomas began experimenting with

in the form of dolls. She designed her "Doll Babies" with input from children she knew, made them by hand, and sold them at craft fairs around

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. In 1976, Thomas met

Xavier Roberts Xavier Roberts (born October 31, 1955 in Cleveland, Georgia) is best known for Cabbage Patch Kid dolls, once immensely popular soft sculpted dolls based upon a design originally created by Martha Nelson Thomas. Early life When Xavier Roberts ...

at one of these craft fairs. He asked her to supply him with dolls to sell in Georgia, where he lived and worked. Thomas briefly let him sell her Doll Babies, but stopped. Roberts created his own version in 1978, and in 1982 he licensed the dolls to

Coleco Coleco Industries, Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company. It was a successful toy company in the 1980s, mass-producing versions of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game console ...

for mass-production under the name

. In 1979, Thomas filed her first suit against Roberts. By 1983, she was seeking $1 million in damages from Roberts. In 1984, the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Around this time, while Cabbage Patch Kids were so popular that buyers had to join a nine-month waiting list, Thomas sold a line of craft items through Fibre-Craft based on her original Doll Babies that allowed buyers to sew up their own doll. Cabbage Patch Kids at this time sold for $30 to $150; Thomas's Doll Babies supplies cost about $16 total. After the court case Martha continued to create art throughout her life. Some of her projects included making toys based on her children's drawings and making toys using socks. Martha and her family sold these creations at local craft fairs. Martha was also committed to fostering a love of art in children. She was an artist in residence at her children's elementary school and did workshops with the local girl scouts and other organizations. Thomas died in

on May 26, 2013, after a battle with ovarian cancer. Her work has been exhibited at the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Martha Nelson Folk artists People from Mayfield, Kentucky American women artists 2013 deaths 21st-century American women 1950 births