Handmade Creatures from a Strange Little World
Gizella Dreams is my imaginative world of one-of-a-kind creepy cute creatures, dark whimsical sculpture scenes and strange lil misfits. I love creating pieces that feel playful, eerie, nostalgic and just a little weird — like me!! From tiny monsters and woodland creatures to spooky seasonal art, every piece is individually sculpted and painted by hand, so each one has its own personality and no two are ever exactly alike.
I’m a completely self-taught artist, and looking back, I think this strangeness was always in me. As a young kid I loved horror movies and creepy things. My mom was often concerned about me when I’d take my baby dolls and turn them into something much less innocent — painting their faces with red nail polish, cutting them up and stitching them back together with shoelaces. 😂 I would make "witch's brew" for my family with random edible and non edible items.. mostly mud lol. I also painted rocks and made construction-paper dragons for my family and would even take “orders” for them.
Art class was always one of my favorite places to be all through my school years but I didn’t seriously dice into my creative side until my mid-20s. From there I experimented with just about everything — soap making, leather masks, painting, spray-paint art, animal rock art, needle felting, and poseable faux-fur creatures. Eventually I stumbled upon sculpting with polymer clay and it became the medium that felt most like home and gave me the freedom to manifest all the odd creatures and little worlds floating around in my head.
The name Gizella Dreams is especially meaningful to me. It comes from Gizmo and Bella, my Yorkies who have since passed away. They were my soul dogs and a huge part of my life, and carrying their names into my art gives the shop a little piece of them too.
These days my life is shared with my husband, our pets and whatever strange creature I happen to be sculpting at the moment. Every piece I make is a little extension of that lifelong love of animals, monsters, fantasy, Halloween and all things beautifully odd.
