Tradition-composite

All art comes from somewhere, nothing is created out of the blue.  We as artist learn, develop and create upon the shoulder's of those that came before us.  These are called traditions.
You can faithfully reproduce in the style of the tradition or add your twist to it. That's what makes you an artist.

Lets take the Izannah Walker doll for example. Izannah Frankford Walker, operating a cottage industry making pressed cloth dolls .  She first patented her  process in 1873, but she may have been making dolls as early as 1840.

Original Walker doll

There are contemporary artist that faithfully reproduce these iconic dolls and Art doll artist that have taken the same techniques to a

whole new place,

 

Theresa Merritt http://ladywithapast.blogspot.com Adds the extra dimensions of historic story lines and beautiful costuming.  These make her Art dolls refined with a clear artistic vision.

Susie McMahon also follows the Walker techniques http://susiemcmahondolls.blogspot.com/

You can see by these two examples of artist taking the traditional craft techniques and making their artist vision.