M.E. Heller

M.E. Heller is an artist and scholar who has received national acclaim for her handcrafted dolls. Archetypal and literary characters she has portrayed attracted the attention of the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York and led, in 1986, to the creation of a line of dolls based on the Palmer Cox Brownie. In 1999, she provided dolls and artwork to the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House in Rochester for their traveling exhibit in conjunction with the 100th

anniversary of the Brownie Camera. Her research into the characters, mythology, and legends of the brownies reaffirmed her belief in the underlying benevolence of Mother Earth, inspiring the author to write stories about the mythological brownies.