Meet H.H. Reviglio

Once Upon A Dream Creator
Holly Hartzell-Reviglio

Once Upon A Dream evolved from the mind of Holly Hartzell-Reviglio; artist, designer, sculptor, application developer, storyteller, game designer, mom, wife and lifelong dreamer. Inspired since childhood by her love of J.R.R. Tolkien, J.M. Barrie, C.S. Lewis, A. Rackham and continuing into her adult years with J.K. Rowling, A. Lee and inimitable fantasy creators from “across the pond”, Brian and Wendy Froud. 

Holly found her love for art at the young age of 6 and declared she'd be an artist when she grew up while holding on to her little faux black gator drawing box that was coming apart at the compressed wood seams. That small art box had a plastic handle and golden secure locks and contained some lined yellowed paper with a handful of pencils of all shapes and sizes. An old dried out eraser that left pink streaks on the paper and a dull pencil sharpener accompanied her first drawing case. All had been found objects from around her house and she put them together and never let that art box out of her site whilst practicing her drawing skills from the back of old hand me down issues of Humpty Dumpty. Tippy and the Pirate were amongst her favorites.

By the age of 12, she had been dabbling in polymer clay for for a handful of years and began selling her work at her parent's booth at art shows around Pittsburgh. Her love of dolls emerged after that and at the age of 15 she spent the summer sewing on a treadle Singer Sewing machine cloth dolls to sell at her first show.

As most stories go, adulthood would encroach upon her first love and soon the profession of teaching would send her off to her first job in Las Vegas, NV. Fortunately, Holly continued to draw and hone her skills outside of work in the graphic design field, which led her through the next ten years and into many exciting jobs, from designing slot machines, to working on FPS video games, to teaching at the Art Institute, to working with the UFC, to writing and directing DVD training videos with a Nascar driver to finally art directing the layout and designs for iOS and Android apps.

Even though she was in the "art field" she wasn't fulfilling her creative outlet and desperately missed finding her escape from this world. Then in 2007 everything changed. Holly found a class in building a polymer and soft bodied armatured character, years later to be defined as an "art doll", however the class was full and she was put on the waitlist for the following year. In 2008, after researching as much as she could on the topic, Holly attended her first puppet making and sculpting class that was being taught by none other than Wendy Froud and her son Toby. Wendy and her husband Brian are known for their work with Jim Henson on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth designing and creating the characters. Toby has worked with Laika Studios on several stop motion films along with the Prequel to The Dark Crystal with both of his parents. Wendy also worked on The Muppet Show and with George Lucas on The Empire Strikes Back and fabricated one of the most beloved iconic characters of all time, Yoda. Together, Wendy and Brian are the world's preeminent authorities on all things Faery.

H.H.ReviglioThe spark that was lit then burned bright and deep immediately. Holly began sculpting whenever she could, entering new realms of the mind during the scant in-between moments while running an app development company with her husband Nick (REVIGLiOS.com) and bringing two wonderful sons into this realm.  Over the last twelve years she has made it a point to revisit her love of fantasy and folklore and has travelled with her family across Europe and through the UK visiting as many historic and ancient sites straight out of The Hobbit and Middle earth. Fueling her love in finding another realm and dimension to work in, she has continued to focus on writing and developing characters that all have names, a backstory and connect to one another in a world that has factual roots and real locations on the moors of Dartmoor, UK. Her Christmas characters are derived from tales across Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

 


Holly has come a long way from that little black drawing case and has turned it in for a three tiered plastic sculpting case. That case travels with her everywhere and she has sculpted in many, many countries while traveling and will continue to do so for years to come.
 

 

Wendy, me and Brian Froud at their cottage in the UK.
Wendy Froud
- 3 sculpting classes, 1 puppet making class. Wendy worked on The Muppet Show for years with Jim Henson, and along with Brian, is a consultant on the new Prequel to The Dark Crystal being produced by Netflix.  

Toby Froud and IToby Froud - 2 sculpting classes, 1 puppet making class.
With Toby, it’s clear the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. He has worked on several stop motion films at Laika and produced his own short film Lessons Learned. Toby is now contributing to the new Prequel to The Dark Crystal.

Me and EJ Taylor
EJ Taylor -
1 class.
A rare opportunity to take a class from this master dollmaker. EJ is the author of the Ivory Cottage series and developer of the core curriculum for the Foundations Course in dollmaking at the NIADA (National Institute of American Doll Artists). 

Virginie and I


Virginie Ropars
1 class.
She is a remarkable European artist and dimensional sculptor. Virginie's work was recently honored by Beautiful Bizzare and was chosen as one of the top 100 sculptors in 2018. 

Tom Kuebler and I

Tom Kuebler
- 1 class.
Tom is well known for his silicone sculptures with one of his biggest patrons being film director Guilllermo del Toro. His hyperrealistic style is inspiration to continue working toward the most realistic fantasy art dolls.





                 
                                "Follow your Heart...Put a dent in the Universe"
~ Steve Jobs