Santa Lab Ceramic "Little Guy" Ornament by Cindy Pacileo

This adorable ceramic ornament is hand made by Cindy Pacileo of Vilas, North Carolina.

Measures approximately 1.5" tall/long.

Because this item is handmade, it will vary slightly from the image shown.

Each Little Guy has a personality of it's own—sweet, playful, sassy or sometimes a bit silly. Just what you need to keep you company all day long.

Cindy makes each Little Guy from a small bit of clay. She shapes one animal at a time in her hands, then draws its little smile and paints on its happy colors just for you.

If you wonder how I come up with so many whimsical animal personalities, you have only to peek into my childhood or look outside my studio windows.

I've loved the outdoors all my life. I grew up in the creative confusion of a large, artistic family in Dayton, Ohio. Our family went for long walks every week where my dad taught me to love the shapes and colors of the woods and to watch the squirrels dancing through the treetops. He and I were drawing animals together by the time I was three.

I went on to major in art at Mount Saint Joseph University just outside of Cincinnati. I fell in love with pen and ink drawing, a love which has never left me. I was especially fascinated with the textured patterns I could create in my drawings. This love of texture shows up strongly in my clay work, where I use seashells, lace and seed pods to texture details like owl eyes, llama fur and bird wings.

I began sculpting large and small animals in clay in 1972 while I was the director of “The Station,” a community art center in Loveland, Ohio. I was teaching children to pinch animals in clay and became so fascinated with the process that I began to consider a career as an animal artist.

By 1975 my sculpting career was becoming established in the Cincinnati area, but I wanted a life closer to nature and animals. My husband Joe and I moved to a small farming valley in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains near Boone, North Carolina. There we raised our daughter and began to craft a business.

Soon after this move, I expanded my line of miniature animal sculptures to meet the growing demand of the collectors who visit our mountains each year. As the word spread, Little Guys found their way into fine gift shops and craft galleries all across the USA. I still pinch the personality into each one myself and hand draw each little smile.

Find more of Cindy's work here.