American artist, M. E. Bilisnansky McMorrow, Bart's faithful escort in his journey through Santa Fe is a graduate of Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, PA. Over the years her range of artwork has been vast, and included wearable art, ceramics, stained glass, fabric design, and more recently Russian iconography, jewelry design, web design and oil paintings. For years she painted one-of-a-kind furniture for Mary Donald Floorcloths Inc, a company which supplied countless high end design catalogues with products for the home. Eventually she was represented by Ms. Donald for her own line of hand-painted dog portrait floorcloths.
M. E. Bilisnansky McMorrow began her own company, Ground Dogs in 1989. Her unique dog portrait floorcloths were sold nationally at exclusive gift shops and boutiques, including "Mabel's of Madison Avenue." As their popularity increased, M. E. Bilisnansky McMorrow looked for a means of manufacturing one of the most popular designs, the Golden Retriever onto a rug or doormat. Eventually she connected with Toland Enterprises, Inc.
At that time doormats were just that...doormats. They did not have the decorative qualities of the ones on the market today. Due to the uniqueness of her designs, Ms. Bilisnansky-McMorrow's first mat was an instant success. A licensing contract with Toland ensued, during which time tens of thousands of doormats, pillows, banners, and computer mouse pads were sold not just nationally, but now internationally as well. |
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