Daily Mini Interview: Miniatures by DomestiKate

Miniatures by DomestiKate

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What’s your earliest memory with miniatures?

When I was 7 years old, my dad built me a dollhouse and what I remember most about it was playing with the interior design, rather than any make-believe! I would just lay at the edge of my bed and stare at the dollhouse, visualizing different arrangements of the furniture. Ultimately, I had much more fun moving the tiny furniture and crafting pieces out of paper than would moving figures around to create narratives about their lives. It was likely from that point onward that I realized I’m a very visual person who simply loves crafting with my hands, including painting little pieces and just tinkering around.

How did you first get started making miniatures?

To be perfectly honest, my miniature flame was truly reignited quite recently. Over Christmas break, I began feeling restless, as though I were ready for a change. I had been reading Marie Kondo’s first book about decluttering and sparking joy; then over the course of a week, I sold, donated and gifted several items from my home to folks who really loved and needed them. It felt so great to see this joy and gratitude in others.

One evening, I went for a walk and explained this cathartic process to my girlfriend. Shortly thereafter, we entered her home and I was immediately drawn to an exquisite, unique dollhouse she had nestled in the corner of her office.

My friend, Christine, had been using the individual rooms as storage for office supplies! While I admired the piece, I asked Christine about its history. It turns out that her grandfather made the house for her piece by piece, shingle by shingle. It was shabby, needed work, but I saw great potential within it.

Once Christine saw the joy that it sparked within me, she called in her teenage sons. “Boys! Bring this dollhouse to Miss Kate’s car, please!”

This gift sparked such inspiration and creativity — I was crazed with excitement that hasn’t slowed since!

I started by first rehabbing the structural and exterior of the house, and am now completely lost in recreating my life in miniature. The miniatures that I make and collect are either replicas of items that we have in our full-scale home, or are things I wish I could have.

I love contemporary minis, which are so hard to find, which is why I get to create them myself.

It’s been beyond happy-making.

What is your hope for the field of miniatures? Are you a member of any miniature organizations?

The more I dove into the world of miniatures, the more I realized that my mission is to save this art from the brink of extinction! To that end, I’m a proud apron-wearing member of LoneStar Miniatures and The Society of American Miniaturists. I look forward to our monthly meetings. We cover business briefly, then take turns teaching a class. It is a treat to learn from these miniaturists.

I love being a part of these groups because the other members are true experts, who have been making minis for decades and decades. While I’m so excited to learn from their expertise, especially given that they’re mostly women, I’ve noticed that most of them are upwards in age!

We need more young people to apprentice under these masters and learn the trade.

Last weekend, I attended the Society of American Miniaturists convention in Killeen, Texas, where I worked alongside some of the best. Yet, it frightened me that I was the youngest person in the room — at age forty.

My plight is to share the art of updated, modern miniatures with a world of people who are craving creativity and coming back to the original art of being a “maker.” Because of that, I’d love to piggyback on the extremely popular surge of the maker’s movement and the resurgence of being a crafter or an artisan, which is why I am promoting big joy in little things.

My hope is to shine a spotlight that highlights the work of fellow miniaturists, while sharing my creative vision.

As you know, mini shops are closing. Enthusiasts are sort of splintering apart. That’s why I love dailymini‘s highlighting of miniaturists and want to join in on keeping this art alive.

Let’s reinvigorate the craft of miniature-making by creating generations of collectors and creators to come!

What is your favorite type of miniature to make?

Well, I have so very much to learn, but I love “making” plants. I know miniaturists who painstakingly make paper plants leaf by leaf with wire and paper. Their work is amazing!

I like to hunt the faux floral departments at craft stores to explore sprays of interesting synthetics that I can cut and trim, and re-create into minis. I love using tiny ceramic pots and beads.

Just like in my full-scale home, my mini house is filled with plants.

What is the most challenging aspect of your work with DomestiKate miniatures?

Oh my gosh — glue! I will create something fantastic and then during the final moments I will glob too much glue, then totally ruin the piece as I try to wipe it off. I think I need to invest in some syringes and experiment with different adhesives. I have a lot to learn on the subtleties of this art.

What advice would you give to new artists and beginner miniaturists? 

Anyone can do it!!!!

Yes, there are amazing artists out there… but the learning process is so joyful. I love to use recyclables, beads and buttons. There are tons of online tutorials and printables, too. Train your brain to scan for everyday items to reuse in miniature, because you truly don’t need to spend a ton of money. Just stay to play. When you get hooked, the rest will come naturally. Join me!

Favorite miniature you own?

Oh, this is too hard of a question to answer, because I’m a curator at heart. I cherish ever piece in my collection!

What inspires you? What keeps you creating?

I am dreaming in 1:12 scale these days… My life is filled with inspiration. I can’t imagine I’ll ever stop creating. I hope to expand my scope as I grow within it.

What is the most memorable miniature you have ever seen?

Okay, the item that freaks me out the most is mass-produced… it’s called “Little Sparky.” I mean, really people. This is sick.

Tool, material, or technique you couldn’t live without?

I use Aleene’s Tacky Dots all the time to keep minis in place. They are movable, but very sticky. I would go nuts without these.

Favorite miniaturists?

OMG! I admire so many miniaturists. I must say that I am most enamored with food artists, probably because I haven’t started playing with clay. My favorites that never ever disappoint and always have me running for my credit card are:

What would you like to see replicated in miniature?

I am an essential oil junkie. I would like to make a complete set of oils in miniature with some cool diffusers. It’s on my mini bucket list!!! I wouldn’t mind if someone else beats me to the punch. Any takers??

What’s to come from DomestiKate?

Because I’m excited about cultivating this art of miniatures for a modern era, I’m looking to create online DIY courses for a whole new generation of enthusiasts to enjoy at their own pace. I’m also looking to create more tutorials on YouTube, because I’d love to share my passion for making and crafting with people all around the world.

Words you live by…

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that’s why we call it the present!

Favorite miniature quote?

“Big Joy in Little Things.”

Other hobbies you enjoy?

I love spending quality time with my family. My husband and children are everything to me. I’m soaking up all my moments with my teenagers as I see my time with them at home slipping away from me.

My favorite activities are: boating, cooking, gardening, hiking, traveling… the beach is best!

DomestiKate was created by Kate Strzinek of Austin, Texas. To see more of her marvelous miniatures, head on over to the DomestiKate website. Follow @domestikatethis on InstagramTwitter, and Pinterest. Make sure to like her page on Facebook and keep a look out for a YouTube channel… coming soon.

Daily Mini Interview: Corinne Botz and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

Miniature Murder Scenes Photographed by Corinne Botz

|  Website  |  Instagram  |  Nutshell Studies  | 

Attic (feet)

Tell us a bit about your background.

I am a Brooklyn-based photographic artist, writer, filmmaker, and educator whose practice investigates narrative, trauma, and the perception of space. I earned my BFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art and my MFA from Milton Avery School of the Arts, Bard College. In addition to the Nutshell Studies series, my projects have ranged from haunted houses, the homes of individuals with agoraphobia, personal belongings that were left behind after car accidents, everyday objects that were instrumental in violent deaths, hoarding, objectophilia, and medical simulations.

How did you first hear about Frances Glessner Lee’s work in criminology?

I found out about Lee’s models while working on a video about women who collect dollhouses. I met an obsessive dollhouse collector in Baltimore who was also a prosecutor. There were no dolls in her dollhouses because she saw murder and abuse in her daily occupation and wanted to create “perfect worlds.” I had a previous interest in crime scene photography so this really interested me. Our conversation led her to tell me about the models which are housed at the Baltimore Medical Examiner’s Office. When I saw the models for the first time in 1997, I couldn’t believe how my unrelated interests in dollhouses, crime, and gender, came together in such an unexpected way.

What was it about Lee’s work on the crime scene models that sparked your interest most?

The crime scene models are a rich amalgam of the period in which Lee lived, the crimes that captured her attention, her autobiography, biases, and idiosyncrasies. I love the interplay between real/fact and imaginary/fiction in the models.

Burned Cabin (from afar)

Care to share an early memory with miniatures? 

I was around five years old and I can remember playing in the dollhouse and wondering if God existed, and if he existed I wondered if he could control my actions. Perhaps it was the godlike perspective offered by the dollhouse that led me to this train of thought.

Why are the Nutshell Studies still significant in today’s world of forensics?

They are still used for training because the ability to properly identify, evaluate, and preserve evidence at a crime scene remains a critical part of an investigation.

Was there one scene in Lee’s models that resonated most with you? 

Parsonage Parlor has always held a special place in my heart. The scene depicts a young girl, Dorothy Dennison, who was brutally murdered. There is a romanticized quality to the girl’s outfit. She is wearing a white tunic style dress, red lace-up ballet shoes, a red belt and a red bow in her hair. Her matching red wallet is beside rancid hamburger meat. The victim is represented by the colors red and white; symbolic of innocence destroyed. The police report talks about Dorothy’s mother and there is a Madonna and Child painting on the wall. The horror of this happening to a young girl, my automatic consideration of the mother’s perspective, and the highly symbolic interior, is why this scene resonates most with me.

Parsonage Parlor (doll)

Are you planning to attend the Smithsonian exhibition of the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death?

Yes, I’m so excited about the exhibition. It’s fabulous that a wide public will have the opportunity to view the Nutshell Studies. I haven’t seen the models in years and it will be like reuniting with old friends. I will be part of a symposium at the Smithsonian in conjunction with the show.

Where do you seek inspiration for your photography?

I find inspiration through different forms of art and a variety of sources (literature, psychology, folklore, collections, dreams, found photographs, etc.). Reading and everyday life are a constant source of inspiration.

Any unsolved crime that particular speaks to you? 

I’m most haunted by the recent unsolved serial killer case in Long Island.

Red Bedroom (doll)

Favorite artists creating small scale work?

Hagop Sandaldjian who created “The Eye of the Needle” at The Museum of Jurassic Technology was brilliant. I also love Samara Golden’s miniature installation, “The Meat Grinder’s Iron Clothes,” which was part of the 2017 Whitney Biennial. My favorite book about miniatures is Susan Stewart’s “On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection.”

What keeps you creating? What inspires you?

I pursue subjects because of both a personal and intellectual curiosity. Art is an integral part of my life and a means of communication – it’s not an option for me to stop creating!

What’s to come from Corinne Botz?

I have photographs in two upcoming group exhibitions, one of which has a miniature tie in: A Working Model of the World and Land & Memory.

Log Cabin

I’m also busy doing the film festival circuit with my short film exploring standardized patient medical simulations entitled “Bedside Manner.” I’m in the early stages of researching/photographing for two new projects – one of them involves an archive of medical
examiner/crime scene photographs that were given to me.

What’s something most people don’t know about you? 

I have a honey collection that includes types of honey from around the world.

Photographic artist, writer and filmmaker Corinne Botz is based in Brooklyn. You can learn more about her work on the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death here. To see more of her projects, check out her website or request to follow along on Instagram.

Three Room Dwelling (gun)
Living Room (mantle)

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Daily Mini Interview: Miniature Urban Art Scenes by Anonymouse

Anonymouse Miniature Street Scenes

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What’s your earliest memory with miniatures?

Oh, wow. That’s hard, since we build things inspired by Astrid Lindgren, Walt Disney, Don Bluth, and Beatrix Potter, to name a few. It feels like it literally has been with us since we were born.

How did you first get started making Anonymouse scenes? 

The interest to construct things have been with us for a very long time. But it wasn’t until last year that a couple of us started to discuss the possibility of combining our love for constructing things with street art.

We believe that miniatures speak to people in an immediate way. If we think back to things we collected as children — rocks, stamps, bookmarks or marbles — they are always tiny. Which also makes them accessible. So, adults might tap into that feeling once again upon seeing our scenes.

What does the MMX in Anonymouse MMX stand for?

MMX is the airport code to Malmö, in Sweden.

The original idea was that whoever wanted would start their own section of Anonymouse and add their code.

What was the first miniature scene you made?

We made a restaurant called Il Topolino and a nut shop called Noix de Vie. We placed these in December of 2016 and they became quite popular.

How does Sweden inspire or inform your urban art?

Public art is quite regulated in Sweden and there are quite few street artists doing anything other than graffiti. Although that seems to be changing right now.

And also, we are no experts so there might have been a whole underground thing going on for years that we’ve missed!

What is your favorite type of scene to put on display to the public, and why?

We’ve experimented a bit now and the better the scenery can be incorporated into the environment, the more successful.

And also the latest one is always the favorite. As soon as it’s out, we start on the next one.

What elements do you like to always include in your Anonymouse scenes?

Our logo, with the hashtag #anonymouse so that people can find the rest of our scenes. And so that we can find them!

And we bet we’ve used bottle caps in every one so far. We try to use things that people recognize as much as possible.

What is the most challenging aspect of your work? 

Well, staying anonymous is one part of it. But also finding the time! We absolutely love this. But we’ve got to work as well. So its hard when you feel like you’re letting people down because you can’t produce as fast as they want.

What advice would you give to new urban artists and beginner miniaturists? 

Be focused. And use epoxy, screws, and real wood! We started with cardboard and wood glue. And everything fell apart after four days outside. Be sure that what you build can stand the weather!

What inspires you?

We still rewatch The Rescuers, and are inspired by times when cities were still built organically. Everyday objects can be very inspiring. We have all started to look at things before we throw them away, now thinking, “how would a mouse use this?” Lots of ideas have come from staring at something really inconsequential.

What is the most memorable form of miniature art you have ever seen?

One of us absolutely loves the details of 17th century watches.

What is your hope for the field of miniatures? 

We think, as with all art forms, we need to bring it to places it can be seen. And we believe that with the high quality cameras on smartphones, and all forms of social media, that all sorts of miniatures are getting a renaissance! (How many millions of people have seen hamsters eating tiny burritos?!)

What would you like to see replicated in miniature that you have not yet seen?

We would love to build and/or see a complete wooden harbor straight out of Treasure Island.

What appeals to you most about what you do?

The idea of being a child yourself, just stumbling upon something like our Anonymouse scenes.

What’s to come from Anonymouse?

We’re working on a new set in Malmö right now.

Occasionally people contact us but it rarely pans out.

Other hobbies you enjoy?

Well, we craft… a lot. People usually ask us how we find the time to do this, and the answer is that it’s all about priorities.

If you don’t binge-watch Netflix you can get a whole lot of tiny things done. Now, obviously we don’t only do mouse-related things, but if we told people about the other things then it would be too easy to figure out who we are.

Anything else you would like to add? 

We’ve received numerous emails from people all of the world asking for permission to build their own “mice houses,” and we’d just like to point out that we don’t “own” or invent the idea, so build your own!

Would you like to share a dailymini exclusive with readers? If so, what’s something most people don’t know about you?

Most people don’t know our identities. But, a pun that was lost on a lot of people was the the ferris wheel in the amousement park was built with sweet corn-cans, because sweet corn in Swedish is “majs,” which is pronounced mice. Very few people got that.

All our scenes are filled with references to things and a lot of the time they go unnoticed. (People did get that Il Topolino is Italian for Mickey Mouse, but did missed that in the window of the nut shop there was a tiny ad for Albatross Airlines, the airline in The Rescuers.)

Anonymouse is a loosely associated network of mice and men who create miniature scenes in urban spaces. Based in the town of Malmö in southern Sweden, these artists work just about anywhere. To follow along and see more work by Anonymouse MMX in Sweden, head over to Instagram.

  

Daily Mini Feature: Miniature Masterworks Exhibition at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures

Miniature Masterworks Showcases Award-Winning Miniatures from Around the World

|  Tickets and More Information | 

Jon Almeda, Victoria Morozova

Presented in partnership with the International Guild of Miniature Artisans, Miniature Masterworks is a three-day event at The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures (T/m) that will feature more than 70 fine miniature artists showcasing and selling their work. Held from September 15-17, 2017, this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition is open to the public. You can purchase tickets here. For a full list of participating artists, please click here.

Attendees are invited to tour the museum’s collection of fine miniatures, meet the artists, attend gallery talks and programs, and view the works presented with the Barbara Marshall Award for Artistic Achievement.

A full schedule of events can be found below:

Friday, September 15:

10am The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures (T/m) opens

10am-2:30pm Artist and Patron Benefit Party
(Miniature Masterworks Preview and Sale ticket packets available for pickup at T/m)

3pm The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures (T/m) closes

5pm-6pm Artist and Patron Benefit Party

5:30pm Winners of the Barbara Marshall Award for Artistic Achievement announced

6pm-9pm Miniature Masterworks Preview and Sale

Saturday, September 16:

10am T/m and Miniature Masterworks opens

10:30am Gallery talk: Annelle Ferguson

11:30am Gallery talk: Kevin Mulvany and Susie Rogers

12:30pm Gallery talk: Elizabeth McInnis

1:30pm Gallery talk: Maria Jose Santos

2:30pm Gallery talk: Leslie Smith

3:15pm Gallery talk: Laura Taylor, T/m’s curator of interpretation and Lindsay Mican Morgan, keeper of the Thorne Rooms

4pm T/m and Miniature Masterworks closes

Sunday, September 17:

10am T/m and Miniature Masterworks opens

10:30am Gallery talk: Nell Corkin

11:30am Gallery talk: Jeffrey Gueno

12:30pm Gallery talk: Jens Torp

1:30pm Gallery talk: Johannes Landman

2:30pm Gallery talk: Beth Freeman-Kane

3:15pm Gallery talk: Lee-Ann Chellis Wessel

4pm T/m and Miniature Masterworks closes

Miniature Masterworks is a three-day event at The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures (T/m) that will feature work by more than 70 fine miniature artists. This exhibition event will be held from September 15-17, 2017 in partnership with the International Guild of Miniature Artisans (IGMA). Tickets are now available for purchase. View a list of participating artists here.

Daily Mini Interview: Miniatures by Nagihan Seker Yardim

Miniatures by Nagihan Seker Yardim of Nsycreation and Miniaturesbynsy

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What’s your earliest memory with miniatures?

Miniature food charms.

How did you first get started creating miniatures? 

I have always had a passion for tiny things. It all started with my cousin saying that she bets I could craft miniatures since I was always crazy with art. And here I am today.

Do you remember the very first miniature you ever made? 

I think it was a cake or a cupcake. I love giving presents so unfortunately I don’t have it. But I keep photos.

What is your favorite type of miniature to create?

I actually like all sorts of miniatures. But I must say that crafting flowers made me realize the beauty of creating, as I had a chance to examine flowers in detail.

What is the most challenging miniature to make?

The word challenging may differ from one to another. I am a perfectionist and will force myself to create something over and over again until I have got the best result I could get. So I think anything I sculpt gets tricky in its own way.

What advice would you give to new artists and beginner miniaturists? 

I’d share all the tools and materials and how they could have made my day easier. I had to do a lot of investigating beforehand. I wish I didn’t have to search all day and had more time to sculpt.

As an artist, who is crafting with clay, good advice would be to try different types of clays to start. The flexibility is very important after your work has baked or dried.

Favorite miniature you own by another artist or have made yourself? 

My Alice in Wonderland collection. And traditional Turkish food.

What inspires you? 

I always thought that I concentrated on details of every object I saw but after starting to craft miniatures, I saw that there was so much more than what a human being can actually see. So my passion keeps growing.

Most memorable miniature you’ve seen?

The most unique I’ve seen so far is the miniature dioramas using everyday items

What is your hope for the field of miniatures? 

I hope that one day there will be an opportunity for miniaturists to work in an actual job where we can be more useful for others. If more miniature courses were open, I believe we could keep this industry alive.

Favorite miniature artisans? 

What is the miniature scene like in Turkey? 

Unfortunately, it’s not yet realized or seen as a field of art. It was so hard for me at the start to find materials in Turkey so I did double investigation on the topic. I believe I have a good knowledge after all that research.

What would you like to see replicated in miniature? 

I think many things are done. Concentrating more on what can be done to improve this field, is more efficient.

What’s to come from Nagihan Yardim? 

Anything that needs decorating, my mind is continuously there. I am so enthusiastic with art that I very much enjoy creating from scratch. My interest for miniature things has always been there waiting for me to commence NSY creations.

A little hint of my new projects coming up: “the beauty of creation” and “how possibly can it be.”

Words you live by?

Leave a little sparkle everywhere you go!

Train your mind to see the good in people. Always remember that the good you find in others is a reflection of the good in yourself.

Favorite miniature quote? 

Create a big world with a little touch.

Other activities you enjoy? 

I just love getting involved in all sorts of art; paper works, sculpturing, sewing, painting, drawing, woodwork, quilling, marbling and many, many more…

Would you like to share a dailymini exclusive with readers? 

In the following video you can see my work which I had created for a museum in NYC about two years ago. I worked with a company called KiwiMill. All the food supplies were crafted by myself.

https://www.facebook.com/kiwimill/videos/1258576660859202/


Nagihan Seker Yardim currently lives in Melbourne, Australia and is originally from Turkey. Her miniature brands are Nsycreation and Miniaturesbynsy. To see more of her work, take a look at the nsycreation blog and shop new minis on Miniatures by NSY Etsy. Make sure to follow along on InstagramFacebook, and Pinterest too!

Daily Mini Interview: Miniatures Sets by Filmmaker Sean David Christensen

Miniatures Featured in The Duel by Filmmaker Sean David Christensen

|  Website  |  Instagram  |  Facebook  |  IMDb  |

Tell us a bit about your work with The Duel. What’s your inspiration behind this piece?

I was drawing at my desk late one night, almost seven years ago, and I remember the tip of my pen hovering about a quarter of an inch above the paper, because I couldn’t move. I was frozen in my chair, completely engrossed in Lili Taylor‘s story, The Duel. I had just started listening to Kevin Allison’s RISK! podcast earlier that year, intrigued by its presentation of true stories laced with elements of suspense or tension. Lili was one of the guests that evening, and being a long-time admirer of her work, I leaned in closer to my laptop’s speakers. And that’s when I froze. Her slow unveiling of her experience as a sixteen-year-old girl struggling to reach her father in the midst of a mental crisis was so elemental and resonant for me, that immediately after listening to it, I dropped what I was working on and began sketching the storyboards for what would become the film that same evening.

As a live storyteller myself, I was inspired by Lili’s courage in telling such a personal and heartfelt story, and I wanted to honor the risk she took with my film version. Stories are fragile things, especially ones that have been guarded within our minds against all efforts made to erase them. After hearing the gravity in her voice, I knew this was an important story that meant a lot to her, one she chose to remember after all of these years, and one that I chose to bear witness to, as if it were my own. I too, would come to guard my film against my own doubts and fears about how I was going to complete it, for years, in fact. It was only until I realized that in order to fully realize my vision, I’d have to radically disassemble my original idea for the film and rebuild it, on a much smaller scale. That’s where the miniatures came in.

How do miniatures play a part in the film?

When I returned back home to Phoenix to be closer to my family, I brought with me a half-finished film that was missing key shots that required specific locations. Namely, I needed a pale green hospital hallway from the late 70s, a cavernous basement and the exterior of an old house with a wooden porch. After realizing it was going to cost too much to secure and film these locations in real life, not counting crew, insurance, transportation and food, I admit I became more than a little depressed at the thought of abandoning this film. While I purposefully avoided the folder my project was saved in on my computer for years, I struggled with how was I going to finish it. I couldn’t make eye contact with it. But late one night, sitting in my mom’s kitchen, I asked myself: “Why does it have to be real life? Why can’t my film swim between two worlds, large and small?”

The three miniature sets I created for the film represent formative childhood worlds that Lili’s story drew from. They were all crafted with a level of detail that made it crystalline, like a preserved memory, but skewed slightly, as if unseen forces are squeezing their walls from the outside. One of the most compelling elements that originally drew me to Lili’s story was her sense of place, of the hard edges that defined the vulnerable state her father found himself in when she was young. Each building represents a facet of that tenuous connection to sanity; The hospital that cared for her father, the home that sheltered his illness from the outside world and the basement that transmuted itself into a bottomless pit of dread, where The Duel would take place.

The obvious parallels to dollhouses and childhood were not lost on me either, as Lili’s story is told from her point of view as a young woman. But a dollhouse can serve a larger function to a child than a purely ornamental and nostalgic one. Some of my most vivid memories are of creating soap operas with my sister and her Barbies, spinning the combustible, adult world that surrounded us into tightly-wrapped worlds we could control. Family life outside her bedroom door was chaotic and disorganized at times, but the plastic cabinets, boots and purses were like charms we’d collect to make it all smooth and clean. To a degree, the miniatures in my film behave in a similar way, in their attempt to rebuild and make sense of the frightening debris of a single afternoon in someone’s childhood life, debris that continues to scatter into their present.

What materials, tools, techniques were employed to get these miniature sets up and running?

I didn’t have access to any power tools at the time, so I used materials that were able to be cut by hand. To that end, I cut the walls from balsa wood with an XACT-O knife and reinforced them with foam core using Loctite super glue as a binder. I used an 1/8″ scale ruler and eyeballed everything from reference photos, jotting down lots of notes and reminders to myself, like, “Light panel is 1/8 + 1/16th + 1/32nd inch wide with 1/16th wide switch.”

Everything took twice as long because I was teaching myself how to build miniatures while sawing away at them with tools that were definitely, in hindsight, not meant for how I was using them at all. I don’t recommend cutting dowels with a craft knife, but it’s all I had, so I just had to sit down and do it. Being Irish and stubborn definitely didn’t hurt.

What went into making the miniature sets you created?

The hospital hallway was built from the dimensions of a 1/12-scale Houseworks dollhouse door, three inches wide by seven inches tall. I laid it flat against some 4×4 graph paper and sketched out its orientation to its surrounding architecture by comparing it with Google image search results of similar hospital hallways. Once I got the proportions down on paper, I translated them into three-dimensional form with miniature elements that were analog to real world materials. For example, to simulate the tiled, popcorn ceilings you see in old office buildings and airports, I used 1/8″ wide strips of basswood for the grid and squares of 300 lb. Arches watercolor paper for the drop tiles. The paper had a rough tooth that caught the light and gave it just the right amount of grain when photographed. The light panel effect was achieved by simply leaving gaps in the watercolor paper lattice work and taping Walgreens brand plastic wrap behind them. When I shown light down through its waxy texture from above, it diffused the beam and softened it up, simulating a fluorescent glow.

Did you use any after effects or editing software to get the appearance of a real-life set?

Everything was done in-camera, and I actually made efforts to slightly distort and bend the film’s sense of reality with the way the miniatures were constructed. For the basement, I implemented an old theatrical trick, using forced perspective to narrow the steps leading up towards the doorway, making it feel more claustrophobic and far away. You see these techniques a lot in German expressionistic films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis, where the set designers impose a sense of oppressive dread by diminishing the proportions of the actors — all done with an imaginative sense of scale.

I built 29 steps, an unnaturally large number of stairs to have in any normal basement, and cut them against a 80 degree angle, making them widen by about 3/8ths of a inch each time they step down. By comparison, the top step is three and a quarter inch wide, while the bottom step is almost ten. The tightening of the walls up this column of seemingly endless stairs works as both a means to enforce a sense of childlike perspective, and communicate its accompanying level of panic. In Lili’s recollection, the basement serves as an ersatz stage for her father’s manic fantasy of a life-or-death “duel” to play out upon, taking place beneath the floorboards of the house like a terrifying secret. As a filmmaker, I felt it necessary to create a physical representation of that dark, imaginary place, uncontrollably winding down at the mercy of uncontrollable forces.

What is the most challenging aspect of your work with miniature sets and set design?

The most challenging aspect of working with miniatures is reconciling the weight of hours that get devoured by the smallest of details: door handles, light switches, screws, buttons — they all seem to accumulate and slow down momentum. It’s easy to look up at the clock and feel deflated after you’ve spent an entire afternoon creating work that can only be measured in inches, sometimes less. But it’s those same details that solidify the reality of a room or environment you’re trying to miniaturize. That one tangled extension cord or wadded ball of tissue paper can make all the difference. The immeasurable obsession of picking apart fractions of inches that may or may not be noticed is something that continues to frustrate me, but I know it all serves the larger picture. I choose to approach it this way: If you think of every detail, regardless of size, as being a load-bearing one that the structural integrity of your set relies upon, it becomes very easy to devote the time needed to make that detail the strongest it can be.

Why use miniature sets in filmmaking?

I see my films, primarily the experimental documentaries I’ve incorporated miniatures into, as tense relationships between the present truth and an idealized past. Our own personal histories, whether they serve the will of an elastic narrative we’ve written for ourselves, or the rigidity of memory, are shaped by what we command ourselves to remember or pray to forget. Just as editors cut loose ends from stories that sag, we too, are curators of memory. I’ve chosen to shape these memories into miniatures, and it intrigues me to use them within the grammar of documentaries to tell stories.

Traditionally, your camera observes subjects with passivity, complementing their words with some historical footage or photographs. It can be a little like sitting in a classroom, sometimes. I believe I’ve chosen small-scale environments to dislodge that authoritative role of the interview, and in its place, create a subjective type of musicality from their experience. Experience that can be interpreted a multitude of ways depending on who watches or listens. For instance, when a subject’s words are placed within a surreal setting like a miniature world, they seem to float, because there’s nothing familiar on-screen to hold them down. The audience, reflexively, has to cling tighter to what they hear because their sense of equilibrium evaporates. Nothing on screen makes sense, so words have to make up the difference, and that sense of authority is gone. My goal is to achieve that same sense of disruption, and for the audience to constantly question the truth of what they’re seeing, just as we question the veracity of our own memories. Like, “Did that really happen the way I remember? Or was it a dream?”

What advice would you give to new filmmakers?

There’s only one you, so don’t waste your time telling a story that can be told by just anybody. Tell the stories that can only be told by you. Ignore every impulse to leave out the details that might seem embarrassing or too revealing, because those are the only details that matter when it comes to storytelling. Time whittles away everything that’s unremarkable, leaving only the jagged bits that can’t be defined or predicted, the bits that refuse to be forgotten. Those moments, happy or sad, weird or terrifying, are worth it. No matter how long it takes you find them.

How can miniature fans view scenes from The Duel

Those interested in The Duel can learn more about it at duel-film.com. It’s not currently available online, but it’s touring film festivals nationwide, and will be coming to a city near you, perhaps! Next up is the Marfa Film Festival from July 12-16. In the meantime, you can also listen to more captivating true stories like The Duel on the RISK! podcast, which makes a great companion for late night build sessions. Who knows, one of its stories might just inspire your next project, like it did for me!

Filmmaker and miniature set maker Sean David Christensen is based out of Phoenix, Arizona. To learn more about his film, The Duel, check out this website and IMDb. Make sure to follow along on Facebook and Instagram.

           

Daily Mini Interview: Miniatures by Nuria Torrente Miniarte

Miniatures by Nuria Torrente Miniarte

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Tell us a bit about your background in the arts. 

I studied at Pedro Almodóvar School of Arts.

What’s your earliest memory with miniatures?

My grandmother liked miniatures very much. She had a beautiful dollhouse.

How did you first get started making miniatures? 

One of my friends sewed miniatures for dollhouses (curtains, sheets, etc.) and she encouraged me to paint in miniature.

Do you remember the very first miniature you made? 

My first miniature picture was a landscape in a field with poppies.

What is your favorite type of miniature to create?

I enjoy anything related to painting.

Miniature painter Nuria Torrente of Nuria Torrente Miniarte lives in Ciudad Real, Spain. Shop her miniature paintings on Etsy and see what she’s been up to on her website, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

 

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Daily Mini Interview: Joanne Martin: A Life in Miniature Documentary Film Crew

Joanne Martin: A Life in Miniature Documentary Filmmakers

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View of the dollhouse Joanne Martin’s been working on since 1985.

What role did you play in this documentary, Joanne Martin: A Life in Miniature?

Stephanie Lewis (SL): Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Photographer, Video Camera, and Visual Artist.

Eris (E): Co-Director, Film Editor, Music Editor, Music Editor, Photographer, Photography Editor, and Video Camera.

What’s your earliest memory with miniatures?

(SL): My earliest memories of miniatures was seeing them at my aunt’s house. Other than that, like a lot of kids, I played with Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars and Lincoln Logs.

(E): I created a small neighborhood that ran on electricity for a science fair in the third grade. My parents helped me create this project. Not only was it an amazing bonding experience but it gave me an appreciation for the attention to scale that goes into creating miniature versions of our world.

Now available to rent! Watch "Joanne Martin: A Life in Miniature" here.

How did you first get started making this film about Joanne Martin?

(SL): First, my parents had said for years that I was a lot like my aunt, but since going away to college, I hadn’t spent much concentrated time with her. I was curious if they were right. About seven years ago, I invited my aunt to come down to Arkansas to speak to the art club I advised at my college. She gave such a fantastic presentation on the Miniature Museum of Greater St. Louis and we had such a great time together, I thought it would be exciting to make a film about her and the museum. I got sidetracked from the project after a major illness in 2012 that took me a couple years to fully recover from. Shortly after that, I met Eris. We began talking about the project and she told me how much experience she had with video editing, and she had recently graduated with a degree in Graphic Design. I asked her if she’d like to help me realize my vision and she said she would. We were both also extra motivated in 2015 after a nationally recognized film festival came to our region and was especially dedicated to championing women and diversity (The Bentonville Film Festival (BFF)).

(E): Stephanie approached me in early 2015 with the idea of making this film. We had been friends for a couple of years and this seemed like an exciting adventure to embark on. Her passion for the subject was catchy and soon we were filming, organizing, and editing.

Screen capture of Joanne talking about her dollhouse that she’s been working on since 1985.

In addition to Joanne’s passion for miniatures, what other topics does the film focus on?

(SL): The film is essentially a biography: her family history and her role as anchor in her family and extended family, her relationship with her mother, her thoughts on her religious upbringing, her career life, her role as President of the Miniature Museum of Greater St. Louis (the film contains scenes of her speaking about various miniature boxes and dollhouses in the museum), her tenacity, and it touches on her reading disability and dropping out of high school.

Anything you learned while making this film?

(SL): As an artist who normally works in the two-dimensional, static mediums of painting, drawing, and printmaking, I found the dynamic, moving medium of film/video to be exhilarating even if it at times, it could be tedious. Another thing I liked was working collaboratively. Work in traditional art media can be very lonely as they are almost always predominantly solitary pursuits in one’s studio.

A detail of the dining room in Joanne’s dollhouse she’s been working on since 1985. This image also features one of her punch needle rugs which are one of her miniature-making specialties.

Any tips/tricks you learned about shooting small scale works?

(E): Depth of field can be a curse or a blessing. Strict attention must be paid to get the shot. It’s also good to try a variety of lighting situations.

Favorite miniature-centric quote or mini-focused scene from the doc?

(SL): “I hope it comes out the way I pictured it. Sometimes things don’t come out the way I think they should. And the trash can is sitting right next to me.” —Joanne Martin speaking about the placement of a tree next to one of her dollhouses. (Speaks to the creative process in general, but I also like it as a metaphor for my aunt’s approach to life, too.)

How can fans view the documentary?

(SL): The film will likely be released to the public in 2018-2019. For 2017 – 2018, we will be submitting the film to film festivals. When it is released, we will release it for sale as a DVD and will have it available online for rent or purchase in digital format. That is our plan now. We just launched a Kickstarter for our post-production costs this summer.

What festivals are you planning to submit to?

(SL): The Bentonville Film Festival, The Tallgrass Film Festival, The Slamdance Festival, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Ozark Foothills FilmFest, Cinema St. Louis… Those are a few we have been looking at. There will be more.

Favorite filmmakers?

(SL): In no particular order: P.T. Anderson, Hal Ashby, Lars von Trier, Guillermo del Toro, Michel Gondry, Miranda July, and Diablo Cody.

(E): Milos Forman, P.T. Anderson, Terry Gilliam, Madeleine Olnek, Diablo Cody, and Patty Jenkins.

One of Joanne’s roombox scenes.

Favorite films?

(SL): Top three in order are Harold and Maude, Magnolia, and Mary and Max.

(E): Amadeus, The Fisher King, and Harold and Maude.

What advice would you give to new filmmakers or film crews? 

(SL): Stay really organized at the front end. It makes all the difference. That extra time you spend organizing, will allow you to really savor the creative stuff later.

(E): Get out and make the movie. I wish someone had told me how much fun it was. Filmmaking is the best!

Do you collect miniatures yourself? 

(SL): I do not. I’m not much of a collector except for Wonder Woman merchandise and memorabilia.

Favorite mini makers?

(SL): I enjoy the work of mini-food maker, “Walking with Giants.” I like Lori Nix’s work. I would say that the first miniaturist to really turn my head, besides my aunt, would be Frances Glessner Lee and her miniature reenactments of crime scenes: her Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. She was also a trailblazer in forensic science because of that work.

(E): Personally, I’ve always been inspired by the people who create the miniatures used in large scale theatrical productions. From Star Wars to Inception, the quality of work used to trick the viewer has always been amazing to me.

Film director Stephanie Lewis with her aunt and film subject Joanne Martin.

What inspires you?

(SL): Being immersed in the art world as a college art professor is my primary source of inspiration, but I’m also inspired by the heroic people around me. We don’t have to achieve fantastic things to be heroic. Most of the people I find heroic are very humble and people would never expect them to be heroes in some capacity. I love people who are the heroes of their own lives as well. I find my aunt to be one of these heroes.

(E): I am inspired by this world that seems to be evolving into a more accepting and loving place.

What is the most memorable miniature you have ever seen?

(SL): I’m not sure I could answer this definitively, having seen so much art. I love the cinematic quality of Lori Nix’s work. Frances Glessner Lee’s work is understandably haunting.

(E): I’ve enjoyed some of Tatsuya Tanaka’s work. I like the interaction between mini and real sized objects.

What is your hope for the field of miniatures? 

(SL): Before I started the film, I was not as aware of the miniature field as I am now. Originally, I thought it might be a niche medium, but now I think a lot of different people are involved in it — from women like my aunt, to young men, mainstream fine artists, to Hollywood miniature set designers. I don’t think it’s going anywhere.

Detail of the wall in the game room in the dollhouse Joanne’s been working on since 1985.

How can miniaturists and miniature collectors help keep the art alive? 

(E): I think getting the word out to the younger crowd is necessary. Every time I show anybody anything to do with this film, they get excited. I think that people just need more exposure.

What would you like to see replicated in miniature?

(SL): Anything for which the reduction in scale would be ironic. I’m a sucker for humor.

Why a miniature doc?

(SL): Actually, I would not characterize this film as a “miniature documentary.” I would call it a film about one miniaturist who also runs a miniature museum with snapshots into her life and past. I love documentaries. I watch them voraciously. I love learning in general and am drawn to non-fiction primarily. I wear a lot of hats lately. Film is a new hat I wear. I’m enjoying working in a new medium quite a bit. It’s a brain and creativity rejuvenator for me.

(E): I love artistic collaboration, so when this opportunity arose, I couldn’t say no. Working in video brings together several of the artistic mediums that I love. Photography, music, design, and writing come together to make this work.

What’s to come from the Joanne Martin film team?

(SL): Our next project is still in its planning stage, but it will also be a biography of a sort with a dash of dark humor and surrealism.

Other hobbies you enjoy?

(SL): Hiking, swimming, and travel primarily.

(E): Travel and playing guitar.

Would you like to share a dailymini exclusive with readers? 

(SL): I still have my childhood Hot Wheels/Matchbox collection. 

Stephanie Lewis lives in Bella Vista, Arkansas and Eris lives in Springdale, Arkansas. Together, these two have been working on Joanne Martin: A Life in Miniature, a documentary film that will be touring over the next year. You can now watch the film here. To learn more about their film, visit the documentary website, consider donating on Kickstarter, and check out the official film trailer. To connect on social media, check out the latest updates on FacebookYouTube, and Twitter.

A detail of a miniature in Joanne’s ½ inch house.

Daily Mini Feature: WEE#RESIST Exhibition at D. Thomas Fine Miniatures Curated by Dr. Louise Krasniewicz

WEE#RESIST: Miniaturists Confront Cultural Fears and Provide Commentary on an Unstable World

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The Gallery at D. Thomas Fine Miniatures presents WEE#RESIST: Miniaturists Confront Cultural Fears and Provide Commentary on an Unstable World, an exhibition guest curated by Dr. Louise Krasniewicz (Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania) that features current cultural perspectives from 12 miniaturists from across the globe.

Miniature works of art from WEE#RESIST will be on view Sunday, June 18 through Friday, September 15, 2017 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. An open house reception will take place from 1-5PM on June 18 and will include an exhibit overview and discussion beginning at 3 PM. Shop hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11AM – 5PM and evenings by appointment.

The WEE#RESIST exhibition will explore the growing issues, challenges, and controversies facing all people as we move together through this period of uncertainty. The concept for WEE#RESIST was borne out of ongoing discussions of the numerous changes to the current cultural climate and world landscape and how so many presently feel powerless to affect change.

“The use of the miniature art form to enlighten, enrich, and serve as a reflection of cultural themes has existed for centuries. Miniatures compel us to focus in on a subject, explore intricacies and techniques used for their creation, and challenge us to think, question, and react” says D. Thomas Fine Miniatures owner Darren Scala.

Louise Krasniewicz (LK) described the process of curating this exhibit with Darren: “We thought a lot about the difference between a curated show and an open call to miniature artists. We decided to go with an invitational show because we wanted to focus on artists who demonstrated an interest in using miniatures as a form of political (as opposed to just aesthetic) expression. Both Darren and I scouted around for artists who were already doing this type of work and we exchanged ideas and contacts for a few weeks. We also selected some artists whose political work was not all that obvious but who created miniatures that lent themselves to the theme. We ended up pleased with the variety of media being used by the artists (metal, knitting and fabric, dioramas, photography, mosaics, mixed media) and learning about artists we had never met before.”

Darren and Louise had spoken for years about the different types of miniaturists: hobbyists, collectors, fine artists, artisans, and so on. The question that often arose was, “what do they have in common besides working with scaled objects and scenes?” Louise has always argued that miniatures (in all forms) are about creating worlds that viewers are drawn to, are invited into and can experience as an alternative to everyday reality. The artists in WEE#RESIST are doing what other miniaturists who do not think of their work as political are doing: offering a view of the world by making an object or scene that lets the viewer actually experience it rather than just look at it from the outside.

Why do you believe so strongly in this topical theme?

LK: There are all sorts of ways to resist what I see as unfair and biased ideas and actions, political stances that are hurting people, ruining the country, and not coincidentally destroying the planet. Knowing that all sorts of people are drawn to looking at miniatures, it seemed to me that making resistance art in miniature form was a perfect solution to the need to do something.

What’s to come from Louise Krasniewicz? 

LK: I am continuing a series of movie scenes from old black and white films. These were movies I saw over and over as a kid and their aesthetic and content always influenced what I did: I suppose it will be a sort of homage to those cheesy Sci-Fi, comedy, and adventure movies we used to watch every Saturday morning. I have two Harry Potter projects in the works: the Hufflepuff Common Room which has never been seen in the movies or even described in the books; and a scene from the Department of Mysteries that is described in the books but never illustrated.

Most of my time this winter, however, was taken up with a miniature photography project using low quality mini-figures to stand in for or express human emotions or experiences. More than 5,000 photos later, and I am still not done with the project!

Anything else you’d like to add about D. Thomas Fine Miniatures?

LK: Darren Scala’s shop and gallery are the perfect places to experience the wide range of miniature possibilities, from fine art productions and exquisite artisan creations to supplies and collectibles for the miniature maker. His commitment to expanding the world is miniatures is unmatched and I hope that WEE#RESIST is seen as another effort in that direction.

Using a broad range of media including diorama, metal, photography, clay, and mixed media, the impressive roster of WEE#RESIST artists includes:

Nix + Gerber
Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber have collaborated on dioramas and miniatures for over fourteen years; their work has primarily been the subject matter for Nix’s fine art photography. Lori’s images of faux landscapes and gritty urban interiors have gained wide acclaim in both the U.S. and Europe, and she is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow in photography. Their photos of miniature dioramas have graced numerous book and album covers and the duo has illustrated stories for numerous magazines. They have built miniature sets and props for videos and provided models for a video short for BBC America’s Coppers. Lori and Kathleen got their start in set building for an advertorial video for the first sustainable sushi restaurant Portland, Oregon, called “The Story of Sushi.” They continue to make large things small in the wilds of their Brooklyn apartment.

Their entry, “Flyover Country,” is a small diorama depicting the view of rural farmland with the word “resist” in a field seen from an airplane window. The viewpoint is that of the airplane passenger watching a farmer operating a combine in the field and asks the question if he is the creator of the “resist” in the field or if he going to mow down the word in opposition. “Flyover Country” provides a glimpse of a rural life that is often under-appreciated, misunderstood and may be at odds with itself and it is these beautiful and misconceived battlegrounds that are desperately needed for society to succeed. All residents of “Flyover Country” feel the brunt of the effects of many of the proposed new or modified governmental policies and they are closely connected to the land and issues concerning clean water; renewed toxic dumping by corporations; the opening up of new lands for drilling, fracking, or digging; decaying infrastructure; defunding public schools; and loss of public broadcasting will affect them more directly than those in urban environments.”

Issam Kourbaj
Kourbaj is a UK-based artist born in Soweida, Syria, which he calls “the navel of the whole human civilization” and where the revolution against the French began in 1925. Issam grew up surrounded by recycled objects such as spoons his uncle fashioned from dismantled bombs and quilts created by his grandmother from tattered cloth. “Recycled materials are embedded in my DNA,” he explains, and the use of these items are reflected in his art. He began painting in the Institute of Fine Arts in Damascus and was later accepted to the Repin Institute of Fine Arts in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). His art connects imagery to his homeland, offering a glimpse of the fragility of life and home experienced by Syrian natives and touches on words he likes including excavation, palimpsest, unearthed. “My work is about Syria without being explicitly about Syria.”

Thomas Doyle
Thomas Doyle creates sculptures rendered in 1:100 to 1:43 scale often depicting human figures beset by quiet calamities sometimes of the natural kind. Doyle’s work has been shown at museums and galleries across the US and Europe. Images of his work have appeared in various publications including The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker. He is a recipient of the 2009 West Collection purchase prize and is a MacDowell Colony fellow. “If the Creek Don’t Rise,” Doyle’s first solo museum exhibition, was held at Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, New York in 2016.

Doyle explains, “Like many Americans I am concerned about what feels like a daily erosion of the values that make America great. The people in my works take no stance on any issue, candidate, or party, but instead throw protest, anger and consumer goods into the blender of an ‘always on; communication culture where it seems everything is dialed up to 11. The path forward will be a long one, but it’s hopefully one we can travel without losing our sense of humor.”

Pat O’Brien
A native of Kansas City for over 30 years, Pat O’Brien recently relocated to the Ozarks. A lifelong deltiologist along with her love of nature is the inspiration for her creation of “tinyescapes” for the last fifteen years. She explains, “I enjoy creating pieces that convey a story that can transport the viewer on a tiny escape.”

O’Brien’s work has been shown at a variety of galleries and art fairs in the Kansas City area. Each “tinyescape” is a diorama created with vintage postcards and model landscape materials. Subject matter ranges from fly fishing to whimsical scenes depicting hunters being stalked by bears.

O’Brien created a series of dioramas for WEE#RESIST as her personal expression of her frustration with the current White House and Administration including the building of a border wall.

William Kass
William Kass is photographer working in Brazil in advertising and visual arts; he produces authorial works based on still life photography. His current focus is the series entitled “Minimize-Food” and “Minimize-Objects” that portray unusual viewpoints of everyday life experienced by little people. He features these small characters in sets made with food and other commonplace items such as matches, candy, fresh foods, and sushi, that become integral part of a miniature world where unexpected stories take place. Kass composes each scene within the frame of his camera obtaining the perfect perspective to capture the playfully whimsical narratives. These lighthearted compositions feature the artist’s clever and imaginative way of seeing the world.

Althea Crome
Althea Crome is a self-taught fiber artist and micro knitter. Trained as a respiratory therapist, her love of knitting and her fascination with miniatures led her to her current career in conceptual miniature knitting. Althea’s inspiration comes from her love of nature and art and her work has been exhibited nationally and abroad including the Museum of Art and Design, Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts, and in private and museum collections such as the Museum Gateway Center in Kentucky and the Toy and Miniature Museum in Kansas City. Crome is a Fellow of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans and teaches regularly at the annual Guild School and in private class venues.

“In my work you will see tradition and innovation combining and merging in surprising ways. As a miniaturist, I have learned the importance of proper scale; as a knitter I have come to respect the art of traditional technique and pattern design.” Every one of Crome’s knitted miniatures is rooted in tradition, but none are mere replicas of existing patterns or styles and with a spirit of continued curiosity and a desire to create new and original pieces, she continues her pursuit for the love of knitting within the limitless possibilities of this miniature scale.

Camilla Hällgren
Camilla Hällgren is a professional artist and academic, serving as an associate professor in the department of educational science at Umea University in Sweden teaching on the graduate, master and doctoral levels. Her work reflects her focus on the intersection identity, social issues, and contemporary media and education. Since 2010 her work has been represented throughout Sweden and she is the author of numerous publications on art, education, and media.

“In my artwork, I use a combination of visual expressions and research to explore ideas about identity, social roles and power relations. I compel my art to ask: Who are we in this big world? What does it mean to be human? I work with macro techniques using 12mm model train figures and everyday items; I add crazy ideas, existentialism and theories about power, gender and identity. In short I present big issues on a small scale!”

Diana Maria Rossi
Rossi has been making mosaic sculptures for the past 28 years; she has a traditional art school background and holds a BFA degree in printmaking. Since the beginning of her mosaic career she has worked mainly in small scale with her largest mosaics to date measuring 22” x 40”, and created a public art piece at 30.5” x 25” (small for public art). “I think that I have naturally gravitated towards small scale mosaic work due to a variety of factors; rebellion against the prevailing mores of art school that ‘big is better’ and not widely questioned when I was in school; my work spaces have always been small; and I want control!!!! It is so much easier for me to control a small space.” “I like the intimacy of small — I like the idea of the viewer stumbling upon a surprise.”

“Insignificant,” Rossi’s triptych for WEE#RESIST includes three tableaux; “The World is Flat” speaks to the environment, climate change, scientific fact, and how the erosion of truth diminishes us all including the natural world. “No Body’s Hostess” tackles a woman’s right to reproductive choice and forced childbearing, while her third installment attempts to articulate feelings surrounding immigration and the position on refugees. Rossi used a combination of glass mosaic on wood with photos, text, and rose quartz marble.

Jill Orlov
Jill Orlov is a classically trained and award-winning architect, inventive artist, sculptural furniture designer, and innovative miniaturist. Her current focus is full scale furniture as well as miniatures objects and vignettes in 1/12th scale, utilizing mild steel she makes by hand along with cast metals and reclaimed objects including vintage wooden drawers, boxes, crates, plumbing parts, and other items often considered to be castaways. Orlov’s fascination with the creative process, including miniatures, began during childhood where she could be found making furnishings and accessories for her dollhouse.

During her architectural career she came to realize her favorite part of the complex design process was the making of models. “Every building I designed began with a series of scaled models and soon I came to understanding that these models were my contribution to the evolving built environment…just in miniature!” It was through enrollment in a welding class that her creative and career turning points occurred. This new-found use of metals and the processes involved in their fabrication have led to the design of a range of full size and fine scale miniatures, many depicting real life scenarios, reimagined.

In “O”, Orlov uses the letter “O” from a salvaged piece of signage to show two views of the Oval Office. Using a rotating floor, she offers views of two opposing worlds: the office of the former administration that made significant social and environmental progress represented in brushed solid steel, versus the underside, representing the current Oval Office, shown in negative space with decomposing and decaying rust. It is this overturn to the underside that is her view of the opposite of reality, the opposition and oppression resulting from many recent executive orders.

Lauren Carly Shaw
Lauren Carly Shaw is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY; she holds an MFA in sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute and a BFA in sculpture from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She participated in an international immersive contemporary studio program, Metafora, in Barcelona, where she had the opportunity to study mold making and assisted in the creation of several massive outdoor portrait projects.

Lauren’s work addresses feelings of detachment, transformation, evolution, mortality, and femininity. She uses a combination of synthetic and natural materials including plaster, silicone, cardboard, latex, and digital animation in nontraditional ways. “I am deeply interested in the human form. My work reinterprets physical elements from the human body, animals, inanimate objects, and synthetic materials. Using cast replications or constructed likenesses of the human form in conjunction with other relatable objects and materials, I make references to conditions such as scale, space, environment, and fantasy to create surreal and detached archetypes of the human form.”

Shaw’s WEE#RESIST piece is an involved scene of 6 inch President Trump being tied down by a miniature hoard of protesters. The setting for the Gulliver’s Travels-esque downfall is a putting green where the Z-scale miniature figures emerge from all corners of the green. Making Trump larger than the masses emphasizes that our voices may be little but, when we work together, we can make change and have a great impact.

Louise Krasniewicz
Louise Krasniewicz is an award-winning photographer, miniaturist, and miniature gardener whose miniature works have recently been exhibited at the Philadelphia Flower Show, the Singapore Garden Festival, Philadelphia Miniaturia and other miniature shows, D. Thomas Fine Miniatures, The Bryn Mawr Film Institute, and the Belmar Arts Center. She is also an anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies American popular culture, fan conventions and cosplay, comic books, and movies. As both an artist and an anthropologist she is interested in worldbuilding: how people construct alternative universes that enable them to engage their imagination, creativity, and critical thinking. Her current miniature photography project utilizes low quality miniature figures to see if this imperfect form can still express human emotions and experiences. She is recently the recipient of a 2017 New Courtland Artist Fellowship which will be used to engage seniors and children in a joint miniature memory-palace project.

“Like many artists confronted with the current political situation, I did not think my small productions could make a big statement about the horrors of our cultural moment. Although I am never at a loss for ideas to create in miniature form, I was stumped about making a series of political works that moved beyond simple critique. I often let materials suggest art pieces rather than preconceiving them.” Several of her pieces created for WEE#RESIST resulted from the inspiration of fake yellow fur and include portrayal of the president giving the finger to the Constitution, the president trying to decorate King Tut’s chair in “The Boy King”; Trump in “Infinite Regress: or What Would Donald Trump See in the Mirror of Erised?” seeing only his bald head and a bit of flaming hair ad infinitum. Other works use this yellow fur as symbolic Trumpian fire: tiny women trapped in tiny bottles threatened by these yellow flames; a scene from the nuclear apocalypse movie Fail Safe with flames destroying the protective bunker; a knitter dragging her pink wool though a flaming path; silly gold men in boxes sitting on fool’s gold and comforted by the toxic flames. “The variety of my works reflects, I think, the many arenas that are being affected by this new disturbing reality that we, as artists, have to address.”

Mackenzie McAlpin
Mackenzie McAlpin resides in Philadelphia, PA and is a graduate of Ohio University with a degree in Art Photography and Retail Merchandising. A self-proclaimed “odd job kind gal,” she works as a babysitter, bookkeeper, production assistant, teaches art to children; as an artist, she works with clay and documents life through the lens of her camera. “I learned most everything I know about miniatures from my Mom, Linda; she started making minis when my siblings and I were young and after she passed away, I started sculpting miniatures and I felt like she was making them with me. Each piece is handcrafted in Philadelphia, made with love and humor just like my Mom would have done!”

For WEE#RESIST, Mackenzie has created a mini clothing rack with white tee shirts on hangers using metal wire, polymer clay, and acrylic paint. Each tee shirt will contain a single-word statement such as “EQUALITY,” “RESIST,” “PEACE”, “WOMEN,” inspired by the many protests occurring in Philadelphia and across the US.

To learn more about WEE#RESIST, visit dthomasfineminiatures.com/weeresist today. D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is a retail destination featuring artisan miniatures and top quality collectibles and where a broad array of DIY/workshops and classes are taught by master artisans. The shop also includes a gallery space exhibiting works by renowned artisans from all over the world. 

Daily Mini Interview: Miniature Houses by Prettymodels

Miniature Houses by Marina Paredes of Prettymodels

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What’s your earliest memory with miniatures?

When I was a child, I loved collecting miniature toys. It had a whole shelf of them. My favorites were the Polly Pockets.

What scale do you work in?

I do not work with a specific scale. Most of the time I’m guided more by sizes that are appealing to me.

Do you remember the very first miniature you ever made? Do you still have it?

The first miniature I made was when I was around 10 years old. I made it with toothpicks and it was a little house with small furniture. I remember that in order to open and close the door, I used a piece of cloth. I still keep it with much affection.

What is your favorite type of miniature to make and why?

One thing that I enjoy very much is making miniature versions of people’s houses. It is very exciting for them and I have a good time.

Actually, I love to make houses in miniature. I especially enjoy making small furniture, making details like plants, carpets, paintings, televisions, etc. Finally when you put them together they are like a small town.

What is the most challenging miniature to create?

For me, the most difficult thing is to make very small objects without losing too many details.

What materials do you use in your miniatures? 

The material I use most often is wood of various types (soft wood like balsa or hard wood like linden). I like to use it because it is a very versatile material. I also use modeling paste (clay) to make some details for my houses. And then for colors, I use acrylic paint.

What advice would you give to beginner miniaturists?

I think that somehow, almost everything is seen. So I would tell them to look for their own space, with something that differentiates them from what already exists and elaborate their own style or brand. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel — just think how to make it better, or smaller in this case.

Favorite miniature?

A mini house from Pixar’s Up movie.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by architecture (shapes, textures, techniques, materials), design, colorful objects (which inspire me to feel joy), symmetry, and the decoration (directly from which I “feed” my creativity to create my miniatures).

What is the most memorable miniature you have ever seen? 

One month ago, I discovered miniature pottery pots from Troy Schmidt (@reddragonpottery). He makes them the same way they are thrown in life size, but in miniature, it’s amazing!

Favorite miniature artisans?

Chris Toledo (@ibuildsmallthings), April Wright (@aprilwrightpottery), Tomo Tanaka (@nunus_house), Joshua Smith (@joshua_smith_street_artist), Eero Kumanto (@eerokumanto), Devin Smith (@awesome_thanks).

Favorite Instagram accounts?

Why miniatures?

As a model maker, I realized that the smaller a model was, the more appealing it was for me. I found them more attractive this way.

Now that I do miniatures, I like to see the reaction people have to “small things.” I don’t know exactly why people react this way when they see an object that was scaled down, but they like it a lot.

What’s to come from Marina Paredes? 

I am now preparing a series that will be called “Houses of the World.” It will be a series of 8 houses from different cities around 5 continents.

As for selling at shows, in September I’ll be heading to my first miniature fair in Barcelona (ASSARMICAT) and I hope it will be the first of many.

Other hobbies you enjoy?

I like cinema and I used to watch a lot of films. Other things that I like to create: handmade jewelry, sewing, scrapbooking, designing and restoring furniture. I just bought a violin so now I’m trying to make it sound good. I hope that someday I will achieve it.

Anything else you would like to add?

I want to take this space to thank you for the interview because I know how much it means when someone appreciates your work. I want to thank all those who support me, my followers on Instagram because we are growing more and more quickly and I hardly have time to realize it. And above all, to thank those who trust me and decide to take home one of my miniatures, which I create with care and affection.

Marina Paredes of Prettymodels lives in Murcia, Spain. To see more of her miniature houses, visit her website and shop the collection on Etsy. Make sure to follow along on Instagram and Facebook!

 

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