The Outdoor Mini Gallery!

The past year has been a challenge for everyone. We have all been looking for new ways to entertain and occupy ourselves and learn new things. We see a substantial growth in the interest in miniatures as a hobby across the US and the globe as we all moved inside due to Covid-19 restrictions.

This has led to the rediscovery of childhood dollhouses nestled away in attics and basements and many have undertaken refurbishing projects. Others have turned to creating small art and crafting tiny treasures on their kitchen table tops and some have even created dedicated workspaces in their homes. A natural inclination for crafters is to share their work with others but the pandemic has placed restriction on these opportunities. As a result, some makers have turned to showcasing their mini art in the great outdoors. This is a safe way for mini enthusiasts to enjoy these new works and offers those who have never been exposed to miniatures a glimpse at this art form that makes us all shiver with delight.

May Burnett is an arts educator from Dobbs Ferry, New York, a suburban enclave just north of New York City. Growing bored and restless during the pandemic lock down, she decided to create a series of whimsical mini art vignettes which provide commentary (and levity!) during the global crisis. She then affixed her work to a line of tree along a popular trail near her home.

May’s “Quaran-teeny” outdoor gallery features a series of assemblages created using a mix of photographs, foam core and scrapbooking materials. Her “Corona-Lisa,” inspired by DaVinci’s masterpiece, spurs on chuckles while encouraging viewers not only to socially distance when viewing the art, but to wear a mask and keep surfaces around them virus free! More of May’s work can be found at http://www.may-burnett.com/

Canadian-based artist Street Art Miniaturist (she goes anonymously by “SAM”), sculpts realistic polymer clay miniature foods including tiny hamburgers, frozen popsicles and ripened and peeled bananas. She showcases her (really tiny!) miniatures in various spots along streets in the Ottawa neighborhoods where she lives. Part of the appeal of her exhibits is the discovery process not only to those viewers who “stumble” upon her work (if they are lucky) but to her followers on social media who she encourages to go out and find her hidden, in-plain-sight, treasures. SAM can be found on Instagram at @streetartminiatures

Stacy Milrany, a Seattle-based artist, created the Free Little Art Gallery (FLAG) on a street near her home in Washington State late in 2020. Her concept became a viral sensation when she started what she calls her “public art experiment,” encouraging passer-bys to look at the art, leave a tiny treasure or take a tiny treasure from the 18” x 16” x 9” gallery built, with the help of a friend, to showcase inch-scaled paintings, sculpture and 3D printed figures. The concept was created to “to shed a little light, levity and beauty on a heavy world and catastrophic year” as described on her website www.milrany.com.

Although the global pandemic has been devastating (and continues to be) for so many of us, we can see a mini silver lining. Mini makers are evolving and are encouraged to find creative ways to showcase their miniatures in unexpected places. We now have access to a new, broad array of viewers who may never have known about our awesome little world and may even consider trying their hand at creating new mini treasures of their own!

This is a reprint of my feature in the March 2021 Issue of DollsHouse and Miniature Scene Magazine. Check out this magazine for the latest in happenings in the mini world!

The DollsHouse Whisperer

I’m a miniatures empath; Some may call me a dollhouse whisper. I’m able to guide, manage and calm collectors and their families once the important decision has been made to sell a treasured collection. I also connect collections with collectors to ensure that a prized assortment of miniatures find a “happy new home” where they can delight and be fully appreciated while honoring the memories the original owners.

Miniatures are so often misunderstood and dismissed as “toys” or mere “playthings” and sellers want to ensure that their estates are handled with the proper care and respect they deserve. Through the process of learning about the collectors and their collections, I find out about their specific passions, their favorite artists and where they made their discoveries. I ask questions and create an emotional connection while developing strong relationships with my clients, building trust and providing comfort in knowing that their collections will end in the right hands.

A few years ago, I worked with the family of a miniature collector. I learned that the collector was born in Philadelphia, was the wife of a prominent businessman and that she spent over 50 years putting together her collection. I discovered that a portion of her collection was gifted and exhibited in an East Coast museum and that it appeared on the cover of a miniatures magazine. It was terrific to meet with the granddaughter and great granddaughter to review the collection and talk about bringing it to market. They were excited to know that I would care for it as much for it as their grandmother did.

The balance of the collection consisted of, among other objects, miniature metal, pottery, flowers, and a pair of oversized, hand-crafted, antique hardwood secretaries. Through research, I found the original gallery in New York City which handled the sale of the piece and discovered that it was quite a rare object. When I began the auction, I connected with a buyer who had been looking for a similar piece for a long time and was thrilled when she discovered one had existed. She was overjoyed as the winning bidder!

More recently I connected with a woman who was handling the estate of her sister who had passed several years ago. Her sister was an avid collector with a passion for food miniatures and had commissioned and purchased an extensive assortment of fine scaled polymer clay bakery and confectionary pieces.

This included individual cakes and cookies as well as vignettes overflowing with scrumptious treasures created by artists like Mary Broaddus and Kim Saulter. My client expressed how delighted she was that her sister’s collection would be treasured, cared for and loved as much as her sister loved them. I’m still working on finding new homes for this wonderful collection!

I do love the miniatures world but what I think I love most is how it can bring people together through a shared love of tiny objects and respect for the craft.

This is a reprint of my feature in the March 2021 issue of Dollshouse and Miniature Scene magazine. Take a look at this magazine for the latest happenings in the mini iworld.

My Visit to The Stettheimer at Museum of the City of New York

Even though I grew up in New York City, I was never able to visit the famed Stettheimer, the elaborate and sophisticated dollhouse and darling of the collection on permanent view at the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY). The Stettheimer is one of the few examples of fine art and architecture in miniature from the early 20th century. Sometimes, even though you may live in New York, you don’t get to take advantage of all of the wonderful things to see and places to visit!

When I learned the MCNY was hosting “The Stettheimer Dollhouse: Up Close,” I knew I shouldn’t miss the chance to finally see the dollhouse I had only heard so much about and for so long. I now live just north of New York City, in Westchester County, and the trip into the City was quick, especially in the age of COVID-19: everything was either closed or scaled back to limited visitation.

I arrived at the museum, a stunning Georgian-Colonial revival by architect Joseph H. Friedlander and immediately headed to the second-floor exhibit. The dollhouse is usually kept in a corridor and now a new exhibit room to houses the dollhouse and collection of related artwork and artifacts, all never been seen before.

This exhibition celebrates the 75th anniversary the arrival of the dollhouse to the MCNY when it was donated by Ette Stettheimer, sister of its creator, Carrie, following her death in 1944.

Carrie Stettheimer was a New York City socialite during the 1920’s and 1930’s. She and her sisters, Ette and Florine, lived in an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and frequently entertained guests, some of whom were legends in the literary and art world including Gertrude Stein, Albert Gleizes and Marcel Duchamps, well-known for bringing the modern art movement to the United States.

Carrie asked many of her friends to create works of art in miniature for her dollhouse which she spent 20 years creating, decorating and furnishing.

I was struck by just how much art actually filled the spaces under its roof. The 16-room dollhouse is much larger and more lavish than I had envisioned, only seeing photographs online. It is several feet wide and equally as tall and is set on a column base. The ceilings in the house are high which add to the structure’s grandeur and elegance.

The dollhouse design was inspired by the home where the Stettheimer sisters summered as children located in Tarrytown, New York, just 30 miles north of New York City. The overall aesthetic was considered “outrageously chic” for the time and had an eclectic mix of color, style and design reflecting the energy and personality of its creator and her illustrious friends.

The front opening dollhouse contains rooms which can be seen from all sides of the structure. Windows can be peered through from any angle with visibility to multiple adjoining rooms. The miniature’s façade with large imposing columns is framed and set on the wall; nearby, enlarged versions of the miniature artwork seen inside the house to complement the exhibition.

The dollhouse includes a grand ballroom, an impressive space with floor-to-ceiling arched doorways, flanked by tall carved sculptures leading to a salon featuring striped painted flooring (a de rigueur design choice in stately homes of the time), a mezzanine balcony above and a room filled with original modern art paintings and drawings.

I can only imagine that a real balcony must have existed in their Tarrytown home where musicians would be invited to perform while extravagant parties happened below.

The rooms on the lower level offer a snapshot on how the wealthy of the time lived including an ice box and iron stove in the kitchen, toilets and a bathtub (plumbing!), hand-painted implements in a cleaning closet, an elaborately prepared table in the dining room and working electric fixtures throughout.

Many of the rooms are filled with a playful and eclectic mix of graphic patterns with explosions of color, hallmarks of the Victorian era. In one of the upper floor bedrooms, an intricate peacock design runs throughout the décor including the carpet, upholstery, wallpaper and hand painted on the furniture.

It was a terrific exhibition and more than I expected. So much so that I know I’ll be making trip back to the MCNY at least one more time before the exhibit ends on March 14, 2021. To learn more, please visit: https://www.mcny.org

This is a reprint of my feature in the February 2021 Issue of DollsHouse and Miniature Scene Magazine. Check out this magazine for the latest in happenings in the mini world!