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This Week in Miniatures

Jun 23, 2018

Welcome to the latest WEEkly round up of the latest news and reports from the MiniWorld! (Photo: Hereditary starring Toni Collette)

Hereditary Opens and Miniacs Applaud!

Hereditary, a new film directed by writer/director Ari Aster, may be considered one of the scariest movies of the year, but it's the miniatures featured in the film which are taking center stage. More here on the miniatures and visual effects which are creating a buzz in the miniWorld.

D. Thomas Miniatures on Instagram TV!

Check us out on new Instagram TV - - we'll be posting new, original content (miniatures!) to keep you entertained. If you're don't already use Instagram, this is a great reason to start!

Modern Miniatures at MOMA!

Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams opens at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. The show features "vibrant, ambitious sculptures created from an incredible range of everyday materials and found objects—colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps —all meticulously repurposed and arranged." On view through January 2019.

Mr. Kingelez in featured in this YouTube interview:

BadAss Makes News!

BadAss Miniatures by Carolyn Nygren Curran

A Big Thank you to Journal News/LoHud and writer Michelle Falkenstein for covering our little show! The online version can be found here. (Photo: BadAss Pottery by Carolyn Nygren Curran)

BadAss Miniatures – Causing a Little Trouble is on view by appointment at our studio/gallery through July 22 in Yonkers, New York. For a full details, along with additional images from the show, head here.

Petite Pride!

Gulliver's Gate NYC celebrates Pride Month with this BIG little vignette featuring marchers outside The Stonewall Inn, the epicenter of the gay rights movement! The full story is here from MetroSource Magazine.

We hope you enjoyed this WEEkly update. Be sure to share this post with other miniacs and have them subscribe here so they never miss an update!

#obeytheminiature #rethinkdollhouse #itsokaytoplay #BadAssMiniatures

ABOUT D. THOMAS MINIATURES

D. Thomas Miniatures is a retail and gallery destination featuring top quality collectibles including 1/12th scale structure, furniture and accessories. The concept, designed to appeal to collectors, crafters and enthusiasts was created, in part, to raise awareness of miniatures as a decorative art form and to introduce the discipline not only to a new generation but to those who may just be discovering it! The gallery space showcases work in miniature by well-known artists from all over the world.

PeepShow: Don't Tell

Jun 13, 2018

I have always seen miniatures as a form of virtual reality: as an invitation to step into an alternative world and share the stories and sensations generated there.

While studying early forms of virtual reality, I came upon the history of peepshows, boxes that had scenes inside from both nature and culture that could be experienced through viewing holes. There were itinerant showmen who would drag the peepshows from town to town and provide 18th and 19th century viewers with a glimpse of the worlds beyond their current lives.

For me, this is what miniatures have always done so I decided to use the peepshow format to present critiques of the worlds we often choose to ignore.

One series of peepshows I am working on addresses the art gallery scene, utilizing small cigar boxes and miniature figures and frames to call attention to the way galleries and museum often ignore the art by political activists (especially women) in favor of merely collectible works. The peepshow titled “La Leche de Madre” shows mother’s milk exuding from silver-plated breasts while male gallery visitors ignore it and stare at blank white frames.

For Badass Miniatures, I am entering a piece from the series #MeToo. In this peepshow, three miniature women are standing around an enlarged dirty hand that has been bound, Gulliver’s Travels style, with miniature ropes and stakes. The hands glows from lights inside it. One woman turns her head away, one holds a stake ready to put it into the ground, another takes a picture of the scene with a cell phone. The ropes are woven through beads that are the type young girls use to make bracelets. The beads spell “Don’t Tell.” All the women are carry bags and baggage.

While I often have trouble using symbolic elements in my miniature work (or explaining them), this peepshow has an abundance of symbolism that was so easy to layer on. The box is an old cigar box that easily attaches itself to a form of male culture; the “Don’t Tell” order is often given to young girls who have been sexually molested; the ropes and stakes tie the work to historical miniatures; and the beads remind us that very young children need a way to spell out their experiences. And finally the peepshow itself, once it entered the 20th century, became a place to see “dirty” pictures, usually sexually illicit (for the times).

In order for miniatures to be useful as a medium for addressing important issues, they need to break out of the traditional dollhouse mode. The dollhouse mode is so overwhelming in terms of the uniform and instantaneous reactions it elicits. It’s “Wow!” if the work has spectacular realism and perfectly scaled artifacts; it’s “How Cute” if it takes the route of the more imaginative use of scale and content. But what many artists have long recognized is that working with scaled miniatures draws the viewer into a world they cannot normally experience and it is up to us as artists to utilize that feature of miniature presentations.

The peepshow is especially effective at doing this because not only are all aspects of it small, but it requires the viewer to get close and look at the scene through a restrictive view. It requires attention, focus, and engagement. When miniatures do that, they are accomplishing the goal of all art: to help the audience pay attention in ways they had not imagined before.

Title: “Peepshow: Don’t Tell”

Size: 9”deep x 5.5” wide x 3.5” high

Materials: Wood, plastic

About BadAss Miniatures

Over 30 artists cause a little trouble by creating tiny art without boundaries. Defiant, quirky, and slightly uncomfortable. Welcome to the disobedient dollhouse.

BadAss Miniatures presents emerging perspectives in the miniature arts: an exhibition of original works in the miniature form contributed by artists from across the United States and abroad. Featured works represent a novel movement that challenges the status quo in the miniature art form through the presentation of unconventional ideas and concepts and the quirky, outlandish, surprising use of miniatures. “BadAss” aims to push the envelope on the traditional (rethink the dollhouse!) with an edgy and bold attitude showcasing the most jaw-dropping, surprising—maybe even shocking—miniature badassery to hit the 21st century.

BadAss was developed through the ongoing collaboration of Darren Scala and Kate Ünver, founder of dailymini, to push the boundaries of our traditional use of miniatures by spotlighting the edgy and bold attitudes of today’s artists.

BadAss Miniatures is on view through July 22, 2018 at YoHo Studios, 540-578 Nepperhan Avenue, Studio #566 in Yonkers, NY. Gallery hours are by appointment on Wednesday and Thursday 3-7pm and Saturday 11am-7pm. Hours are subject to change - visitors should call ahead.

For more information about BadAss Miniatures, please contact Darren T. Scala at D. Thomas Miniatures or visit dthomasfineminiatures.com/badass. For the latest innovations and news in miniature art, please visit thedailymini.com.

BadAss Miniatures YoHo Artists Open Studio

Exhibition Director: Donald Morcone

#badass #badassminiatures #rethinkdollhouse #obeytheminiature

ABOUT D. THOMAS MINIATURES

Meet BadAss Artist: Juli Steel

Jun 9, 2018

Welcome to Badass Miniatures...Causing a Little Trouble, a provocative and alternative exhibit of multimedia artworks, most created in classic miniature scale, with a substantially larger impact.

Juli Steel The Forgotten BadAss Miniatures

We're excited for you to meet some of the miniaturists featured in the exhibition including Juli Steel, a highly spiritual artist who creates scenes in various stages of decay, with ghost-like qualities.

She is a well established assemblage artist who creates both full-sized pieces and miniature works of art. Her entry is one of the largest pieces in the show in overall size and scope (22” high by 12” wide by 9" deep) but within it contains a vivid assortment of vignettes that are not only diminutive, but haunting.

According to Juli, who works from her vintage home in Fort Worth, Texas, “There are no boundaries to the expanse of my imagination. This same lack of boundaries is evident in my creations. I have a deep affinity for the old, damaged, discarded and forgotten pieces and parts found in junkyards and flea markets. Invariably, while wandering through, I will find at least one item that speaks to me with the voice of inspiration and sparks an urge to create.” Aptly, given her affinity for the eery and ethereal, her piece is entitled, “The Forgotten.”

Devin Smith Awesome Thanks BadAss Miniatures

The vintage dress form contains a center staircase and on its multiple levels therein lie miniature scenes of the chaos and wonder she has brought to the table with this piece. The armholes, neck and chest openings provide glimpses into this celestial world, one which mystifies and transfixes the viewer at every turn.

A self-taught artist of vast ability, Juli was right on target in creating a Badass Miniature that pushes boundaries and redefines what a modern-day dollhouse could be. Juli sells her works through her business, Twisted Copper Forest on Etsy.

About BadAss Miniatures

Over 30 artists cause a little trouble by creating tiny art without boundaries. Defiant, quirky, and slightly uncomfortable. Welcome to the disobedient dollhouse.

Exhibition Director: Donald Morcone

#badass #badassminiatures #rethinkdollhouse #obeytheminiature

ABOUT D. THOMAS MINIATURES