Celebrity Miniaturists

Apart from all of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, celebrities are pretty much just regular people--so it makes sense that celebrities would have interests and hobbies, just like the rest of us.

If you follow this blog, then you already know how much we at D. Thomas Fine Minaitures love everything miniature, so we were, of course, just dying to know which of our favorite celebrities share this passion.

Now, we all know, celebrities can be a bit elusive when it comes to their personal lives, but after a bit of digging, we were able to find a few celebrities who have a love for all things small.

MINDY KALING

The multitalented Mindy Kaling is mostly known for her witty humor and for being the creator, writer, producer and star of the hit TV show, the Mindy Project. But, did you know that Kaling is also an avid miniature collector?

In an interview with Parade Magazine back in 2013, Kaling opened up her home for a tour, during which she briefly discussed her miniatures collection.

ANNA FARIS/CHELSEA HANDLER

Back in March of 2011, Anna Faris appeared as a guest on the now canceled late-night talkshow Chelsea Lately. During the show, Faris opened up to host Chelsea Handler about her love for miniatures. Faris is, in her own words, “crazy about miniatures” and apparently enjoys recreating crime scenes in miniature. During the interview, Handler admitted that she too enjoys collecting miniatures, but didn’t give any further details on her involvement in the craft.

ROD STEWART

Singer-songwriter Rod Stewart is primarily known for his raspy voice and chart topping rock hits. But few of Stewart’s fans know of his beloved collection of model trains.

Stewart is such an avid collector that almost the entirety of the third floor of his home is dedicated to a replica scene of a vintage Manhattan rail yard. Stewart has been working on this scene, which includes, buildings, people, signs and cars, in addition to the trains themselves, for over a decade. The artist has been collecting and creating miniatures for almost 30 years.

REBECCA ROMIJN

Best known for her role as Mystique in the XMen film series, it turns out that Rebecca Romijn is not only tallented and stunning, but is a passionate miniaturist as well! The model and actress personally confirmed her involvement in the world of miniatures with D. Thomas Fine Miniatures via Tweet earlier this year!

RUMORED CELEBRITY MINIATURISTS

Kirstie Alley: The internet is awash with rumors of the actress’ love for creating dollhouse miniatures, and one of her dollhouses appears to have been briefly mentioned during an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show featuring Alley.

Joan Rivers: the late, great comedienne Joan Rivers is also heavily rumored by the Internet to have been a lover of miniatures. A number of people claim to have spotted Rivers shopping in miniature shops over the years—though Rivers never publically admitted to being a collector.

Ben Affleck: A picture of Ben Affleck working on a dollhouse has been circulating the Internet for a few years now. Though it is unclear whether he is a collector, or if he was working on the house for another reason (Maybe an upcoming film? A present for his daughter?), we sure do hope that miniatures are on the list of this busy actor’s many, many hobbies.

Tiny Towns: Theme Parks in Miniature

Though the most traditional miniature replicas are created in 1/12th scale, the world of miniatures is experiencing an increasing amount of variety in the scale of replica pieces. For example, it is not uncommon to now find micro-miniature objects recreated in sizes as small as 1/48th scale.

On the other end of the spectrum, miniature theme parks create smaller versions of international landmarks in a number of different scales. These parks transform recognizable attractions into more interactive pieces that visitors can view at eye level.

One of the most well known of these parks, Miniaturk, is located in Istanbul, Turkey. The park spans an area of 650,000 sq ft. (60,000 sq m.) and displays the entire city of Istanbul in 1:25th scale as well as a few other popular destinations from across the nation.

The park includes the most important city landmarks, such as the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, as well as to-scale recreations of historical landmarks, such as the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and other now extinct structures, and does not skip on the fine details, including miniature replica houses and trails in the residential portions of the city. A replica of the Bosporus flows through the center of the park.

In Beijing, China, Beijing World Park spans an area of more than five million square feet (467,000 sq m.) and provides visitors a “taste” of the world without the need to leave the city limits.

The park contains 109 landmarks from nearly 40 countries and 5 of the 7 continents in 1:25th scale. The park includes replicas of such well known sites as the Pyramid of Giza, the Taj Mahal, Notre Dame Cathedral and, of course, the Statue of Liberty and Golden Gate Bridge.

Despite the growing number of newer miniature parks, the Panorama of the City of New York in the Queens Museum in Queens, New York continues to be one of the most iconic and popular miniature “parks” in the world. Though its 1:1200 scale buildings are significantly smaller than the aforementioned attractions, the exhibit covers an area of 9335 sq ft. (867.2 sq m.).

The panorama was originally created as an exhibit for the 1964 World’s Fair and included every building, road, park, bridge and waterway in all 5 boroughs of New York. In 1992, the exhibit was updated and now includes all buildings in the city up until that year.

As of late, new miniature parks have been popping up all around the world and can now be found on almost every continent—from Italia in Miniatura to Mini Israel to the Teotihuacan Diorama in Mexico. Each of these parks serves as an opportunity to learn about the culture and history of its respective nation, and, most importantly, a chance to marvel at mini-architectural masterpieces.

(Okay, we admit, culture and history is pretty important too. But we tend to have a one track mind when it comes to Miniatures!)

(photo credits: Istanbul for 91 Days, World's Best Travel Places, Daily Telegraph, Queens Museum)

Extreme Miniaturists

When we think of miniatures, we usually think of dollhouses, right? While dollhouses are an elemental part the world of miniatures, miniatures are definitely not confined to this genre of the craft. From tiny musical instruments, to miniature food, and petite gardening, the world of miniatures has really expanded to encompass a number of unique categories since its creation.

On the front lines of this change are a distinct group of "extreme miniaturists" who are pushing the bounds of miniaturism as an art form—using the creative process to create high quality artisan pieces. Most of these artists incorporate the technique of hyperrealism into their work—creating minature scenes that are as realistic as possible, down to the tiniest detail.

A number of these artists concentrate on creating scenes that evoke narrative—they strive to make viewers of their work imagine the story behind the scenes that they create. Sometimes these detailed, realistic scenes reference historical events, or aim to bring attention to larger issues in society.

The first hyperrealistic miatures were created around the mid 20th century. The first, and possibly most widely known artist of this genre is the late Charles Matton. Amongst a number of artistic ventures, Matton was known for creating hyperrealistic roomboxes, which can be found in museums and galleries around the world.

Renowned miniaturist Jim Sevellec was also known for creating a number of highly detrailed, extremely realistic roombox scenes, including a series depicting historical scenes of daily life in the city of Brest, France for the city museum.

Lori Nix, perhaps the most noted extreme miniaturist of current times, builds on this tradition of the hyperrealistic miniature scene. Nix is known for combining fine, realistic details with elements of surrealism to create unique apocalyptic "diaoramas of decay". Her most recent series, The City, depicts the aftermath of an apocalyptic event in the city of New York.

Joe Fig, another artist of note, makes highly detailed miniature “tabletop” sculptures. Many of his sculptures replicate scenes from around his art studio—photographs of these scenes can be found in his books, Inside the Painter’s Studio and Inside the Artist’s Studio.

It is clear that hyperrealistc miniatures are becoming an increasingly prominent sector of the miniatures world. While the artists listed here are some of the more established of the field, there are a large number of up and coming hyperrealist miniature artisans who’s work can be found on social media sites, such Pinterest and Instagram, or in small galleries. Keep an eye out, as we are sure to see more and more of artists popping up the coming years.

(Photo Credits: Pinterest, Wikipedia, Lori Nix, Joe Fig, Cote Brest)