Rise of the Outdoor Mini Gallery

Interest in miniatures as a hobby has grown over the past year as folks have moved inside due to Covid-19 restrictions and are looking for ways to entertain and occupy their time. Rediscovery is underway of childhood dollhouses nestled away in attics and basements and refurbishing projects are underway.

Others have turned to creating small art and crafting tiny treasures on their kitchen table tops. 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 creating mini outdoor galleries to showcase mini art in a safe environment for others to enjoy including those who have never been exposed to miniatures before!

QUARAN-TEENY OUTDOOR GALLERY

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 trees along a popular trail near her home.

May’s “Quaran-teeny” outdoor gallery features a series of assemblages created using with 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!

STREET ART MINIATURES (SAM)

Canadian-based artist, Street Art Miniaturist (she goes by “SAM”), sculpts realistic polymer clay miniature foods including tiny hamburgers, popsicle sticks 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 her to go out and find her hidden in plain site treasures. SAM can be found on Instagram at @streetartminiatures

FREE LITTLE ART GALLERY

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 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

While the global pandemic has been devastating for so many (and continues to be), there is a mini silver lining as mini makers have been encouraged to find new ways to showcase their miniatures in unexpected places to a broad array of viewers who may have never known about our awesome little world, further encouraging folks to it has brought miniatures to a new, more broad range of people who may now consider taking up this awesome little hobby. More images can be found on her Instagram here.