“People have a real love of looking at small worlds – something inside them is innately attracted to that ‘miniature’ realm.” ~ John Lasseter
In this issue we are exploring the challenges of scale. Using a variety of media: sculpture; painting; collage; textile; photography; print; film or installations this exhibition plays with the miniature. This reductive approach changes how we see the world and perspectives. This could be small versions of larger pieces, or an entire landscape or micro world. We have a fascination with small spaces as Jenna and Nichola both run micro art exhibitions. See https://www.instagram.com/new_haus_gallery/ and https://www.instagram.com/kofferraum_haus_gallery/.
We hope you enjoy these tiny worlds and artworks as much as we did.
Artist: Caren Garfen
Instagram: @carengarfen
Description: Worst Case Scenario has been created to illustrate the precarious lives of Jewish families in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The use of one-twelfth scale draws in the viewer to a miniature world. There are many clues including the packed suitcase, handbag and shoes by the door, and the passports and tickets sitting on the writing bureau….
Measurement: 54cm x 32cm x 30cm
Artist: Amber Andrews
Instagram: @Hermitage and Folly
Description: This tiny “Reading Room” has been created inside an unused glasses case, my aim was to create a welcoming space where a miniature occupant could enjoy reading their favourite book. All the objects in the room were handcrafted by myself using many miniature techniques including upholstery, ceramics and woodworking; many of the objects are crafted from repurposed or recycled materials. The spaces I usually create are on a slightly bigger scale than this but I enjoyed the challenge of going even smaller this time!
Artist: Tilly Howie
Instagram: @TillyHowie
Description: Cyanotype and Origami boxes. The smallest box measures 1 cm by 1 cm. The folding technique and cyanotype process are used as a measure of time passing.
Artist name: Scapa Joe
Instagram: @scapajoe
Description: We are a collaboration making art and sculpture with an aim of increasing awareness of climate change. All our models are housed in glass taxidermy domes. Some have LED lights in ( Mickey Mouse and Don't Walk in NY) have them. Each tells a story. Mickey House- a girl has survived the apocalypse, and lives in Mickey Mouse, an old amusement park attraction. She wears a gasmask because the air is polluted, as does the Seaworld dolphin which was abandoned in a toxic pool.
Artist: David Riley
Instagram: @davidrileymodelmaking
Description: Modelled at 1:12 scale, this miniature sculpture reflecting the modern workplace is totally handmade using a variety of materials. The sculpture incorporates electronics to illuminate the computer screen and the desk light. It captures the confusion and distraction that can often emerge in a 21st Century office space.
Artist: Barbara Jones
Instagram: @barbart2002
Description: "To see a World in a Grain of Sand, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand", William Blake. My series of prints, "Micro/Macro", are based on Blake's premise of the ability to visualise a whole world within a tiny image. Each print in the series has been created from circular card plates with a diameter of 2.3 cm and printed using my miniature intaglio printing press. With these tiny prints I aim to draw in the viewer to closely examine the details of images which appear mysterious yet reveal the basic elements of all life.
Artist: Mia-Jane Harris
Website: www.mia-janeharris.co.uk
Instagram: @art_of_miajane_harris
Description: From Mia-Jane Harris's sculptural series entitled 'This Little Birdy'. Erotic autobiographical stories told with tiny ethical taxidermy and upcycled vintage ceramics. Preserved with care and painted with a toothpick.
Artist: Karen Melvin
Instagram: @karenslaley
Description: My work with these small painted offcuts is about relationships: small to large; flat surface to 3D; rectangle to triangle; photographic detail to abstract form; little bits to an interrelated whole; real to imaginary. Imagining oneself in a dollhouse or table top landscape, moving through it, looking at huge art works and objects, there is a feeling of delight at the presence of oversize art, but also an growing awareness of overwhelming displacement, loss of innocence, not being able to play, a sense of doom, humanity overwhelming the rest of the natural kingdom, ghosts starting to appear. It is using the miniature to see more clearly, reducing things, reducing impact.
Karen Melvin's show info on the Small House Gallery website: https://smallhousegallery.uk/2022/04/07/karen-melvin-offcuts-homing-in/
And Small House North East curation project that was a part of:
https://smallhousegallery.uk/2022/03/15/small-house-north-east/
Artist: Rebekah Okpoti
Instagram: @rebekahokpoti
Description: Markus:Warlike and Thaddeus:Valiant are part of the Finding Home collection of
1:12 scale model Sonic Installation Art works that re-imagine the Last supper. How does Music and Architecture interact when in miniature? What is the place of the artist, the observer? The 'borrower'? Can you imagine being part of the miniature world? This collection allows the audience to be both at eye level hearing whilst simultaneously viewing as an outsider. What is your position to the work? Where do you place yourself?
Watch the video here.
Artist: Jane Gibson
Instagram: @diva_jane_gibson
Description: At only 3.5 x 7cm this work reflects insidious societal attitudes against women and girls taking up space physically, emotionally, intellectually or economically. We must present ourselves as thin and physically small, sit demurely with legs crossed, arms clasped neatly, seen but not heard for fear of being judged ‘shrill’, ‘bossy’ or ‘hormonal’, trapped behind threads of misogyny which are woven through the very fabric of our culture to keep us in our place. Red, however, represents danger – the danger posed to society by women who are confident in expressing their ideas and opinions, unafraid to own the space around them.
Artist: Alison Herbert
Instagram: @alisonherbertart
Description: My miniature books explore the loss of traditional bookbinding methods and the demise of books altogether in a multimedia digital world. The miniatures are an allegory of the usefulness of books as mine are almost too small to write in at only 3x3cm. Most of them are wrapped shut with a key on the outside representing the hidden treasures lost within books that sit dustily on our bookshelves.
Artist: Victoria Rotaru
Instagram: @vic.rotaru
Description: These images are a part of a big project called ANIMISM, which is formed of several series of manipulated macro photographs. Every morphed character is the result of the alteration of food and nature, you can see every little detail of rotten fruits, later transformed into fantastical creatures. The aim of my art is to show micro world in all its splendor.
Artist: Louise West
Instagram: @louisewestartist
Description: These pieces are miniature treasures painted in oil on 20cm square canvas. Set centre stage with a view to elevating these ordinary objects to reflect their personal importance. "Size isn't everything" is a fitting phrase to match these little household keepsakes.
Artist: Emma Denby
Website: https://emmadenbyartist.com/
Instagram: @emmadenbyart
Description: These small sculptures are a visual exploration of the relationship between perception of scale of the micro and macrocosmic universe. I like to make things that are questionable in size and capture them in a way that may make them seem like a huge monolith in a vast landscape or a microscopic cell floating around in an organic environment.
Artist: Amber Masters
Instagram: @ambers_art_stuff
Description: As a kid, when I got bored, I would look at objects and imagine that there were tiny people who had their own use for the object. They would use cups as swimming pools, candles as campfires and flowers for umbrellas. I had a whole miniature world up in my head, and it was fun to return to that world for this artist call out- I didn't realize how much I missed it!
Artist: Joanne Steinhardt
Instagram: @joannesteinhardt
Youtube:
Measuring Spoons: https://youtu.be/tTMQe2Y1QKE
Poppy's Painting Studio: https://youtu.be/-HWQEwOhy7U
Description: Each of the Tiny Things begins with an object acquired from (mostly deceased) family members. The objects affected me quite directly when they belonged to someone else and, in my possession, they have become containers where I interpret conglomerations of intimate memories. In miniature and with vivid detail, I recreate these fantastical places. The arduous combination of collection, creation, research, and production, means each piece takes months if not years to create.
Artist: ANDREW EKINS
Instagram: @andrewekins
Description: Thinking of E F Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful" and how something apparently small can make a large contribution to a big idea; small steps on a long journey leading to the discovery of a new place. This work is a distillation of a form employed on a larger scale to fill a given, expandable space.
