Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Photo: Marina Totino.
A miniature vintage kitchen created by artist Marina Totino.

As the tsunami of Covid anxiety recedes back into the ocean, many of us are finding interesting flotsam and jetsam scattered around the beach. It is not only Zoom calls and working at home that remain. It’s increased engagement with Nature. It’s art suited to confined spaces (remember Shelter in Place Gallery back in 2020?).

The art of miniature making flourished when we were stuck at home and is still going strong. Alina Hartounian has a story about that at National Public Radio (NPR).

“Miniatures are huge right now,” she writes. “Social media feeds are chock-full of people painstakingly re-creating tiny kitchens where they may cook button-size eggs over the heat of a tealight. Creators give tours of carefully crafted homes decorated with handsewn, postage-stamp-sized pillows. …

“The pandemic is largely responsible for this talent boom, according to the miniaturists themselves. Artists on lockdown began showing off their to-scale creations and sharing their techniques. The resulting talent feedback loop has led to miniatures that are more detailed and thoughtful than ever.

” ‘I made my TikTok in 2020 like everyone else did. And that kind of blew up,’ said miniaturist Amanda Kelly, the first artist-in-residence at the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures in Tucson, Ariz.

“Kelly’s work incorporates the tiniest details, like minuscule coffee rings, balled-up tissues the size of pinheads and teeny banana peels. …

“Why is social media so smitten by a working scaled-down sink, or books with printed words too small to read with the naked eye?

“The answer is as complex as some of the miniature-scapes themselves, according to experts and miniaturists.

” ‘It’s definitely about control,’ said Kelly. ‘It’s like when you play The Sims or some sort of simulation game where you have control of everything that happens in this little space, in this in this little world that you’re creating.’

“Susana Martinez-Conde, a neuroscientist at the State University of New York Downstate, agrees. … In our distraction-filled world, she said that getting to watch someone painstakingly craft the scenes is mesmerizing: ‘We’re almost craving deep attention, especially now that we’re pulled in so many different directions.’ …

“Most of the time, there are no humans in the art, just the relatively giant hands of the creator. And there’s almost always a backstory.

” ‘You can slow down and think about the little stories and you can get lost in creating what world you want,’ [Ashley Voortman, miniature artist and author of Creepy Crafts: 60 Macabre Projects for Peculiar Adults] said. Her stories are usually of the macabre variety, like an elaborate scene she made about an ‘unethical’ mental health facility, because, according to her, ‘an ethical one wouldn’t be very scary.’

“Montreal-based artist Marina Totino‘s tiny scenes tap into her love of nostalgia, particularly from the ’80s and ’90s, and transporting the viewer back to childhood. ‘I fell in love with just creating spaces that once existed that will never exist again,’ said Totino.

“Her work includes a shoebox-size video store with hundreds of DVDs. Its brick walls are tagged with graffiti, and a busted-up ‘Sorry we’re closed’ sign lies at the bottom of the front door. Mirror effects make its shelves of videos seem infinite. …

“The scale of these projects — usually at a ratio of 1:12 — makes them a special kind of challenge to construct. ‘It takes so long to build miniatures.’ said Totino. ‘It’s such a time-consuming medium, and I superglue my fingers together all the time. I drop things on the floor, I lose things because they’re so tiny and then I have to restart.’

Totino analyzes the shapes of objects to try to re-create them, like the curves on a corded phone that she carved from wood.

“Voortman starts her projects with a vague idea of what she wants to create. ‘I make miniatures out of a lot of used stuff, so I just would pile all my trash in front of me and then just start putting stuff together,’ she said.

“Using craft supplies and the junk she collects — like old soy sauce bottles, trinkets and lids. — Voortman has made a tiny haunted house out of a matchbox and an abandoned city on a teapot. …

“The miniatures community is a welcoming one, according to creators. There are a host of them who encourage one another online and meet up at miniature shows, conventions and sales, which are held across the U.S. For those who want to get in on the trend, Totino said there is no wrong approach.

” ‘It doesn’t matter how perfect your miniature world is. It could be made out of paper or cardboard and it’s still a way to be creative and make art and live in a space that is only yours that no one else can go to,’ said Totino.”

More at NPR, here. Please add more things that Covid-enforced contemplation gave the world.