Showing posts with label miniatures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miniatures. Show all posts

Saturday, September 05, 2020

The Greatest Exhibition


The Greatest Exhibition (Illustration for visual narrative, March 2017, Acrylic on tracing paper mixed on acetate)

 
Artist & Illustrator, Fann Peeti
[See her mouse toy theatre HERE...]

In this project, I created a replica of The Crystal Palace, the building in The Great Exhibition of 1851. This artwork shows ten (10) innovations that changed the world. 


Also, it tells the viewer that the most incredible creation is themselves, hopefully to increase viewer's self esteem.

Monday, December 16, 2019

Lost & Found: Tinkering with Intent


Take a peek into Blair's bizarre and beautiful world. In a remote corner of New Zealand's South Island, tucked away among the last remaining tracts of native forest, lies a little-known place of wonder. It is the life's work and extraordinary creation of inventor, artist and self-confessed tinkerer, Blair Somerville.

For over twenty years Blair has single-handedly owned, operated and ceaselessly expanded the Lost Gypsy Gallery, his wonderland of homegrown wizardry and a playground for kids and adults alike. Using only recycled materials, Blair takes DIY to artistic extremes. His creations are ingenious, interactive, and often hilariously impractical. They take many shapes and forms and share an uncanny ability to amaze, entertain and inspire.


Art and entertainment don't need to be expensive. Sometimes the most fascinating and wonderful things come from the most peculiar places.

Blair Somerville lives in the remote town of Papatowai, on the South Island of New Zealand. He uses found materials and other curious objects which he re-purposes into magical moving artworks.

Blair realized early on that he didn't need a lot to live, and that money and material possessions were not important. Instead he has chosen to value happiness, creativity, and well-being.
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If you'd like to visit Blair, please note that he is open summers only, November - April, 10am to 5pm. Closed Wednesdays

Monday, December 24, 2018

Focus on Toy Theatre: DAVID'S VOICE (film)


David Worobec is a classically trained vocalist who performs musical theater on miniature stages. Not content to play merely one character, he sings and performs every part with the help of an ensemble of action figures he’s carefully cast in each role. Through a series of intimate performances and conversations with David, his mother and others close to him, there emerges a portrait of an artist searching for his place in life.

I've posted about David before. Even other films about him. But this film is my favorite, because it's the most intimate, sharing with us a bit more 'behind the scenes'.  What an amazing performer!

Sunday, April 01, 2018

Maker Spotlight: Maggie Rudy & Mouseland


Recently, I discovered a wonderful article about  Maker Maggie Rudy, who invited us into her studio where all the magic happens for Mouseland...


Artist & Author, Maggie Rudy

Maggie’s fascination with mice began in the third grade, when her family moved to Lancaster, England, where her father, a biologist, had a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in physiology. She awoke from her “baby stupor” to an English aesthetic that would remain hugely influential in her life: hedgerows, gypsy carts, and a field trip to the home of Beatrix Potter. From a shop in Lancaster, the Rudy household acquired some mice made of felt. She and sisters Susy and Annie dressed them and placed them in a variety of settings. The “rapture of the tiny” that she celebrated in childhood has never left her.
- Rapture of the Tiny

The short film below is fun to watch, where Maggie lets us in to her studio, and shows us a few of her secrets on how she makes the magic happen!


Currently, Maggie has a traveling diorama touring the US, as shown below. Be sure and check it out if you can, when it comes near you!

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Maker Spotlight: Studio Schaapman & Mouse Mansion!


Studio Schaapman is a family business, consisting of Karina Schaapman and her children, Tom, Ian, Manita, and Lili. They are the creators of the children’s book seriesMouse Mansion (translated into 25 languages).



In the books, they use detailed miniature settings they build themselves that can now be admired at their Amsterdam Muizenhuis (or Mousehouse) shop. At the back of the shop is their studio where they create their mouse worlds, and where visitors can look inside. People often ask questions about the inspiration, design, and construction of the mouse mansions.



In the Mouse Mansion shop & studio you can:
  • Marvel at the Mouse Mansion sets built for the books, including the harbor, funfair, circus, and theatre
  • See how they are built and ask the makers questions
  • Listen to audio books and read all the Mouse Mansion books
  • Browse around the shop for Mouse Mansion goodies
  • Children can color while parents can take a seat to read to their child




Studio Schaapman even provides video tutorials for those who want to build their own mouse houses!

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Mouse Shops by Anonymouse

"Am I too late?" Mr. Mouse wonders.  It looks like he is - the door is locked, the lights are out, and no one answers...






"Mrs. Mouse will be very disappointed," Mr. Mouse mutters to himself as he leaves...
The mouse shop in-the-making.  The creative process and attention to detail are amazing!
You may think you’re a nice, considerate person.

But ask yourself: have you ever considered the appalling lack of shopping centres for tiny mice?

No. We didn’t think so.

Thankfully, some artists have made it their mission to give mice the shopping opportunities they’ve been desperately waiting for.

Anonymouse is an anonymous collective of artists. We do not know much about them, other than the fact that they’ve now spent quite some time creating very small shops for mice around Sweden.

The shop is about to open after an early morning rain...


The shops are all perfectly mouse-sized, and are decorated with mouse-friendly meals, posters advertising upcoming mouse concerts, tiny chairs for customers to perch on, and all other forms of mouse-related delights.

‘For us the main point with the little scenes are to spread a bit of joy, so the question of our identities seems quite irrelevant,’ Anonymouse told metro.co.uk when asked to reveal their true selves.

‘The scene is there for its own sake so shifting focus to us just seems unnecessary.’

The attention to detail is amazing; nods to other rodentia works is amusing. 
The tiny labels, the country-of-origin flags...it all adds to the "reality of the small"!


Anonymouse told us that the idea for shops for mice started over a year ago in Paris.

‘We are obviously fond of miniatures,’ they said.

‘We like to imagine a world where mice lives parallel to ours but just slightly out of sight. It was also a bit of a fun challenge to look at a “human” object and consider what a mouse would do with it.’

They started to create the shops in March, and now work on making new ones occasionally, as the need arises.

The two mouse shops are located on a busy street corner, tucked away into a window well.

A customer's bike, a menu on the wall, and a credit card list on the door - who knew mice used credit cards?!

When asked if there’s a deeper meaning to the work other than providing mice with shops, Anonymouse said: ‘Nope. Only if you want it to be.’

Deep.

Banksy Mouse?
Anyway, the whole thing is lovely, and mice finally have a place to buy tiny croissants. Hooray.

If you’d like to keep up to date on all mouse-focused building works, follow Anonymouse on Instagram.

Source:  MetroUK

Sunday, July 10, 2016

The Gnomist

Deep in the forest of Overland Park, KS, little gnomes made a home. But how did they get there? This is the story of paying it forward, one little house at a time. A Great Big collaboration with filmmaker Sharon Liese and CNN Films, present The Gnomist...