Art in Progress
It is interesting how a collection or a body of artwork begins to take on a life of its own. With each purchase and with each item created, the personal style is built. It is not always apparent until one has accumulated a fairly large body of work. Each time I have photographed or visited someone's private collection, I am impressed by how strongly the personal style has developed, usually without conscious intent by the miniaturist. One person's collection may be colorful and joyful; another's may be nostalgic, particulary with respect to events in the miniaturist's life.
My style appears to be unfinished, incomplete, and perpetually in progress! I have purchased many items twice, not realizing that I already had one. So, I've started putting the items destined for a particular house or room into the projects, so I can see where I am at any time. It does mean that the items get extremely dusty, especially here in southern Arizona. That problem will be lessened when I finish putting the plastic cover on the fronts of the houses. Having the unfinished projects out where I can see how much I have yet to do is also pretty overwhelming, but I enjoy looking at my various houses, even though most of them are only 95% done.
When I graduated from high school, I was treated to a solo trip to Chicago to visit my mother's cousin, for whom she and I were both named. There I saw the Thorne miniature rooms and was absolutely thrilled. When I came to college in Arizona, I also saw the Thorne rooms at the Phoenix Art Museum. I think these exhibits, in addition to my mother's Tootsie Toy dollhouse furniture, were what inspired me to create miniatures.
As my collection has grown through the years, the focus has turned out to be historical accuracy and emotional nostalgia. I get such a thrill when people say, "That looks like my grandma's house" or "My mother had a dining table just like that". As the quality of the easily and cheaply available furniture has increased since I first started collecting, it is now relatively easy to have the kind of realism that are typical of the Thorne rooms.
That increased quality for reasonable prices now also applies to accurately scaled dolls for the dollhouse. I cannot seem to resist a beautifully made doll, in accurate period costume, and with a smile or gentle expression on their face. It is great fun to make up stories about the inhabitants of my dollhouses, all of whom are having a great time at some type of party or celebration. Only happiness and good will are allowed in my dollhouses. There is such a great variety of accessories now available for the dollhouse that my collection has expanded to educating about the entire way of life in the various periods, including the type of transportation and musical entertainment.