Kansas City will welcome sixty-eight artists from around the world to an unprecedented juried art show, September 15-17, 2017.
The show is Miniature Masterworks and the participants are fine-scale miniature artists, selected from more than one hundred applicants by a panel of accomplished fine-scale miniature artists and museum curators. The three-day event will take place at The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures (T/m), home to the world’s largest collection of fine-scale miniatures.
Fine-scale miniatures are delicate works of art created in precise scale. The majority of fine-scale miniatures are in 1:12 scale (1 inch = 12 inches); however, there are artists who work in a scale as unimaginably small as 1:144. Fine-scale miniature artists spend weeks, months, or even years perfecting every detail of their work of art, even if it is invisible to the naked eye. Most of these fine-scale miniatures actually function like their full-scale counterparts. For example, if it’s a harpsicord, it will play; if it’s a clock, it will tick.
Miniature Masterworks, organized by T/m in collaboration with the International Guild of Miniature Artisans, was designed to give the public the opportunity and to engage with artists and to see international works that represent the finest of the art form.
All the artists and their works will be in the museum’s Tureman Education Center and South Gallery throughout the event. Visitors can attend gallery talks with eleven of the artists, including Lee-Ann Chellis Wessel and Maria José Santos, and hear the stories and inspiration behind their work in the museum collection.
All artists juried into the show were eligible to apply for the Barbara Marshall Award for Artistic Achievement. Named for T/m’s co-founder, the award honors miniature artists who exceed the current standards of fine-scale miniature making. The first-, second-, and third-place recipients will be announced during the evening event scheduled Friday, September 15.
See the Miniature Masterworks webpage for details and ticket information for this-one-of-kind event.
