Chicago Tom Bishop Show: April 27-28 (Preview April 26, 2019)

For over 40 years, Tom Bishop has produced a show featuring work by some of the finest miniaturists on the planet with all of the thrills only miniatures can provide. This year's event will take place during the weekend of April 26-28, 2019 (preview sale April 25) at the Chicago Marriott O'Hare. If you're planning to attend, we encourage you to start plan now, especially if you are traveling and need to make room accommodations since rooms book up quickly. (Photo above: Artist Studio by Erik Goddard).

Here are just a few of the some of our favorite artists scheduled to present at the show and highlights of their work.

Erik Goddard

Architect, artist and miniaturists Erik Goddard creates awesome structures and room boxes, often with interesting stories to tell. This year he will be presenting a two story 1/12th scale "ultra modern house" 1” scale ultra modern house. He'll also be teaching the awesome artist studio during the week leading up the show.

Michael Yurkovic

Engineer, industrial designer and miniaturist Michael Yurkovic from Atomic Miniature creates super mid-century modern furniture and other intricate scaled treasures. Michael will unveil his 1/12 scale vintage typewriter, created with 48 individually hand-turned metal keys.

Kraig Councell

Kraig Councell from Creative Eye Miniatures is best known for his lovely scale landscaping and florals. Kraig will introduce an assortment of tiny herbs in additional to new potted plants, orchids and lilies. (Photo: Herb Hanger featuring Basil, Lavender, Dill Weed).

Frank Crescente

Artist, interior designer and miniaturist Frank Crescente is a master miniaturist who creates stunning scale chandeliers and ornate architectural accessories. While we can't guarantee the breathtaking piece pictured above (from last year's show) will be on view this year, we're sure his table will trill you just the same.

---

For more information about the upcoming Tom Bishop Show in Chicago, head over to www.bishopshow.com. See you at the show!

---

#obeytheminiature #rethinkdollhouse #itsokaytoplay #BadAssMiniatures #LivingTheMiniLife

ABOUT D. THOMAS MINIATURES

D. Thomas Miniatures is a retail and gallery destination featuring top quality collectibles including 1/12th scale structure, furniture and accessories. The concept, designed to appeal to collectors, crafters and enthusiasts was created, in part, to raise awareness of miniatures as a decorative art form and to introduce the discipline not only to a new generation but to those who may just be discovering it! The gallery space showcases work in miniature by well-known artists from all over the world.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest or contact us here!

This Week in Miniatures...

Welcome to the latest round up of news and events happening this week in and around the mini world! (Photo: Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw at the Postmasters Gallery)

Miniature: The Documentary

This is the BIGGEST thing about little things to hit the big screen! "Inside our world, there is another. An alternate reality in a different scale." Miniature is a new documentary by team Tony Coleman and Margaret Meagher from Tiny Goat Films.

Theatrical premiere Sunday Feb 3 at 2pm at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto, Canada.

Check out the trailer here.

Scale: Ain't it Grand?

Our (full size) antique Maitlin-Smith bar cabinet from our private collection (and a popular post on our Instagram account) is seen here along with its 1/12 scale counterpart by JBM Miniatures.

In Miniature by Simon Garfield

"Bestselling, award-winning writer Simon Garfield returns with an enthralling investigation of humans’ peculiar fascination with small things—and what small things tell us about our larger world. "In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate The World" (Simon & Schuster) hits in March!

Have a listen here to this fascinating extract from the book read by Adrian Scarborough.

New Work by Ben Thomas

We just added two new pieces to our Facebook Shop and "buy now" space on Invaluable including a 1/12 scale framed reproduction by Ben Thomas of “Gathering Grapes” by Claude Lorrain (1642).

Solo Showing in Scale

Artists Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw use miniatures to "explore themes of life and death, sincerity and the grotesque and the correlations between past, present and future." Pictured here: the final death scene from the 1997 Heaven's Gate cult suicides (oy!) which can be seen at their solo exhibition at Postmasters Gallery began last weekend in NYC.

Postmasters

54 Franklin Street, NYC

January 12 - February 23

Street Scenes by Issac Cordal

Artist Issac Cordal uses miniatures to raise awareness of social issues and to help bring about change with well-placed tiny works in Cement Eclipses, a series of tiny scenes placed about in streets throughout all Europe.

---

LOOSE ENDS:

> The Guardian asks the question "Why are we fascinated by miniature books?" (well, duh...cause we LOVE tiny things!)

> Meet Rick Maccione, master miniaturist, who makes mega miniature castles. He also donates his talents and skills to charitable causes. We like Rick.

> Miniaturist Gregory Grozos creates super-detailed wearable worlds "lovely in their tiny perfection" and filling us with wonder and awe

---

We hope you enjoyed this WEEkly update. Please be sure to share this with other miniacs and have them subscribe here so they never miss an update!

---

#obeytheminiature #rethinkdollhouse #itsokaytoplay #BadAssMiniatures #LivingTheMiniLife

ABOUT D. THOMAS MINIATURES

D. Thomas Miniatures is a retail and gallery destination featuring top quality collectibles including 1/12th scale structure, furniture and accessories. The concept, designed to appeal to collectors, crafters and enthusiasts was created, in part, to raise awareness of miniatures as a decorative art form and to introduce the discipline not only to a new generation but to those who may just be discovering it! The gallery space showcases work in miniature by well-known artists from all over the world.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest or contact us here!

2018 The Year in Miniatures...

Here is a recap of some of the biggest stories and trends that hit the miniatures world in 2018.

Miniatures in the Mainstream

Fans of "Fixer Upper" were blown away by this "mom-made" dollhouse refurb inspired by the HGTV hit series starring Chip and Joanna Gaines. A version of this dollhouse made it into production just in time for Christmas available at Target!

New Books Featuring Miniatures

A collection of artisan miniatures are featured in Think Small by Eva Katz and The Book of Mini (available for pre-order) by Kate Unver (of Daily Mini fame!) made it to the market in 2018. Frank Kunert launched his own book featuring a series of his photographs of his miniatures.

The Creepy Dollhouse Trend Continues

Leah Yao (Fatal Potato) created a Memento Mori for the BadAss Miniatures exhibition at D. Thomas Fine Miniatures, Juli Steel's creepy Victorian dollhouse and Max Hooper Schneider put together an abandoned dollhouse for exhibition at "Tryouts for the Human Race" at the Jenny's gallery in Los Angeles.

Why Miniatures? Discuss.

The Guardian took on the growing popularity of miniatures (yay!) in "Small World: Why We Love Tiny Things" by Simon Garfield.

BadAss Miniatures

"Tiny art without boundaries" caused a little stir at our BadAss Miniatures exhibition in the gallery and featured quirky, defiant and slightly uncomfortable miniatures by over 30 artists including Devin Smith (Awesome, Thanks), Ann Marie Mathius and Kim Clough (Fairchild Art).

Ted Talks: Miniatures

Mohammed Alamedy, Bill Robertson (IGMA Artisan) and Mohamed Hafez (Mohamed Hafez Art) talk miniatures in Ted Talks presented over the past year.

D. Thomas Goes to Manhattan!

We went on a very special field trip to visit Gulliver's Gate, the miniatures attraction in Times Square, New York City which appeals to miniatures enthusiasts and just about everyone else!

Main Stream Media:

Spotlight on Miniaturists

Several miniaturists were profiled in main stream media including June Clinkscales from Miniatures by June (Tastemade), Amanda Kelly/Panda Miniatures (New York Post) and Chris Toledo (L.A. Times).

Miniatures in Film and Television

It was a banner year for miniatures in film and television. HBO's Sharp Objects and Hereditary with Toni Collette both featured dollhouses as central to their themes and The Miniaturist (PBS/BBC) brought Jesse Burton's popular novel to life in as a series.

Gallery and Museum Shows

Works by Susan Leopold were featured at the Elizabeth Harris Gallery in New Y0rk City, MOMA exhibited Bodys Isek Kingelez in "City Dreams" and Thomas Doyle showed work at the Bruce Museum's Downsized Small Scale Sculpture (Greenwich CT).

Team Nix + Gerber presented mega-sized photographs of their miniatures at a number of galleries across the United States in "Empire" and Issac Cordal was part of an artist residency sharing work in an abandoned convent in Spain.

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures + SquintBox Miniatures

In addition to our new seasonal SquintBox miniatures offering, we launched SquintBox MiniMerch, a line of (people sized!) lifestyle products (wearables, decor and more!) to give miniacs a new way to express their love of minis. We also partnered with talented miniaturists to fill Nybelwyck Hall, the mini manse at the Hudson River Museum and held our first online auction and started selling on Invaluable!

Miniatures Help Promote

We companies like Sofi, Apple and New York Lottery featured miniatures to help launch and promote their products in 2018.

Chaotic and Diminutive Disorder

Muji Kojima replicated the sad spaces of the departed a mini hoarder miniature, Amanda Kelly's (Panda Miniatures) "Her Bed" and Corrine Tryon's Tiny Crash were filled with discordance and disorganization in 1/12 scale.

Surprise Use of Miniatures

Zombie Peepshow's fashionable pair of wedges filled with miniatures, Jill Orlov's full-sized bar cart with a miniature bar set into the piece and Brooke Weston's (repurposed) taxidermy filled with miniatures scenes introduced new and surprising ways of using miniatures.

#MyMinisAndMe

We took some time to celebrate the miniaturists who make minis - if you have a photo of you and your minis, we invite you to send them in, we'd love to share in a future post!

Moshe Sampter

---

It was an awesome year for miniatures as more and more people discover tiny and find ways to incorporate the small into their world. Thank you all for your support and love of these little things we love so much we look forward to an even more terrific 2019!

---

Happy New Year - we hope you enjoyed this special year end post. Be sure to share this with other miniacs and have them subscribe here so they never miss an update!

---

#obeytheminiature #rethinkdollhouse #itsokaytoplay #BadAssMiniatures #LivingTheMiniLife

ABOUT D. THOMAS MINIATURES

D. Thomas Miniatures is a retail and gallery destination featuring top quality collectibles including 1/12th scale structure, furniture and accessories. The concept, designed to appeal to collectors, crafters and enthusiasts was created, in part, to raise awareness of miniatures as a decorative art form and to introduce the discipline not only to a new generation but to those who may just be discovering it! The gallery space showcases work in miniature by well-known artists from all over the world.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest or contact us here!