The Grunwald Gallery at Indiana University is pleased to announce The Miniature. This exhibition will open Friday, August 28 and continue through Saturday, October 3. Artist Joe Fig will give a lecture on Friday, August 28 at 5:00 pm, with a reception following from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the Grunwald Gallery. William Robertson and Althea Crome will give demonstrations on Friday September 11th at noon in the Grunwald Gallery.

For millennia, mankind has been fascinated with miniatures and examples can be found in art museums throughout the world. From the small representations of everyday life that were buried with the Egyptians to medieval pocket-sized illuminated devotionals, humans have been fascinated by the minute and diminutive. Small-scale objects intrigue people because they require more of our attention and imagination than we are used to giving. Why would someone make this, how does someone make this, and finally, how are we expected to interact with these objects?

The Miniature will feature the work of ten artists and artisans who create miniature work in a variety of media. Some of the artists make true miniatures: exact replicas of historical instruments or furniture, while others make models and miniature worlds of their own design. Many artists and craftspeople making works in miniature today display a compulsive motivation and an obsessive attention to detail. These artists must make unique tools to create their work, and the process of designing and constructing the tools to make these works is often as inventive as the finished pieces.

A series of demonstrations and lectures by the artists will be presented throughout the course of the show. These presentations will demonstrate some of the techniques the artists employ in conceiving and making their work.
Bill Robertson constructs individual objects and complete rooms at a 1/12 scale. These objects start with the study and research of the original components of the rooms. He studies the tools and methods used by the original craftsman to maintain proportion and detail when reducing an object to a smaller scale.

Althea Crome lives and works in Bloomington, IN, knitting on a 1/12 scale. She often creates her own needles out of stainless steel wires to produce 1/12 scale gloves and 1/144-scale cardigans. Her work has been featured in many exhibitions and publications and she produced a sweater and gloves for the film, Coraline.

This exhibit and corresponding programs were made possible by The College Arts and Humanities Institute and The Grunwald Gallery of Art, both at Indiana University.

For further information, please contact the Grunwald Gallery at (812) 855-8490 or [email protected]. We invite you to visit our website at http://www.indiana.edu/~grunwald/. The Grunwald Gallery is accessible to people with disabilities. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday, noon – 4:00 pm, closed Sunday and Monday. All events are free and open to the public. For more information on the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts at Indiana University, please visit www.fa.indiana.edu.

Cost: Free and open to the public

For more information contact:

Betsy Stirratt
(812) 855-8490
[email protected]