I have had a wonderful trip of which I spent five days in Philadelphia before and during the Philadelphia Miniaturia. I took two woodworking classes which were a lot of fun and where I have learned a lot. I got to meet and spend time with some miniaturists and ended up having a great time with some of the English miniaturists after the show.
It was my first time visiting an American miniatures show and I loved seeing everything I had read about and seen pictures of. The two American miniaturists who really stood out for me were Elle Piccolo (even though I am not a doll person) and June Clinkscales. I had seen pictures of dolls made by Elle before and always thought they were fun, but seeing the real ones made me realize they are far better than the pictures do them justice. The expressions on their faces and detail in their clothing makes you think you're looking at a little person frozen in time. Wonderful work.
The miniatures by June Clinkscales were my absolute favourites though. I have stood drooling over her work a couple of times during my visits to the show. Her treatment and eye for fabrics, texture and colour is fantastic! Her work has a lively and artistic touch which I often find lacking in miniatures. Here too, the pictures I had previously seen of her work showed me it was good, but the real thing is so much better! I hope one day to be able to buy one of her pieces. Do check out June's fabulous work on her beautiful website!
Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the miniatures mentioned. In fact, I didn't take many pictures at all. The few I did take I will show below. All of these were taken at the booth of Le Chateau Interiors from Louisiana. Their booth had a wonderful collection of antique and unique miniatures and these beautiful roomboxes below. I absolutely adore both roomboxes. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that my major in art college was textiles and fashion design. I apologize for the quality of the photographs, they were taken with flash and rather hurriedly. All photo's open to a bigger size when clicked on.
The Painting in the background suggests the scene represents Madame de Pompadour:
The figures in this roombox are old wax dolls, dressed by Le Chateau Interiors:

































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