Special to The Ellsworth American

CASTINE — “The minis are in town!” That’s my way of telegraphing friends and family who appreciate world-class miniature craftsmanship — especially my dad, Robert Crosen — that the annual International Guild of Miniature Artisans’ Guild School exhibit is “now showing.” It’s always an amazing display of imagination, artistry, historical accuracy and wonder (how can they possibly stitch, cut, paint details that small?). For six years now, we’ve made a tradition — Dad and me, sometimes with our sweeties — of going to see this little-publicized show featuring the best work of miniature artisans from around the world, held as part of IGMA’s Guild School held each June on the Maine Maritime Academy campus.

The International Guild of Miniature Artisans is the largest miniature crafts organization worldwide. This year IGMA celebrates its 40th anniversary, and the Guild School just celebrated its 40th year of summer classes in Castine. Barbara Davis, the school director, said more than 200 students were in residence for the weeklong 2022 session (June 11-18), themed “Make the Connection.” It’s the biggest enrollment ever, representing 41 U.S. states and 14 countries, including 50 international students and 60 “Greenies,” the most new Guild members in a year.

Students are all ages, 18 and older, including some who have been attending long enough to earn a 20- or 30-year plaque. The instructors (numbering 29 this year) ranged from having one to 33 years’ experience teaching Guild classes. Though most were in class the morning we visited the show, there’s a sense of fun, excitement and creative camaraderie among folks we pass in the hall, a community of kindred spirits sharing a passion for fine miniature craftsmanship. This year’s students could choose among 41 classes, ranging from 12 to 48 hours of instruction, plus 28 evening seminars.

With MMA as their “home base” for each summer session, the Guild School has a well-established program. Members of an organizing crew arrive five days early to set up classrooms. The “Tool Pool,” stored from year to year on campus, includes some 500 special tools and equipment needed by teachers and students — tools for woodworking, jewelry and metalwork, needlework and upholstery, glass and ceramics and “lots of toaster ovens for the polymer people,” said Pete Boorum, education chair and keeper of the Tool Pool. From what I’ve seen, the polymer repertoire might include anything from a miniature fish tank, bird bath or flower arrangement to baked goods (picture a lattice-crust tart an inch wide), a cheese board complete with charcuterie and breadsticks (and mice), or a gift crate with “chilled” wine, grapes and other tiny go-withs.

It’s like a lilliputian Haystack School of Crafts, but with an emphasis on making authentic 1/12th to 1/144th scale reproductions of fine art, period furnishings, decorative and functional objects, nautical crafts (knots and scrimshaw), handmade books, metalwork (vintage bicycles and sewing machines), cultural icons and more.

Woodworking projects might include scale replicas of period furniture, complete with working drawers and doors and decorative details like turned legs, carving or marquetry inlay and real hinges and hardware. Or tiny Shaker bandboxes, or sea chests. At one show I fell in love with a collection of nautically inspired furniture and sailor’s valentines, all decorated with shells and painted scenes of sailors and mermaids.

Fiber arts miniatures range from petitpoint Persian rugs and tapestries to slipcovered couches, quilts and clothing (can you imagine knitting a cabled Guernsey fisherman’s sweater to fit Stuart Little?). And the possibilities for accessories are endless (how about fancy leather shoes and handbags with buckles sized for a mod elf? or a wee wicker picnic hamper complete with napkins and cutlery?).

The magic is in the details, and many projects combine skills and

materials, such as snowshoes with leather bindings and webbing, or a rocking chair with a tooled-leather seat. The most fascinating are dioramas or assemblages that draw you into a small world (no more than a foot wide) with charming details to discover — like a room filled with suitcases and trunks sporting travel stickers and luggage keys. Or a seamstress’s folding screen cunningly arrayed with sewing supplies, or “Dad’s Domain” filled with everything he might need in his basement workshop. Or a curiosity cabinet displaying miniscule natural-history specimens.

Longtime students, friends and colleagues, know each other’s special skills and often collaborate on projects, such as a woodworker’s curved-leg chairs with petitpoint floral seat covers made by a deft needle artist. Some projects (like a parlor scene with upholstered settees, Tiffany lamps, pets and carpets) are community efforts with multiple contributors.

Dad and I are both lifelong makers — he, decorative woodworking, models and still lifes; me, appliquéed scenes, sewing, beading, and maps — so we can really appreciate the artistic intricacy. Last year we marveled over a clock shoppe displaying every kind of clock made to scale (most of the clock faces just a half inch in diameter) with an attic workshop full of tools and clock parts, made as a tribute to the artist’s grandfather-in-law, a clockmaker. Another “standout” creation was a ship captain’s home complete with tiny kerosene lamps and a wispily clad lady ghost (who disappeared when we looked twice).

It’s not all exquisitely faithful tiny replicas—some of the most creative minis are whimsical, like a diorama of Harry Potter’s magic room (filled with spells and potions); an elegantly urban art nouveau his and hers bathroom; an “octopus’s garden” of chairs made of shells and other sea relics; a castaway’s cabin; and characters from “Clue” flamboyantly costumed in their signature colors.

The wonder of it all is not just how the artisans come up with such creative ideas, but how they do it all so minutely, and find the patience. It’s challenging enough making such finely crafted things at human scale — to do so in miniature is awe-inspiring. No doubt the Tool Pool includes powerful magnifying glasses in its collection so the artisans can see what they’re doing! Fortunately, the class schedule includes time to stretch, refresh and refocus tired eyes, with sea kayaking, qigong, social gatherings in The Bilge, silent auctions and a lobster bake.

One of these years I just might have to take an IGMA class to learn some of the magic that goes on behind the scenes. For now, I’m perfectly content with marveling at the tiny worlds of wonder the artisans create — and taking pictures so I can zoom in and enjoy all the details again.

Some of the most tempting projects this year were a Sailor’s Valentine Box, with 33-year Guild instructor Mary Grady O’Brien; Victorian Parquetry Sewing Box, Chris Malcomson; Stumpwork Embroidered Mirror, Daniela Kiefhaber; Crystal Necklaces, Sue Lemmens; Early Classical Guitar, Ursula Dyrbye Skovsted; Tooled Leather Train Case, Deb Mackie; Ballerina Shoes, Valeria Bonomi. We’ll look forward to seeing how they turned out in next year’s show!

The Guild School exhibit, held in the Harborview Room in MMA’s Student Hall, usually runs Sunday to Thursday the second week of June, from 9 to 5 except Thursday from 9 to noon when the exhibit clears out to make way for this year’s class projects just completed. If you missed it this year, mark your calendars and check IGMA’s website, www.igma.org, for next year’s schedule, or email the director, Barbara Davis, at [email protected] .

Jane Crosen, a mapmaker and freelance editor, lives in Penobscot. Author of “Maine Mapmaker’s Kitchen” and the “Coastwise Edition of Colby’s 1881 Hancock County Atlas,” she’s nearing completion on a second atlas and cookbook.

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