Miniature art is anecdotal and personal

Nancy Snipper

Cactus Road

Roxanna Kibsey's studio is a shocker. And so is she. Aside from the usual clutter of paint brushes, palettes, tubes of acrylic, colour spatters and canvasses, her studio is brimming with all kinds of objects: hundreds of beads, thimbles, glue tubes squeezed to the end, tiny porcelain objects, miniature figurines, pieces of fabric and inch-high furniture.

Just when your eye has processed all the items, the scene takes on a sharper perspective: Kibsey appears wielding a knife, dripping in red.

"Oh, don't worry, it's just paint," she laughs. "Red is my favourite colour. It's bold, it makes a statement. I'm finishing off the background in one of my tree paintings. It's for a person who lives up north." Cleaning the knife with a cloth, she then picks up a pair of tweezers. Moving them in the air beyond her stunning paintings of tree trunks, roosters, flowers and houses, she points them directly at their unconventional target — a real doll house. It's a wondrous work of art that any Thumbelina would be proud to live in.

"Do you like it?" Kibsey asks. "A bit too small for me, but I wouldn't mind owning this replica of a Chippendale chair on a life-size scale," she jokes. "It's taken me even longer to put the finishing touches on this decorated doll cabinet. It has miniature dishes, even a perogie bowl. It's just like the one my mom had when I was a little girl."

Not only renowned for her magnificent birch bark paintings that she renders on canvas using knives, Kibsey also produces pictorial doll-size miniatures. "My paintings reflect the larger side of my imagination, but half of my brain lives in a tiny world full of childhood memories. I make miniature memory pieces using miniscule objects." One of her thematic montages consists of a recycled wooden soap holder housing a five-inch tall fisherman dressed in appropriate attire. He has a rod and frog on his lap, netting behind him and shells around him. There's even a boat in a bottle at the back. This piece is for her brother who loves fishing.

The objects she finds come from all corners of the world. "In Australia, I found that bottle, fairies, Aboriginal beads and buttons, even a violin broach. I rarely go anywhere without scouting around for the small stuff."

Roxanna's miniature art is anecdotal and personal. Each little item displayed on pint-size furniture tells a specific story in itty bitty ways. She recently created a piece for her mother's 80th birthday. It includes a half-inch square 1957 photo of her mother and herself, a perfume bottle, a little button, a string of old pearls, and vintage beads. Assembled on a little dresser whose drawers are open with personal effects spilling out, it is a darling treasure of cherished memories expressed in art form.

"I make these miniature memory art pieces using tweezers and glue. The objects I find are mainly recycled and they allude to the life of the person. My fisherman piece is for my brother. He likes to fish. My niece is a painter, so I created a piece that holds a canvas on a miniature easel which stands beside a cut-out photo of her. The entire work can sit in the palm of your hand."

Roxanna owns, eggs, mixing bowls, bottles of milk, rolling pins, even roosters — all as tiny as your fingernail. "My little world is something I can escape to. As for the big houses and trees I paint, they reflect the big side of reality, and sometimes, it's overwhelming."

Roxanna Kibsey is searching for artists who use found objects. Her website is at kibseystudios.com.