As a member of the Artisan and Fellow Selection Committees, I’ve heard that statement a few times. Many who utter it are looking for some tips on the process, or encouragement to take that leap; its an admirable goal, especially for those who are interested in the constant process of refining their skills making miniatures.

A group of submissions is set out and ready for evaluations.

The best advice I can give to prospective applicants is to use your eyes. First, use them to read all the information that is posted on the IGMA website on the application process and read the guidelines. Keeping the guidelines in mind, examine your work, is it compliant with the guidelines? Secondly, look at work around you-if you can get to shows, find the best work there and note what about it makes it the best. If you have no access to great miniature work first hand, look at great full-size work, the only difference will be the scale, but you can see how the proportions work for the elements of each piece, if its furniture, how the various pieces fit together, how thick or glossy is the finish, is your work as clean and neat, just proportionally smaller-in proper scale?

As for the process, it goes like this: the committees meet once a year following a schedule set out on the IGMA website. You must notify the committee chairperson or the Guild Administrator by the stated deadline of your intention to apply. The notification allows the committee to estimate the amount of time they’ll need for evaluations. This is not an absolute commitment, so let them know even if you’re not sure you’ll be ready in time, it is much better to drop out, than to ask to be included at the last minute and find that the committee will not have time to evaluate your submission.

You must then submit your pieces with the accompanying paperwork within the time frame. The committee chair persons  receive all submissions and prepare them for evaluations, this includes removing any and all traces of the submitters names so that the process can be completely blind. This is our, and your, assurance that the process is as fair and impartial as it can be. Without knowing whose work is being evaluated no one brings any preconceived notions to the table-either favorable or unfavorable, the work is judged on its merits alone.

Julie Stevens and Phyllis Hawkes examine the construction details on a submission.

On the day of evaluations, the chairperson lays out the work on large tables-depending on how many submissions there are, there could be as many as 10 or 12 submissions laid out at one time. Each submission has its own dedicated space, with its documentation and comments sheets. This allows the 8-10 people on the committee to work at the same time, and at their own pace, moving from submission to submission as they are ready. Each committee member reads the supporting materials submitted, studies the work and scores it based on criteria that have been established over many years, overall presentation, workmanship and difficulty. People work at different rates, and the process can be lengthy; 20 submissions can easily take an entire day to evaluate! Use of magnifiers and rulers are encouraged so that no one just assumes the scale is correct. It is also not unusual for committee member to take advantage of the hotels wi-fi to look up and check on the accuracy of details. Applicants are continually encouraged to document their work and provide supplementary information on the pieces that have inspired them. If you submit an ear of corn that, in scale would be 15″ long, you had better supply the committee with photos of real size corn that is 15″ long, otherwise they will assume that your corn is out of scale having no experience of corn of that size!

When everyone has finished evaluating each submission, the chairperson takes a vote, just pass or fail, on each submission. If the decision is pretty unanimous, it ends there for that submission. If the vote is at all close, the chairperson asks for the actual scores and the numbers are averaged, if a passing number is reached, the submission passes. After the entire process is completed, the chairperson lets the committee know whose work they have been evaluating. The list of names that the committee has approved for Artisan membership then goes to the full board of trustees for approval and the process is done for another year.

One of a kind trunk and sculpture by Mark Murphy and Mary Grady O’Brien in the 2014 Live Auction.

Guild School has many fun components besides the actual classes. If  you’ve gotten in early, you may have taken part in one of the first optional extras, a Saturday morning seminar. Seminars also take place on Sunday and Monday evenings, if you didn’t sign up for one before getting to school, there are sign up sheets in the school office for any that have spaces remaining.

Curious about what’s going on in the other classes? All the classrooms are open on Sunday or Monday evenings prior to the seminars, some buildings one night, the remaining buildings on the other so that you’ll have a chance to visit as many, or as few, as you wish.

Every night, there is a social gathering in what is commonly called ‘The Bilge’, downstairs in Curtis Hall. Just pop in anytime before 11 p.m. and enjoy a beverage and snack along with some conversation and occasional game playing. Each evening is ‘hosted’ by different groups within the IGMA organization, so a variety of questions can often be answered by your friendly bartenders.

Silent auctions take place in the cafeteria daily. Have a look during one of your meal breaks and place a bid if something looks interesting to you. Monday evening there is an open bid silent auction during dinner, and Tuesday evening, right after the infamous Lobster Cookout, is the Live Auction with many one of a kind items donated by teachers and some of the Guild’s Artisan and Fellow members. I understand that this year there will be a special silent auction running outside the cafeteria for the first couple of days-hint…they’re calling it ‘Real Estate Row!’

Relax in the evening watching the sailboats in the harbor, or join Julie Hagel’s crew for a kayak paddle.

Wednesday night is supposed to be rest and relaxation night, but there are no hallway monitors and if you relax best by working on one of your class projects until midnight, that’s on you, just no whining the next day when you can’t see where that tiny nail flew off to!

I hesitate to say Thursday night is one of the highlights of the week as most of the previous nights can lay claim to that moniker, but on Thursday, everyone gets to shop–no more of that putting a bid in and hoping you get it here–it’s a manic hour and a half of shopping along with a cash bar-which always helps the shopping along, and snacks.

The work of Phyllis Hawke’s students at the graduation exhibit in 2015.

The exhibit room opens for the first viewing Saturday evening during the opening reception and remains open during the entire week, as long as there is someone to staff it. Exhibits on view are provided by attending students and teachers. Do you have something you’d like to share? A piece you made that came out particularly well, or something you truly love that you purchased? Just let the exhibit chair know what you’re bringing and there will be a label waiting for its arrival. Saturday evening whatever class prototypes are available will be on display, to be followed the rest of the week by available prototypes for future classes. And, if you have a free period, consider volunteering to man the front desk and help keep the exhibit room open as much as possible.

IGMA Fellow member Jon Almeda makes an appearance in the March 2017 issue of O Magazine.

Its not often that miniatures hit the national stage, but this month, you can read about one of our IGMA Fellow members in the pages of O Magazine.

After starting out in large scale ceramics, Jon Almeda made the switch to miniatures about 15 years ago and has never looked back.  Self taught, he has continued to push the boundaries of his craft, experimenting with shapes and glazes, making his own tools and even creating a miniature, and portable, pottery wheel. Check out his Instagram account where you can enjoy videos of Jon, having taken his portable wheel to a remote location, and watch him creating his stunning pots with a dramatic backdrop of sun, clouds and sea. I venture a guess that these wonderful videos have caught the eye of many event planners, for not only is he features in Oprah’s magazine, one of his videos shows Jon at a New York fashion show, throwing pots as models create fashionable tableaus in the room around him.

The Concord Museum, Concord, Massachusetts.

The exhibit includes a number of room boxes, as well as several dollhouses, one dating from about 1695. The earliest European dollhouses were elaborate replicas of idealized or actual homes, and were furnished with exceptionally well-made and very expensive furnishings. In some cases they may have been instructional, examples for young women in how to run a household, but more likely, they were displays of the owner’s economic status.

One of the special events the museum has scheduled to coordinate with this exhibit will feature some well known Guild members. Stop by the Concord Museum on November 19th between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to meet and observe artists, including IGMA Artisan and Fellow members Pete and Pam Boorum, Elizabeth Gazmuri, Bonnie Backe and Teresa Layman, who will demonstrate their work in 1/12 scale.

IGMA’s general Instagram page.

How do you find out what’s going on in your world? The time has long since passed when you waited for a notice to show up in your mailbox, or in the newspaper, almost everything is available on line now, including newspapers! The Guild, staying abreast of this shift, has begun sending out regular newsletters to keep members apprised of the events on the IGMA calendar, and you can always find the whole story on Guild events at their website.

The Guild has not given up any of its print programs, but they have begun, this year, to ask the membership if they wish to switch over to digital instead of receiving the print mailings. The switch is an economical, and a green (environmentally conscious) alternative and it is hoped that many will take advantage of.

IGMA’s Fine Miniatures Forum

Digitally, the Guild has many avenues of outreach to its membership, and to the world at large. Most people are probably aware of the Guild’s Facebook presence. The first IGMA Facebook page, where miniaturists from around the world have been sharing their work and events for many years now, was recently retitled IGMA: Miniature Community, to make room, and to differentiate it from the official page titled simply, International Guild of Miniature Artisans. On this official page you will find information on current Guild events, along with features on Guild members and other items of interest to miniaturists.

There are three Guild affiliated Instagram accounts where you may go to enjoy photos of miniatures and the programs built around making, sharing and selling them. Go to Instagram and search for guildshow, guild_of_miniature_artisans and igmaguildschool. Instagram is a great place for photos and videos that will link to websites and tutorials where you can find much more inspiration.

Have a question? The IGMA Fine Miniatures Forum,  reached via the link at the top of the IGMA website, is the place for answers. You may find an answer already posted, or submit yours on the appropriate page and the site’s many visitors will turn their attentions to helping you out. It’s also another great place to see inspirational work, find sources for materials, and share tips and tricks.

What is Instagram? Instagram is an online mobile photo and video sharing, and social networking site. It can be accessed by anyone with a computer at www.instagram.com, but you can only post from a mobile device with internet capabilities, I post from my iPad.

The Guild Show page on Instagram.

When you go to the Instagram site, you can search in two ways, for a particular account (a person or group that is posting in that account), or for a category of photos and videos. Type into the search bar what you are interested in, using a name or keyword and a list will come up; if there is a ‘hashtag‘, that’s what this symbol ‘#’ is referred to, that means that entry on the list is a category of photos, if there is no hashtag, or if there is a photo in front of the entry, that is an account name. If you click on an account name, (one without a hashtag), you will go to that account and see photos that that person or group has posted. If you click on the entry with the hashtag, that is an archive of photos that people have thought that category applies to.

In order to get them seen by the largest number of viewers, photos are usually given many hashtags. For example, someone might post a photo of a miniature table, that photo can be placed in the category ‘miniatures’, but it could just as well be posted under #miniature, #dollhouseminiature, #tiny, #miniaturefurniture, #woodenminiature, #handcarved, and so on. The person posting content must try to think of possible search terms that could be used to describe his photo and enter them as hashtags on his or her posting. And you, as a viewer, can also use many different keywords to find images you might be interested in. Only the account names are proprietary, by which I mean, if you search IGMA you will see that #igma comes up as a category list of photos with over 5,000 posts, but if you click on it, you will see a lot of photos that have nothing to do with the IGMA we know and love! Evidently, many people have a different idea as to what those four letters mean.

For now, searching Guild of Miniature Artisans, IGMA Guild School and Guild Show, will get you to accounts that are purely Guild related photos — that’s if you click on the account listings, not the hashtag listings. If you click on #guildshow, #guildofminiatureartisans, or #igmaguildschool, you will find many show, fine miniatures, and school photos, but also occasional photos posted there that have nothing to do with ‘our’ IGMA because hashtags are just categories and anyone can put any hashtag they want on their photos.

So, ready to leap into the world of Instagram? Have fun exploring the photos already posted, or establish your own account and start posting your own photos. If you have school or show photos you’d like to add to those already posted, just add the appropriate hashtag (#) to your photos and they will come up whenever anyone searches that category.

One of Pat Kasell’s 1/12 scale bobbin lace doilies, submitted for her Artisan evaluation.

And now, I am pleased to announce the elevation of eleven new Artisan members: Pia Becker from Germany in Flowers/Plants, Pat Kasell from the USA in Needlework, Sherri MacRaild of Canada in Toys, Peggy Meyers of the USA in Needlework, Julie Parrot of the UK in Animal Figures, Mario Sergio Ramos Pastrana of Spain in Glass, Barbara Studebaker of the USA in Needlework, Lorraine Thomson of the UK in Food, Elizabeth Winters of the USA in Animal Figures, Jasmine Blanche Woodbury of the USA in Food, and Michael Yukovic of the USA in Furniture; and five new Fellow members: Erzsebet Bodzas of Hungary in Food, Pat Richards of the USA in Needlework, Kellie Wachter of the USA in Needlework, Mariella Vitale of Italy in Needlework and Carolyn Mohler Kraft of the USA in Plants.

These artists have worked long and hard to get to this point in their miniature careers and well deserve to take a bow for their achievement. Some are, or will be dealers;  look for their work at upcoming shows, and in the exhibits at the Guild School and the Guild Show this summer.

A Hosta leaf in 1/12 scale, Carolyn Mohler Kraft’s process towards her Fellow submission.

Anyone who has been a member of the Guild for at least a year is eligible to apply for Artisan membership. When you’ve been an Artisan member for two years, you become eligible to apply for Fellow membership, which is the highest honor the Guild can bestow. Those are only the most basic requirements, there are several pages of guidelines posted on the IGMA website that are required reading for anyone thinking of applying. The guidelines give you an overview of the evaluation process, list the categories used to classify submissions and an overview of what the evaluation committee looks for within those categories.

A most modern rocker by Michael Yurkovic, who has been elevated to Artisan member in the category of furniture.

Reading the guidelines and then closely examining your work and the work of other artists you respect is a bit of an education in itself, and is a great way to begin the process. The guidelines are the criteria by which your work will be evaluated. It is a blind process, meaning that those on the committee have no idea whose work they are looking at, there are no names attached to the submission when they see it. There are also no limits on how many members may be elevated at any evaluation. If they have 10 fantastic submissions at an Artisan or Fellow evaluation, and all are evaluated as meeting or exceeding the criteria, then IGMA has 10 new Artisan or Fellow members.

I urge all who are interested in stretching and developing their skills to consider working towards this recognition. The Guild Study Programs and Guild School are invaluable resources to help you in this process. At either of these programs you will be able to meet and talk to many other miniaturists and perhaps find a mentor to help you along.

A handful of 1/12 scale pottery by IGMA Fellow member Troy Schmidt of Red Dragon Pottery.

The upcoming Chicago International Show is my first show of 2015 and it will be my 10th anniversary as a dealer at this, the biggest miniatures show in this hemisphere. As I’ve been making and selling my miniatures for about 15 years, almost everything to do with that has evolved. Because what I make has changed, what I need to display it effectively has changed as well, so this year, a good bit of the time spent preparing for this show was devoted to developing and constructing a new display. When that was done, any remaining time was spent building up inventory. I am not alone in that.

A delectable preparation board in 1/12 scale by IGMA member Manuela Michieli.

If you visit the IGMA Facebook page, you will notice a number of dealers are busy putting together new pieces for the Chicago show and are posting photos on the IGMA page to help build interest and anticipation amongst those who will be attending. It is an exciting time for all of us; dealers and shoppers alike. I remember how exciting it was when I was a shopper and it is still just as exciting on the other side of the table. There will be well over 150 dealers at this  show. Glancing at the dealer list, it is a pleasure to see so many IGMA members among them.

A potted violet in 1/12 scale by IGMA Artisan member Peter Gabel, will be for sale at the Gallery of the Guild.

The Guild will also be represented by a Membership/Guild School table staffed by the Guild School Director, Barbara Davis, the Guild Administrator, Carol Hardy, as well as other member volunteers standing in for them over the weekend. Side by side with that table you will find the Gallery of the Guild, which will be selling the work of many IGMA Artisan and Fellow members who are not otherwise represented at this show.

A very charming baby ensemble in 1/12 scale, made and donated to the IGMA Auction by IGMA Artisan member Sandra Swisher.

On Friday, at the close of the show, there will be an IGMA Gala Fundraising Auction held at the hotel just around the corner from the show entrance. Tom Bishop has kindly made space available to the Guild for this event, and the generous members and friends of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans have donated an amazing selection of pieces for the auction. With Duffy Wineman as the auctioneer, it promises to be a rollicking good time.

A spiral garden in 1/12 scale by IGMA member Pia Becker of Lamis Minis.

Saturday evening, at the close of the show, there will be another IGMA function designed to acquaint miniature aficionados with the Guild and its many programs. Much of the focus will be on the Guild School-and if you are unaware of what that is, I sincerely urge you to attend the program and find out.

Time to get back to work, only 4 more days to build up that inventory!

Inspired by her Italian Majolica studies, 1/12 scale plates by Fellow member Lee-Ann Chellis Wessel.

Part of the mission of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans is to encourage work of the highest quality. The Independent Study Program is one of the ways they devised to accomplish that. Available to Fellow members of the Guild, the Independent Study Program offers financial assistance, in the form of a grant, to enable further research into an area the Fellow member may not have been able to explore otherwise. The research may be connected with a specific object, technique, material or historical setting and designed to increase skills, or provide further inspiration for the member’s work.

Over the past 12 years, grants have been awarded to 12 Fellow members for proposals ranging from the study of Italian Majolica pottery and Norwegian double weave coverlets, to the use of metal clay, and the study of egg tempera techniques.

Already skilled in the creation of 1/12 mosaics, Fellow member Christina Minischetti used her grant to study the technique of filato mosaic.

Following the completion of their study, the recipient returns the favor to the Guild in some way; by offering a class or a presentation at a Guild function or by donating a piece to one of the Guild’s auctions. Proposals are considered on a rolling basis throughout the year. Visit the Education page on the IGMA website for more information.

Items from last year’s IGMA auctions, from Kerri Pajutee and Christina Goodman.

The Guild raises its operating funds in several ways-your dues, first and foremost, but also through auctions that we hold at our annual show and sale, and occasionally at other functions throughout the year. This year we will be holding the second, in what we hope will become an annual tradition, at Tom Bishop’s Chicago International Show in April. The money we raise from our auctions goes directly into IGMA’s many educational and outreach programs, helping to keep the cost to program participants as low as possible. That is how Guild programs can remain so affordable and our dues at the same level they have been for many years.

The auction offers miniaturists many ways to support IGMA, one of which does not even involve your wallet! You can, if you wish, support IGMA with the donation of a miniature, it might be something that you made, or that you have acquired at some point, perhaps something you bought, but which never found its way into that special project.

If it is within your budget, come to the auction Friday, April 17 and bid on one or more of the many special pieces that will be on the auction block. One of a kind pieces will be found and the occasional bargain, too. Even if you’re not bidding, it is a truly fun event, there is no one like our auctioneer Duffy Wineman to keep everyone on the edge of their seat with excitement and laughter.

Please visit the IGMA web site for more information.