Minitropolis

MY MINI UNIVERSE

cardboard mini city

I've always liked making mini cities and made several in college out of cardboard.  I used natural elements like wood chips and potting soil and handmade all the pieces including trees. Each city was built on a platform that created multiple levels with most of the structures on top.  Kind of like a floating city. Don't know why I stopped making them, perhaps burning the tips of my fingers with hot glue played a role in its demise. Years later, I'm doing mini city dioramas and interior spaces with my students as class projects. My excitement over creating these mini rooms and cities became contagious and the students wanted to create split level rooms, sports arenas, mini malls - the ideas went on and on. Once I did a sample room and demonstrated techniques, the ideas took off. This project became the one that everybody wanted to do when they got to 8th grade. So much so, that it ended up being the most anticipated project every school year.

I kept all my samples and took pictures of my students work. Considering this was a high school project, my 8th graders rose to the challenge and produced some amazing work. Memories of my students and their work always makes me smile.

Metal mini city

Here I am, contemplating mini cities again, not for a class project but as an extension of my own work.  Lately, I've been thinking about some of my early work and what parts or elements I've kept which has evolved into my current work. Then there are those ideas that I did not follow through on and they occasionally resurface randomly. I love the pressed cardboard that comes packed in boxes to secure electronics. They come in different sizes and lengths with an industrial look. My steampunk City!? This romance isn't going anywhere, it's becoming a full blown affair.

Steampunk futuristic city

My ultimate mini city would have the industrial futuristic aspects in the middle, a Gotham style city surrounding it. On the outskirts of Gotham it becomes rolling hills with trains, then it turns into a suburbia type Lego land! This would take up an entire room, no doubt an expensive hobby to undertake one day. I'm not the only one who is into mini cities. It is big in Germany and often used as a visual aide for engineers, designers and the mini city enthusiasts. Artists and photographers alike really get into mini cities. A scale replica of some the most popular cities in the world are done, photographed and made to look life size and the detail make them look realistic. 

cardboard city w/brown paper

The nostalgia of capturing a moment in time with a miniature keeps the memory of a place in tact, more than a photograph because it's tangible.  With so much of the urban landscape changing, the simplicity of a place is made complicated by Re gentrification, and over development. Mini cities brings to light the fact that we as humans can put a lot into small spaces, but somehow we manage to take up massive amounts of space oblivious to the living creatures who share it with us.  

The mini universe is ever expanding. There are mini gardens, as well as mini castles etc. So if your into minis there's much to check out and explore in this small scale world. Building them may not be for everybody, but it's part of the fun. A diorama mini city helps to keep the idea from expanding into a large overflowing landscape which can become an overwhelming project if that wasn't the intent. The mini universe is a fun place to visit - imagination is boundless, even underwater!

underwater mini city

Check out whats happening with StoneWomynArt on the side bar and on my StoneWomynArt page on Facebook.Thank you for reading my blog, feedback always appreciated. 

Can't wait to chat with you next time....

Same blog time, same blog channel!