By Parker McKenzie
Local members of the Sherbrooke Art Society have joined with international artists for an exhibition at Como House in South Yarra.
The Giant Miniature Art Exhibition is a fundraiser for the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, with each piece of miniature artwork being sold for a minimum of $50.
Local artists and art society members Leanne Vassallo, Pauline Stewart, Annee Kelly, Denise Nethercote, Karin Reichert and It Hao Pheh have artwork on display in the exhibition.
Mrs Vassallo said working on miniature art under a microscope is a challenge.
“I did a painting of Como House in pencil and I had to use a tiny propeller pencil,” she said.
“So even though it was tiny it took me three days to do that little drawing.”
The 4cm by 2.5cm artworks, the size of a postage stamp, have been compiled into a book titled Small Wonders.
It Hao Pheh’s artwork of a painting of Ripponlea was chosen for the front cover and all featured artwork have been reproduced at the original size of the piece.
Mrs Vassallo said she thought they’d have a dozen entries in the exhibition, “but in the end it just snowballed.”
“There were artists from England, America and South Africa. In the end there were 300 paintings,” she said.
“Because so many exhibitions were closed, so many artists that never would have painted something so small decided to get behind it.”
85 artists donated art to the exhibition to help raise funds to restore historic houses in Melbourne through the National Trust.
Mrs Vassallo said the experience was an outlet for artists because “in the Hills we are sort of locked away and reliant on tourism in a big way.”
“The galleries had to close during Covid, there were no classes happening, normally people would be getting together or painting in the park,” she said.
“There are a lot of artists up here in the Hills and it gave them something to do. The beauty of being able to put it in an envelope and mailing it in was that they didn’t have to worry about their 5km limit.”
The exhibition is on display until the 30th of January at Como House as a part of the National Trust’s larger Doll House Miniature World’s of Wonder exhibition.
Copies of the Small Wonders book are available for puchase from the National Trust store in Berwick, Como House and Ripponlea.
