(Continued from previous page)

A folkart exhibit in New Mexico
     In the interim we visited the Girard International Folk Art collection in the museum at Santa Fe. Alexander Girard was a multi-millionaire who toured the world collecting interesting folk art from over 100 countries. His collection contains more than 100,000 pieces with 20,000 on display in the museum.
     Although it was interesting, it was only when we listened to a volunteer deliver her "interpretive" presentations on the Mexican and Russian displays that the inanimate folk art objects came to life.
    The following year we had a similar experience when the Titanic exhibit came to St. Paul, and we rented headsets to listen to stories while reviewing the objects retrieved from the sunken ship. Can you do something similar in conjunction with a village display? Yes, I can and you can, and it has endless possibilities!

Finding a new home for my displays
    We searched the housing market for something with 2,000 square feet of finished living space and lots of unfinished hobby space, but couldn't find anything.
    We finally decided to add onto our 46 year-old house. Fortunately our lot was large enough to accommodate a proposed 1,300 square foot addition. It took several weeks to get approval from a skeptical building inspector who was relieved to learn that my "big hobby room" would be used for little Christmas houses.
    We finally broke ground on October 4, 1999 (my 69th birthday). It was at a time in our life when most of our friends had already moved into town houses.  One of our more conservative sons (We have five plus three daughters.) viewed the size of the addition foundation, looked me square in the eye and said, "You are out of control!" But there were also several old friends who basically said "Go for it!"
     The addition was completed in May 2000. It is only two rooms. The first room is 12' x 30' with a double door in back that opens into a 24' x 38' room with a 16' high ceiling.  There is an enclosed balcony area over part of the space which is used for storage. The ceilings and walls are painted with sky and clouds.  There is a sunset on the west wall and an ocean scene flanked by mountains on the north wall. A 12' section of the inside of our old garage wall is now a red and green Christmas house façade with Dutch doors, fake window, flower-filled window box, a shingled roof overhand, and  pair of topiaries. The entrance sign reads "Welcome to The Tiny Town Museum."

Tiny Town ... museum in process
    How am I doing in the fifth dimension of interpretive display in my new museum? First I must confess that it is going slowly.  I only completed five displays during the past winter season from a projected list of 25 possibilities. Tiny Town will be a museum in process. People are welcome to view it as is with some scenes complete and new ones "under construction." I want to always be open to creative suggestions.
    Christmas in the City was the first to be finished.  It is a night scene, 24' x 4' and contains everything produced by Department 56 for this village plus a lot more. A large award-winning wood replica of the Bachman black delivery van from the 1995 Bachman Village Gathering Contest houses the second finished display. Storybook Village, an Old Southwest Desert scene, and a display of stained glass lighthouse replicas have also been completed. The Southwest exhibit is quite interesting to Department 56 collectors because all of the pieces are unique and native to New Mexico and Arizona except for Rosita's Cantina from Snow Village. I had to paint Rosita's with three different colors to cover the snow on the roof and then sprayed it with a matte finish to eliminate the glossy look.
    A New England Fishing Village, Bethlehem-to-Jerusalem, Alpine Mountain Village and a Dickens' English Country Road are all under construction.  Still to come are Colonial Williamsburg from Lang & Wise, Thomas Kinkade's Lamplight Village, St. Paul Winter Carnival, North Pole Snow Mountain, Literary Classics. Monopoly City Lights, an English Golf Course Community and Folk Art Villages also by Lang & Wise.  And still more! Halloween in Sleepy Hallow, Season Bay Resort Area, Disney World, English Royalty & Palaces, Dickens' London Town, and Liberty Village. The truth be known, there is not enough space in Tiny Town to properly display my now over 650 lit pieces plus accessories.
    Just consider all the possibilities for interpretive display based on the historical background of so many of the Department 56 pieces, Literary Classics, Disney Parks, Historical Landmark, Profile, and Home Town are all replicas wit interesting stories, as are a large number of pieces in Dickens'.
    I am especially looking forward to doing the Colonial Williamsburg display with the 14 replicas of pre-Revolutionary War restored buildings. It means relating 14 interesting early American stories. Another planned historical display will be the Department 56 Twelve Days of Christmas series.