Why I make miniatures. The reasons may surprise you!

Two posts in one day, yes.

There are the more obvious reasons of why I am compelled to create miniatures:

1. I love tiny things
2. Miniatures allow me to use many creative talents, including painting, graphic design, and my imagination!
3. I always wanted a dollhouse as a child and didn't have one. I'm making up for lost time.

Today I had a discouraging experience with a governmental agency. Unfortunately, I need to deal with them on a regular basis. The anger I felt was not only on my behalf. I have learned over the years to be quite adept at advocating on my own behalf, and feel very comfortable doing so. What bothers me more is that others depend on this agency, and many do not have the skills, knowledge or where with all to advocate for themselves when they are treated disrespectfully or unfairly.

Shortly after, I had dinner with my parents and we discussed my feelings of anger and how they could be channelled into something productive.

I spoke to them about how anger is necessary, because it sparks change. I told them that toxic anger is unproductive, but there is another kind of anger that is an appropriate reaction to an injustice. I told them I plan to become an activist. When this will happen, I'm not sure.

I shared some quotes with my parents that I take very seriously.

"If not here, where? If not now, when? If not me, who?" ~ Anonymous

These next words were spoken at Women's Rights Convention in 1855 by Lucy Stone: "In education, in marriage, in religion, in everything, disappointment is the lot of woman. It shall be the business of my life to deepen this disappointment in every woman's heart until she bows down to it no longer."

It is my goal in life to deepen my disappointments, pay attention to any anger I feel that is an appropriate response to an injustice, and continually look for ways to use this dissatisfaction as a motivation to bring about change. Small changes lead to big changes.

So let's get to some more personal reasons as to why I make miniatures

1. It is the best antidote I know of to deal with despair, tragedy, loss, and the everyday stresses of life
2. I don't think of miniatures as escapism. When I am working on a miniature project, I am wholly absorbed in what I am doing. This is necessary if I want to create something I am proud of
3. It is my way of lighting a candle in the dark when the world around me frustrates me or overwhelms me.
4. I think all art is a form of prayer
5. Art is a vital, essential part of our culture. We can never know the effect we have on another person's life. If my miniatures bring pleasure and enjoyment to others, I feel both privileged that something I create has this effect, and grateful that I have been given the chance to make someone else's life a little brighter
6. My maternal Grandma lived with the same chronic illness that I do. She also loved dolls and collecting small things (She also made my sister and I dollhouse furniture out of clothespins!) Her illness was never successfully treated. Mine has been, although there is no magic cure and I experience setbacks. When I create miniatures, I am honouring her memory. She was ill at a time when there were very few treatments available to her. I often think that I am fighting this illness for both of us, even though she passed away in 1993. I like to think that the healing I've experienced help make sense of the healing that was elusive for her.

I hope I have not lost you in these rather convoluted blog post, and I am grateful for every single one of you, because you have joined me on a very important and exciting journey.

Good night and Sweet Dreams to all of you. (It is midnight here.)

Ruth