Huntley Village Hall will have a new artist in residence in October.
Sun City’s Helen Wiederkehr has been selected to display her miniatures in the Huntley City Hall display case this coming fall.
“I like Christmas scenes,” Wiederkeher shares as she points to her display of detailed miniature creations.
How does Wiedekeher’s process work?
Helen Wiederkehr displays one of her winter scenes. (Photos by Christine Such/Sun Day)
“Everything has to be to scale, and one inch equals one foot,” she said. “If you look at it and it’s to scale, you think it’s part of the real world.”
The miniatures, which Wiederkeher built largely from scratch, are painstakingly detailed, even down to the tiny plants, such as ferns and poinsettias.
“It took a long time to create these poinsettias. Each leaf is rolled and dried, and then painted. I use Sculpey or clay for creating a lot of the miniatures.”
Wiederkeher’s passion started young.
“My father made me a dollhouse when I was around nine. It got stored for years. My daughter found it one day and said, ‘Mom why don’t we fix this up?’ So, we started working on it. We put up wallpaper and I added a chair rail. But I found that the original plastic refrigerator was not to scale. It was barely bigger than the chair rail. I thought maybe I’ll make one myself,” she said.
Wiedekeher explains that the first dollhouses were not intended to be toys for young girls. These Europe’s 16th-century “baby houses,” built as cabinet display cases with intricately furnished rooms, were handmade and displayed interior decorating ideas. The wealthy owned these as collections, displaying painting and fingernail-sized chinaware.
During Wiederkeher’s search for pieces for her dollhouse, she said, “If found that there was club for miniature collectors and buildings. I didn’t know that they existed. I was hooked.”
Wiederkeher explains that miniatures are made from a plethora of resources.
“The miniatures are made in a variety of materials – plastic, tin, cast iron, lead, glass, ceramics. You have to use your imagination. I took classes and workshops where we are given a blank box, or any container, and you fill it with your imagination.”
In Wiedekeher’s workshop, you will find a miniature scene in a teacup and in a locket, with tiny trees made from wire.
“I look for things that inspire me.” Wiederkeher said. “I am a bit of a scavenger. I found this vintage cardboard tomato carrier box basket. It inspired me to create a scene of a fruit and vegetable market.”
The tiny market is filled with fruits and vegetables and stands mostly handcrafter by Wiederkeher.
When these little works of art appear in downtown Huntley this October, how can you tell that these pieces are Wiedekeher originals? She puts a clue in every scene: a black and white cat, patterned after one of her own, Merlin.
