art-of-mini-architecture

Sharon is one of those many accidental artists who has stumbled upon an incredible art form and then explored it in a variety of compelling ways. Using all kinds of business cards, packing paper, elegant stationery and other colorful sources she has shaped at least a city’s worth of magnificent miniature buildings.

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What started as a joint paper art project with her husband to commemorate places they had visited with structures built from the scraps of paper associated with locations pass through its decorative phase and took on a life of its own – particularly once introduced to the internet.

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architectural-miniature-models

In some cases, Sharon models here mini-buildings on real-life structures – often those related to the paper material of which she is making them (e.g. a hotel from its brochure or a wedding venue from its invitation). In other cases she plays up the qualities inherent in the materials.

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Some of the tiny buildings she has posted online show their age through their form, wear and tear. Others are contemporary in their style and crisp in their lines. As you read the dates of each piece you can start to see how they form a stylistic sequence and approach over time.

Each tiny building has its own history – a story that ties it to a time and place, embedded in the paper used to make it and the form it takes.

Sharon tiny buildings Hiltl
Sharon tiny buildings Hiltl side

Here’s one of Sharon’s favorites:

“Oh. Oh. Oh. This is the TinyBuilding I am most proud of [excuse the bad grammar]! So much detail. This TinyBuilding is made from the business cards from a landmark vegetarian restaurant in Zurich called Hiltl. I’ve written about it in some earlier posts which accompanied much simpler and smaller Hiltl buildings.”

“Because their business cards are s-o-o-o-o nice, I am drawn to them again and again. And the cards I used for this special version are from my first visit there a couple years ago. My daughter and I had lunch there with the brother and fiance [now married] of one of my daughter’s best girlfriends…the one who introduced her to her now husband of the Family Crest fame. In any case, we were so thrilled to find such a delicious vegetarian restaurant and to enjoy the charming company of our hosts, I just ‘had’ to memorialize the visit with this rather intricate Hiltl building.”

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Some miniature paper buildings Sharon keeps and posts images of – others she gives away on special occasions. She also encourages others to follow suit on Flickr.