Yes, that is the hand of one of the Siegrists painting a miniature with an ultra-fine brush.
The exhibit Exquisite Miniatures spoke to both of the audiences that HMA continually aims to reach, adults and children. The exhibit consisted of fifty signature paintings not much bigger than postcards and often even smaller, yet painted in such incredible detail that they looked more like photographs than the painstakingly detailed watercolor works that they are. The subjects included landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and wildlife, all by the American husband and wife team Wes and Rachelle Siegrist. (Both of them paint, and the exhibit was a mix.)
Children especially were enchanted when they got up close with their simple magnifying glasses (gifts from HMA) and discovered ever-more of the perfectly realized details. To make those discoveries easier, HMA displayed some of the art at a level that children could more comfortably reach, and added questions that could be answered through intense observation.
Miniature art dates back at least to the illustrated manuscripts created by scribes in the Far East and Europe before the 15th century. The current recurrence in interest started in England in 1896 and spread world-wide in the late 1900’s. This spread included the adoption of standards as to what constitutes miniature art. Most significantly, it has come to be accepted that subjects should be at one-sixth of their life-size or smaller, along with having a lot of very precise details.
Wes and Rachelle Siegrist met in 1989 when Rachelle was one of Wes' students at the Highlands Art Museum in Sebring, Florida. They have been full-time artists together since then, and they started doing miniature paintings in the mid-1990’s. In addition to loving to paint, “We're also currently devoted to our cherished art form of ‘Art in the Little’ and hope that our legacy will be our contribution to the genre with our paintings and assistance and inspiration to fellow miniature artists.” They currently live in Tennessee. (More about the Siegrists here.)
Rachelle and Wes Siegrist posed with their miniature self portraits at the HMA exhibit January 20 - March 17, 2019.
Specifics: Exquisite Miniatures by Wes and Rachelle Siegrist, Produced by David J. Wagner, Ph.D. Curator/Tour Director. The exhibition is available for display at museums and art centers; for information, contact EXQUISITE MINIATURES Tour Office at davidjwagnerllc@yahoo.com or (414) 221-6878. The exhibition is accompanied by a book of the same title about the Siegrists and their art, with an introduction by David J. Wagner.
HMA is the 20th venue on the current traveling tour of the exhibit.
Annual HMA Sponsor: Shurtape.
This post is # 30 of the 75 stories to celebrate HMA's 75 years.
Post by Karin Borei, HMA Project Coordinator, writer and editor as needed, and HMA blogger since our blog's inception in March 2015.