Oct. 11—ROCHESTER — What do special effects artists, dollhouse collectors, tabletop roleplaying games and model railroads all have in common?
They all use miniature models.
Artist Chris Rackley revels in the connection to these separate hobbies, careers and pursuits.
“It’s a beautiful intersection of all these communities,” Rackley said.
Rackley uses miniatures in much of his art.
His pre-pandemic show in 2020 titled “Does Your Shoe Have a Boy Inside?” used miniatures to recreate his memories of spending time in the backroom of his father’s shopping mall shoe store.
“I had the experience of seeing the world from behind something else,” Rackley said.
The show, in part, was his way of sharing that perspective, he added.
Now he wants to see other people’s “behind the scenes” perspectives.
Rackley is holding a “memory boxes” workshop Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, at the Rochester Art Center. Rackley will walk participants through making memory boxes — replicas of rooms and spaces in shoe boxes. Rackley said he wanted to share his art techniques but is also curious about how similarly unique perspectives have shaped people.
“What is the metaphorical stock room in their experiences?” Rackley said.
Rackley said the short workshop limits what he can teach participants, but he should still be able to walk people through the basics of creating miniature worlds.
Recreating perspective and where to add the details will be part of the workshop.
“The things that are far away have less details,” he said. The foreground is key to giving the work realism.
“That’s the thing we want to give attention to and detail to,” Rackley said.
Another key to making miniatures? Boxes.
Boxes made of paper are literally the building blocks of much of his miniature work.
“You just change the dimensions of those things and they can become a couch, a refrigerator or record player,” he said.
He called the planned workshop an “appetizer” to miniature making. The class teaches basic skills and will use common materials.
“These are materials anyone can get,” he said. “I like the accessibility, there’s nothing expensive, there’s nothing fancy about this.”
What: Memory Box Workshop with Chris Rackley.
When: 1 pm, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022.
Where: Rochester Art Center, 30 Civic Center Drive.
How much: Free.