A Mighty, Major World of Miniature Art

Everyone’s talking about Barbie House, the new giant playhouse for hot-pink loving adults. But there’s a far more rewarding and diminutive doll-house-like experience in Los Angeles – one anyone who loves art should experience and enjoy.

That is the world created by artist Kate Carvellas, a fabulous mixed media artist in her own right, who has created a miniature art wonderland in her brilliant, exquisitely detailed, tiny handcrafted French art gallery.

In short, Carvellas’ Exposition D’Art Miniature: Deux, is created to 1/12th scale perfection from its gallery front desk with flowers and art books to its pristine staircases and hardwood floors.

Note the baseball added in by the show’s creator for scale reference, below.

One wishes to shrink to Lilliputian size to wander this beautifully curated gallery exhibition of miniature artworks from over 70 Los Angeles-based artists including sculptural and painted work by Carvellas herself.

The miniature art gallery is said to be located “in the heart of Paris” rather than its creator’s Pasadena yard, and if you spend enough time peering into its rooms and garden, you’ll feel transported.

The backstory Carvellas has delightfully spun is that of an Expat American artist who inherited the French farmhouse in 2020 from a “long lost Uncle, and then purchased and converted two row homes in the heart of Paris into an art gallery.”

Once completed – and Carvellas led her many art fans through the building process, including charming inspections made by her cat, she invited her artist friends to be a part of the gallery’s inaugural art exhibit.

Miniature artworks are created in a variety of mediums in each artist’s often recognizable and exciting style including paintings, mixed media, sculpture, assemblage and print.  The artists participating in the exhibit  include:

A. Laura Brody

Ada Pullini Brown

Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja

Alyson Souza

Anna Stump

Annie Clavel

Beth Elliott

Bibi Davidson

Cammie Jones

Clare Gwin Holzer

Dean Larson

Debbi Swanson Patrick

Dellis Frank

Diane Cockerill

Dori Atlantis

Doug Alvarez

Dwora Fried

Edwin Vasquez

Faina Kumpan

Frederika Beesemyer Roeder

Gay Summer Sadow Rick

Heather Lowe

Jane Szabo

Janet Millhoume

Jennifer Griffiths

Jill Sykes

Jodi Bonassi

Judi Delgado

Karen Hochman Brown

Karen Ruth Karlsson

Karen Schifman

Karena Massengill

Kate Carvellas

Kathryn Pitt

Kerrie Smith

Kira Vollman

L. Aviva Diamond

Laura Larson

Leigh Salgado

Lina Kogan

Linda G. Illumanardi

Liz Huston

Lizzie Harding Wilkins

Lynn Heinz

Marta Feinstein

Marthe Aponte

Mary Jo Varney

Maureen Van Leeuwen Haldeman

Melinda R. Smith

Melissa Reichman

Michelle Robinson

Mike Street

Monica Marks Rickler

Nancy Crecelius Mooslin

Nancy Kay Turner

Nancy Larrew

Nurit Avesar

Pascaline Doucin Dahlke

Peggy Jo Sivert

Richard Bruland

Robyn Alatorre

Rouzanna Berberian

Sabine Meyer Zu Reckendorf

Sophia Batsford Tise

Stacey Rasfeld

Stephanie Sydney

Stevie Love

Sue Martine Tompkins

Susan Feldman Tucker

Suzanne Gibson

Tamara Porter Tolkin

Ted Meyer

Terri Berman

Valerie Daval

Zoe Topsfield

It would be hard to overstate the compulsive charm and resonant effectiveness of the exhibition, which spins a lovely and lovingly realized story along with the rare chance to view so many simply fabulous SoCal artists in one terrific group show.



From the brilliant colors of Stevie Love’s textural work and the miniature dioramas of Dwora Fried to the garden sculptures of Beth Elliott and Sabine Meyer Zu Reckendorf, the photographic imagery of Diane Cockerill, magnificent birds by Jodi Bonassi, and the delicate abstracts of Nurit Avesar, this is a feast for the senses and a pure triumph of community spirit, joyously good art, and of the imagination, for Carvellas and all the artists exhibiting. Such a wide variety of work, and all of it as exhilarating as it is, well, small.

The exhibition will be closing June 18th. For more information or to come view the works, reach out to the curator and creator at artbykcarvellas@yahoo.com.

Even Barbie is promising to attend.

  • Genie Davis, photos: Kate Carvellas and Genie Davis 

.