BELLEFONTE — The Bellefonte Art Museum for Centre County, located in the Linn House in Bellefonte, hosts a wide range of exhibitions featuring local artists. The art museum promotes and exhibits art by over 165 local artists who work in a wide range of mediums, like acrylic, oil, pastel, watercolor, woodworking, photography and more.
Throughout the month of March, the special exhibition gallery is home to the “It’s a Small World” exhibition. This exhibition features a miniature museum replica, with miniature galleries that display artwork from local artists. The miniature museum displays eight galleries that contain abstract art, fiber art, portraits and landscapes created by Karen Deutsch, Leslie Dyer, Christine Hill, Jeff Mathison, Jen Rand, Martha Taylor, Adrienne Waterston and Erin Welsh.
Deutsch, a multi-media artist who creates collage, illustrations, painting and photography works, first developed the idea for a miniature museum as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In 2020, in an effort to entertain myself during the time I was homebound and couldn’t show my work, I made lots of collages,” explained Deutsch. “This activity has always been meditative for me. Soon an idea popped into my head of making a gallery and hanging these up as paintings.”
Many artists, when planning an exhibition, will create miniature replicas of the museum or gallery as a visual representation of what the space and the artwork will look like in real life. While these miniature replicas do not often end up being displayed, Deutsch was struck with inspiration for a project bigger than her own creative endeavors.
“I began thinking that other artists might be missing opportunities as I was or might not have the materials or mindset to continue their usual practices,” said Deutsch, explaining how she then reached out to Waterston, her friend and fellow artist.
With the help of Waterston, the initial blueprints for the Centre County Mini Museum project were created. The two artists contacted other artists on Facebook and relied on word-of-mouth to get other artists on board. Soon, more than 20 artists signed on.
“As it turns out, others were looking for a diversion, and this project fit the bill,” said Deutsch. “Each artist worked independently and came up with brilliant ideas to fill their spaces, using common materials.”
While the initial project served as an opportunity for the artists to come together and create, when the project was completed, there was no place to show the miniature museums. As a result, many were dismantled or put into storage.
Luckily, in 2023 Lori Fisher, gallery manager for the Bellefonte Art Museum, learned about the project and saw the potential it had for an exhibition, explained Deutsch. This allowed Deutsch to connect with her artistic community once again.
“I finally got to meet the other artists and heard how much the mini museum project helped them during the pandemic. They have gone back to teaching and other artistic practices and exhibiting their work,” said Deutsch. “We hope to get together after the show, and who knows what we’ll come up with next.”
