By: Carolyn Kemmett
Doubling the nostalgia factor, Renae Dotson often creates her popular vignettes inside vintage vessels like oil cans, lanterns, cookie jars, or other found objects.
Photo by Clay Nations Photography
Once considered a niche hobby or the domain of retirees, miniatures are trending big time — pun intended — with the younger set on platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok. Local sculptor Renae Dotson does evoke a certain nostalgia with her wee domestic vignettes, including farm life and vintage kitchen scenes.
But it’s her pieces’ many layers of exacting detail that set them apart in the genre.
“Each time you look, you see something you overlooked the first three times,” says Dotson, who works in 1:12 scale, where one inch equals one foot.
A crafter since childhood, Dotson took to miniatures in her thirties, when she received a miniature general-store kit for Christmas. She made wicker furniture for a shop in Greensboro, including pieces that furnished a winning dollhouse at a dollhouse show.
Dotson arrived in western North Carolina 23 years ago, promptly set up a home craft room, taught classes at her branch library, and participated in local craft shows, gaining more success.
When Tiffani Watts, the manager of Waynesville’s Twigs & Leaves Gallery, took one of Dotson’s classes, she was impressed by Dotson’s ability to make miniature items from everyday things and commissioned her to replicate the gallery itself, intended as a parting gift for the gallery’s previous owners as they passed the torch to new owners Peggy and Roger Reid in 2023.
The exceptional result surprised even Dotson herself.
“It was a hit, so Tiffani invited me to sell my miniature scenes in the gallery,” says the artist, who also teaches classes there.
Dotson’s process involves finding containers, such as drawers and other found objects, to house the intimate, themed scene she’ll create. “Many pieces I create are [custom] gifts, too, and include personal details like the recipient’s favorite snack or hobby-related objects. One was a garage inside an oil can, complete with mini oil cans, tires, and tools, as well as a sewing room within a sewing drawer,” she says.
Dotson notes how much the internet has changed the genre. “Before, I scanned magazines and sales flyers for labels and pictures in the correct scale. Now I print hundreds of miniature labels, portraits, and wallpaper myself, saving significant time.” She makes 95 percent of her items from scratch as opposed to buying craft-store components, and an average project takes 20-30 hours to complete.
She notes that what isn’t included in her work conveys as much meaning as what’s overtly visible. “My scenes show action without including characters in the form of dolls, by displaying something being made, like butter, eggs, and cookie dough in a kitchen scene,” she explains. “I try to draw the viewer in and pique their curiosity, so they want to look again.”
Another example is a piece that shows mulch and an open bag of potting soil spilling out, so the viewer “sees” that the gardener has simply stepped away for a moment. Each creation is a world unto its own that begs reexamination.
It’s a way of empowering others to get engaged with the form. “Everyone can enjoy this,” she declares. “It’s not exclusively the domain of ‘artisans.’”
Renae Dotson, Waynesville, sponsored by Twigs & Leaves Gallery (98 North Main St., Waynesville, twigsandleaves.com). For information on Dotson’s spring 2025 classes, e-mail rhdotson888@gmail.com.