Get Small: Minatures, Dolls & Houses

press release: Madison Children’s Museum was built by dolls, quite literally. MCM’s unique and unparalleled relationship with American Girl for nearly three decades has provided the backbone of the museum’s financial support through the American Girl Annual Benefit Sale of their seconds and returns, which have been lovingly repaired and sold by thousands of volunteers. Without the support of American Girl, and all of the benefit sale supporters, MCM simply would not exist.

Over the same three decades, MCM has built up a collection of dolls, houses and miniatures and will unveil them for the first time in a new exhibit called Get Small: Miniatures, Dolls & Houses from the Museum’s Collection.

The exhibit, along with a number of other new exhibits and installations, opens May 6, 5 p.m. for Gallery Night. A special member opening takes place from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 7, before the museum opens for public hours.

Get Small: Miniatures, Dolls & Houses from the Museum’s Collection features beautifully handcrafted dolls and miniature environments from around the world, selected from the museum's extensive doll and dollhouse collection. Several models of MCM exhibits, created as staff designed the new building, will complement the exhibit.

Playing with dolls and miniatures has been a huge part of early childhood for centuries, in nearly every culture around the globe. While some might think of it as just a leisure pastime, doll play helps children develop in significant ways. Playing with dolls and miniatures helps children develop cognitive and fine-motor skills, language skills, nurturing and caring skills, and an ability to practice experiencing strong emotions. Most important, it helps children bring the large world into manageable size, where they can exert some measure of control. This helps them gain confidence in their abilities to solve problems and successfully interact with their environment.

Get Small features over 60 dolls, large and small, including several from the museum’s American Girl collection. Dolls are made with a variety of materials including wood, cornhusks, animal hides, nuts, stone, fabric, porcelain and more. Within the exhibition, children will look behind the scenes at the world of miniatures in five separate doll houses that have been painstakingly restored to their original glory. Two of the dollhouses are replicas of existing houses in Madison. An additional house was made by Madison artist Laurie Rossbach (who manages MCM’s Art Studio), and another by a Madison girl and her father. Additionally, children will have an opportunity to design their own interior environment, moving around furniture, accessories and rooms to create their dream houses.

The show is centered in the Community Concourse (which is always free to visit), but also spills into other parts of the museum, including Possible-opolis, and the Art Studio, where kids will play with miniatures or create miniatures in each setting. In the Art Studio, for example, a new miniature station allows visitors to work on creating miniature furniture, accessories and objects for a community-created doll house.

The exhibit runs through January 2017.

This exhibit was supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Get Small exhibition was made possible with the generous support of: American Girl, American Girl Benefit Sale Volunteers, Irmgard Andrew, Evelyn Arnold, Judith Busse, Stephen and Shirley Crocker, Sally Davis, Patrick Gerhardt, Virginia Hayes, Linda Hein, Lee Holt, Lou Host Jablonski, Helen Kuntz, The Alice Marquis Family (Jeanne, Marianne, Art, Bill, Denise, Mimi), Laurie Rossbach, Maddie Shovers, Linda Slepica, and Julia and Craig Stanley.