Metaphors found in little sanctuaries
- Kendal's miniatures explore the environment and nostalgia
- She uses both found and handmade objects within her work
- She aims to evoke emotions through her tiny scenarios
Kendal Murray was drawn to crafting tiny landscapes by the visual metaphors and psychological states they evoke. "I am an assemblage artist who works with 3D elements. I spend painstaking hours creating my scenarios, carefully positioning each figure within expressive landscapes, so the image and storyline will ring true," she explains. This precision encourages viewers to project their own experiences and desires into them, which creates little sanctuaries of emotional immersion. Whether encasing her populated landscapes in cosmetic compacts, layering them atop purses or assembling them within stacked children’s tea-sets, Kendal’s sculptures interrogate themes of environmental identity and evoke nostalgic fantasies.
Interview
- What led you into a career in miniatures?
- My previous artworks focused on representing psychological states and using various artistic mediums to explore those experiences. When I wanted to explore how people fantasise about different ways of seeing themselves, I got the idea to create miniaturised scenes within compacts.
- What materials do you use?
- I use a range of assemblage techniques to create tiny worlds. I begin by finding a structure, such as a purse, a mirrored compact or by making stacked tea-set sculpture. I fashion the miniature elements, both found and handcrafted, in order to tell a story.
- How do people respond to your miniatures?
- It is fascinating to see how people read the miniatures through their own experiences, and recognise something that has special and personal significance to them. I leave my scenarios as open as possible, so people can identify with different ways of reading the situation.
- What advice would you give to maker starting out?
- Making your work unique comes down to communicating concepts through an interrogation of artistic mediums and using techniques that challenge perception. Many of my students ask, ‘How do I develop my style?’ The answer is through working, working and working, style just develops, like our handwriting.
Kendal Murray is a master artisan: she began her career in 1984 and she started teaching in 1988
