Small Symposium

 

The Lemon Art Research Library hosts the Museum’s first Small Symposium, welcoming scholars, artists, and more who uncover the expansive world of miniatures. 

 

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Saturday Symposium Line-Up May 2, 2026 

Access to all talks is included with general admission  

 

 

• Miniature Model Making 101 with Jorge Ruiz   

May 2 at 10 am in Singer Hall  

Have you ever wanted to build your own miniature world but didn’t know where to start? Join local artist Jorge Ruiz for a lecture demonstration that mixes his personal history with the craft. Ruiz will share “pro tips” for beginning your own journey into the exacting world of miniature making. 

About Jorge Ruiz

Based in Tucson, Arizona, and born and raised at the border between Mexico and the US, Jorge Ruiz’s work highlights the stories of people living on the border through their relationships with the buildings they inhabit and the structural objects they interact with on a daily basis. While studying architectural design in school, Jorge began noticing how the signs and buildings of his hometown had become a type of urban memento mori, constantly reminding us of one thing: that the passage of time takes no hostages. These “faces of the city” speak to the collective memories that exist in the subconscious of those who live in the borderland of the “twin cities,” shaping the collective heart of a community that exists as an act of rebellion against time, change, and decay.

 

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• Narcissa Thorne: Modern Miniaturist of the Thorne Rooms  

May 2 at 11 am in Singer Hall  

Dr. Christopher “Kit” Maxwell, Curator of the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, examines Narcissa Niblack Thorne’s powerhouse impact on interwar design. While often dismissed by architectural authorities as an amateur in her time, Thorne engaged closely with current design debates and built a wide audience through exhibitions at museums and world’s fairs. Dr. Maxwell will discuss how her rooms depicting centuries of European and American interiors illuminate 1930s questions of taste, gender, and the cultural uses of the past.  

About Dr. Christopher “Kit” Maxwell

Dr. Christopher (Kit) Maxwell is the Art Institute’s chair and Eloise W. Martin Curator of Applied Arts of Europe. Before joining the museum in 2022 as the Samuel and M. Patricia Grober Curator, he was at the Corning Museum of Glass, where, as curator of early modern glass, he was responsible for collections ranging in date from about 1250 to 1820. Before joining the Corning Museum, Kit worked in several different capacities at the Royal Collection Trust, and from 2005 to 2010 he held the position of assistant curator in the ceramics and glass section at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where he participated in the reinstallation of the ceramics galleries.

Kit received his BA in history of art from the University of Cambridge, his MA in decorative arts from Birkbeck College, University of London, and his PhD from the University of Glasgow with a dissertation on the dispersal of the Hamilton Palace collection. His recent postdoctoral work includes an MPhil on Nazi-era provenance from the University of Glasgow and an MRes in Caribbean Studies at the University of Warwick with a focus on the material culture of the colonized Caribbean during the 18th century.

 

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• Thorne Room + Miniatures Panel  

May 2 at 1 pm in Singer Hall  

Engage in a lively cross-disciplinary discussion with scholars and makers of various backgrounds. Topics will range from the legacy of the Thorne Rooms to the role of miniatures in modern pop culture.  

Moderator: Rachel Zebro, Associate Curator of Collections 

Panelists: Dr. Christopher “Kit” Maxwell, Curator of the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, Emily Wolverton Head Curator of the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, and Artist Jorge Ruiz

About Emily Wolverton

Emily Wolverton is the Curator at The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures in Tucson, Arizona. Emily received her BA from the University of Arizona with a degree in Art, Art Education, and Creative Writing, and has been with the museum for 17 years, serving as curator since 2023. Her publications include the academic journal Museums and Social Issues for her work developing accessible, multi-sensory Touch Tours, and she is the author of over 70 articles on the museum’s collections. Emily’s recent exhibitions include Ray Harryhausen: Miniature Models of the Silver Screen, Signs of Community: Signage of the Old Pueblo in Miniature, and The Pencil is Mightier, showcasing the carved graphite microsculptures of Salavat Fidai. Later this fall, she will be bringing the work of award-winning miniaturist Amanda Kelly, whose exhibition, The Need to Keep, reflects upon Kelly’s personal experiences with the often misunderstood world of compulsive Hoarding Disorder, examining the emotional impact of how objects can hold memories, provide comfort, and shape our identities.

Open since 2009, The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures serves as the steward of the Patricia and Walter Arnell miniature collection, comprised of over 500 antique and contemporary dollhouses, roomboxes, and small-scale art objects. Welcoming over 55,000 guests annually from around the globe, the museum hosts exhibitions spotlighting local, national, and international miniature artists, as well as offering lectures, workshops, and classes to inspire and educate miniaturists of all ages.

 

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Sunday Symposium Line-Up May 3, 2026  

Access to all talks is included with general admission. Workshop with Jorge Ruiz requires a separate ticket. 

 

 

• WORKSHOP – DIY Weathering Effects with Jorge Ruiz  

🎟️ Additonal tickets are required for this workshop.

May 3 at 10 am–noon in Singer Hall | $10 for Members, $20 for the public   

Learn the art of the “lived-in” look in this two-hour, hands-on workshop with local miniature artist Jorge Ruiz. Discover painting techniques that will help you achieve realistic weathering on models and miniatures. All materials are included. Attendees can take home their weathered miniature object.  

 

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• The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death 

May 3 at 1 pm in Singer Hall

Step into a macabre, dollhouse-sized world of true crime. Created in the early 20th century by Frances Glessner Lee (1878−1962), a contemporary of Narcissa Niblack Thorne, the Nutshell Studies are exquisitely detailed crime scene dioramas used to train homicide investigators. Join author and photographer Corinne Botz, who will be joining remotely, for a deep dive into how these rooms revolutionized forensics and continue to captivate pop culture today.  

About Corinne Botz

Corinne Botz is a visual artist and educator based in New York whose practice encompasses photography, writing, and filmmaking. A sustained focus on space, gender and the body, particularly relating to women’s experiences, is central to her practice. Her published books combining photography and writing include Milk Factory (Saint Lucy Books, 2025), The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death (Phaidon/Monacelli Press, 2004), Haunted Houses (Phaidon /Monacelli Press, 2010), and Milk Factory (Fall 2025). Botz’s photographs have been internationally exhibited at such institutions as the Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Art and Design, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois; Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Wurttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany; Wellcome Collection, De Appel, Amsterdam; and Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK. She has had solo exhibitions at Benrubi Gallery and Bellwether Gallery in New York City; Hudson Hall in Hudson, NY, Alice Austen House, Hemphill Fine Arts in Washington D.C. and RedLine Gallery in Denver, Colorado. Her work has been reviewed in publications such as The New York Times, Foam Magazine, Bookforum, Art Papers, Modern Painters, Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Village Voice, Exit, Slate, Time: Lightbox and Ciel Variable.

Botz earned her BFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art and her MFA from Milton Avery School of the Arts, Bard College. She is the recipient of residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; Atlantic Center for the Arts; Akademie Schloss Solitude and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Her Oscar-qualifying short film Bedside Manner (2016) won the Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC. She has received grants from New York Foundation for the Arts and the Jerome Foundation. Botz is on the faculty of International Center of Photography and John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY).

 

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• David Gonzalez and the Homies   

May 3 at 2 pm in Singer Hall  

Librarian Jesse Lopez presents a look into the influence of David Gonzalez, the trailblazing Chicano artist behind the iconic Homies. From his early work in Lowrider Magazine and Teen Angel to the global phenomenon of the Homies universe, learn how Gonzalez’s lived experiences helped define a generation of Chicano art aesthetics. 

 

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