Dollhouse Art Center Take Over with Mel Kolstad

When I saw that Mel Kolstad was working on 1,000 collages, each one individually made and just 1″ x 1″, I thought that would be a cool art show for the pink “Angelica Kauffman Dollhouse Art Center.” I thought we’d install the art not only on the inside, but also all over the outside!

After her show of the 1,000 collages at Ripon College came down, she sent me 300 of the tiny detailed works for me to install in and on the dollhouse.

Images of the Mel Kolstad Solo Show of 1″ Collages at the Angelica Kauffman Dollhouse Art Center

Here’s what 90 1″ x 1″ collages look like on the back of a two story dollhouse:

Back of dollhouse with 90 1″ x 1″ collages by Mel Kolstad, part of a solo show at the Angelica Kauffman Dollhouse Art Center.

Here’s the interior of the show:

Angelica Kauffman Dollhouse Art Center Cafe, with collages by Mel Kolstad.

The opening reception of Mel Kolstad’s solo show of 1″ x 1″ collages.

Attic view of the solo show of collages by Mel Kolstad in the Angelica Kauffman Dollhouse Art Center.

This room is on the second floor, on the right of the Dollhouse Art Center. Collages by Mel Kolstad.

The room on the left side, 2nd floor of the Dollhouse Art Center. Artwork by Mel Kolstad.

She made 1,000 of these 1” x 1” collage for a show at Ripon Collage, in support of a scholarship fund there. A portion of the sale of each collage, even now, after the show, goes to the Ripon College scholarship fund. I asked Mel if she went to Ripon College – she didn’t! She just likes to give back whenever she can.

Find her at @melkolstadart and www.melkolstad.com

All artworks Copyright Mel Kolstad 2022.

Here’s another shot of that back wall, just because the light is nice in this photo and you can see the details of some of the works:

Detail image of exterior back wall of dollhouse art center featuring 90 1″ collages by Mel Kolstad.

Last year, I asked Mel how she got into working so small. She said, “I’ve always been fascinated with miniatures – when I was a kid, I’d pore over stamp designs and spend hours reading books about dollhouses. I would also make accessories for my doll house figures, like magazines and food made out of salt dough. 🙂 When I first started creating art, I was doing ATCs (artist trading cards), which are 2.5″x3.5″ cards that you trade with others. So the small was built in from the start, which suited me perfectly!”

These tiny collages are all available for purchase, directly from the artist, contact her via her website or Instagram. She has additional collages from this series in the shop on her website as well! Each collage is $35.00 and $10.00 from each purchase goes to the scholarship fund!

P.S. This isn’t even all of the collages in this show! The inside of the big doors are covered on the inside, on one side, as well as the two exterior sides. I have video! I’ll come back and post the video when it’s edited and ready, so you can get a sense of how wonderfully covered the dollhouse is, as well as see the collages up close.