A big, little exhibit

They call their paintings "art in the little," and they encourage people to view the works through magnifying glasses.

Wes Siegrist or his wife, Rachelle, painted the wildlife scenes and other subjects in "Exquisite Miniatures by Wes and Rachelle Siegrist." The exhibit opens Sept. 17 in the Yadkin Cultural Arts Center in Yadkinville. It started touring the United States last year, having been seen in museums and galleries in Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Arizona and Kansas. The tour will continue through 2013.

Susan Lyons is the co-director of the Yadkin Arts Council, which is presenting "Exquisite Miniatures."

"We wanted to pull in a major exhibition that would cause a stir," she said. "There was an audience for these paintings. Miniature art is quite popular. We have quite a few collectors in the Triad."

Of the 50 watercolors in "Exquisite Miniatures," all but four were created in an area that is 9 square inches or smaller, Wes said. The area for more conventional-sized paintings is at least 13 times larger. Almost all the subjects were rendered one-sixth their life size or smaller, in keeping with guidelines adopted by the Association of Miniature Artists.

Magnification helps uncover the unexpected in a miniature-art painting.

"There are surprises in there in the sense that you don't expect it to still look good when you look at it that close," Wes said recently on the telephone from Siegrists' home in Townsend, Tenn. Rachelle said that the eye begins to take in "blobs of paint" as it gets closer and closer to a conventional-sized painting, but with a miniature, the opposite is true.

"All of a sudden you can see all these little dots and layers and the detail in a portrait that might only be 2 inches tall," she said. "You can see the eyelashes."

The creation of all this detail in a small space presents challenges for the creator.

"It's painstaking, a lot of it," Rachelle said. "Some people think it's almost a bit crazy."

The creation of a refined, attractive miniature depends on technique, creative ingredients and good artistic judgment. A visual aid, such as a magnifying glass, is necessary to get the job done.

Surfaces of a miniature are smoother than those used for larger paintings, Wes said. The canvas used for many conventional-sized paintings creates a distracting weave in a miniature; it's better to use surfaces made of such materials as synthetic ivory.

Miniaturists use unusually thin paintbrushes, some with as few as six hairs.

"It looks like we're painting with a needle," he said.

It takes about 18 hours of work over two or three days to complete a miniature piece of art. Rachelle said that a good miniaturist learns when to stop, recognizing that enough detail is enough detail. "You can overwork and kill certain areas," she said.

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Wes and Rachelle were married in 1990, shortly after she participated in an art class that Wes taught in Florida. They have been painting together professionally since the early 1990s, but they became miniature specialists gradually.

Wes said that initially, he and Rachelle considered specializing in paintings between 80 and 120 square inches because they would be less expensive to ship to galleries. They didn't know about miniature-art societies. There are about a dozen such groups worldwide, of which half are in the United States. There are none in North Carolina.

In 1997, the Siegrists came across guidelines for a show that wanted 25-square-inch paintings.

"Atop all the rest of the rules and guidelines, we initially put aside the idea of entering the show," Wes said by email. "It was a few days later, when I had some spare time on my hands, that I opted to give the new, tiny format and scale a try and fell head over heels in love with it. Rachelle was captivated later that evening when she saw my miniature painting and did her first one … the next morning."

Wes estimates that about 500 artists create miniature art worldwide; about half of them are American. But only a handful of artists, including the Siegrists, derive their income solely from miniature art, Wes said. The Siegrists' decision to specialize in miniature art was cemented after they started attending the exhibitions of miniature-art societies and were enchanted with what they encountered.

"The experience of seeing so much quality artwork in a tiny format, displayed within a space that would usually hold only a fraction of conventional-scale work, was a wow," Wes emailed. "You wanted to get up close and examine the works, but the teeming crowds trying to do the same and buying them in a state of frenzy hindered it and amazed us."

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The Siegrists also started to sense potential for business. A painting by Wes or Rachelle typically costs $850, but some can cost as much as $1,850.

"Exquisite Miniatures" may drive sales — works from the exhibition can be purchased — but it also reflects how miniature art has developed.

With its origins to the fourth century, miniature art was largely utilitarian for centuries. It appeared on coins, illustrated books and was a way of creating portable portraits before photography came along in the 19th century.

Most scholars consider the detachment of artwork from the illustrated page, in the 1520s, as the start of the miniature art known today, said Wes, who has written about the history of miniature art.

By the late 19th century, photography had put many miniaturists out of business.

Miniature art was beginning to be appreciated more as fine art and less for any function it might serve.

Miniature-art societies started springing up, first in England and then in the United States. These served as a way of preserving the art form and, through exhibitions, spreading examples among collectors.

The genre, influenced by photography, included a range of subjects in multiple styles.

In time, miniature art began appearing in museums, though Wes said that most of it was by deceased artists.

"Exquisite Miniatures" is a rare example of a traveling exhibition featuring art by a living miniaturist, said David Wagner, the tour's producing director and curator.

"The emphasis on miniatures as fine art (as opposed to) utilitarian trinkets began in the 1800s and was cemented as a goal by the later miniature-art societies," Wes emailed. "Our exhibition … has achieved the pinnacle of that goal."