WILL MOSES
SLEIGH BELLS RING 19-1 / 4” X 26-5 / 8”
STARS AND STRIPES 19-1 / 4” X 26-5 / 8”
WHITE CREEK SUNRISE 19-1 / 4” X 26-5 / 8”
A DAY AT THE BEACH 19-1 / 4” X 26-5 / 8”
58 VERMONT MAGAZINE
1000 Piece Puzzle $ 19.95
1000 Piece Puzzle $ 19.95
1000 Piece Puzzle $ 19.95
1000 Piece Puzzle $ 19.95
“ Art to warm your heart and home” MT. NEBO GALLERY
60 Grandma Moses Rd. P. O. Box 94, Eagle Bridge, NY 12057
1-800-328-6326 FREE color catalog is available featuring Will Moses limited edition Folk Art Prints, Books, Puzzles, Cards & More! VISA MASTERCARD AMERICAN EXPRESS
PROMPT DELIVERY SATISFACTION GUARANTEED Visit us on the web at www. willmoses. com or visit the Will Moses Dealer near you. Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT Bear Pond Books, Stowe, VT Vermont Artisan Designs, Brattleboro, VT F. H. Gillingham & Sons, Woodstock, VT Sweet Cecily, Middlebury, VT
Larger than Life
gle-sip hot chocolates.
It’ s a festival designed to delight all five senses. The twinkle of holiday lights will reflect off glass ornaments and icicles, the smell of cinnamon and cocoa will drift from café doors, and the sound of cheerful mingling and model trains will mingle with music in the crisp winter air.
The Making of a Movement
A year ago, the miniature restoration group now known as“ Dollhouse Clubhouse” was little more than a creative gathering that was held on a weekly basis in Melany Kahn’ s farmhouse studio in West Brattleboro. There, Kahn and her friends, including Amelia Farnum and Desiree Stango, would spend hours repairing and decorating old dollhouses. They wallpapered, refurbished, decorated, and painted them with the same care a builder would give to a real home.
The idea was inspired in part by the model-train hobbyists in town— a group of Dads who called themselves“ Train Club” and met weekly at HatchSpace to build elaborate miniature railroads.“ I saw how much joy they got from making things together,” Kahn recalls.“ And I thought, why shouldn’ t we have something like that? We wanted a space to create, laugh, and reconnect with the tactile world— so Dollhouse Clubhouse was born.”
The group began modestly, with a few small restoration projects. But soon, they stumbled upon a discovery that would change everything. A friend sent Kahn a photo of a battered Victorian dollhouse listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Kahn wasn’ t even on Facebook—“ It had to find me,” she laughs— but she was instantly drawn to its copper roof and ornate trim.“ It was falling apart,” she says,“ but it had good bones. I thought, this house deserves another life.”
The house became the centerpiece of their efforts. With help from her friends, Kahn stripped, repainted, rewired, and restored it to its former glory, painting it in rich shades with embossed paper ceilings and carefully grouted tile floors.“ We took it right down to the studs,” says Desiree Stango, who worked alongside her at the farmhouse.“ We treated it the same way you’ d treat a real renovation project— structural fixes first, then design.”
For Kahn, every detail became an opportunity to connect local artistry to her lifelong fascination with small worlds.“ Miniatures are more than decoration,” she explains.“ They’ re a reflection of memory, imagination, and care. They remind us of continuity— of things passed down through generations. That’ s one reason people respond to them so deeply.”
As the restored dollhouse took shape, it began attracting visitors. Friends stopped by the farmhouse to admire the work, to drop off bits of fabric or old miniatures from their attics. Soon, Kahn’ s farm became a creative hub, overflowing with people, stories, and tiny works of art.“ It was contagious,” she says.“ One person would bring a friend, who’ d bring another friend, and before long we had a whole community working together.”
The transformation from hobby to movement happened almost accidentally. While discussing where to display the finished dollhouse, Kahn floated the idea of placing it in a downtown window— perhaps at HatchSpace or Mitchell Giddings Fine Arts. But as word spread, so did the enthusiasm.“ Someone said,