(Catherine Hawkins – Irish Scullery, Van Gogh’s Bedroom)
The Charm of Historic Little Rooms 
by Pam North
Catherine Hawkins is a resident of Rainbow City, Alabama, northeast of Birmingham, and she has been  interested in miniatures since 1983, her focus including room boxes, dioramas, and the furniture and accessories needed to complete the scenes in the boxes. She had worked primarily in 1:12 scale, but she later became intrigued by quarter-inch scale and decided to venture into that even smaller world. 
Two of Catherines’s pieces are her Irish Scullery and Van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles , both of which are 1:48 scale. The meticulous detail work of the tinier proportions proved time-consuming, but both pieces turned out just as she had envisioned them.
The Irish Scullery, made in 2011. was inspired by an article on an Irish cottage with a scullery. The scullery, an adjunct to the kitchen, was used for washing dishes, preparing foods for roasting and boiling, cleaning vegetables, and dressing poultry, game, and fish, so a sink and stove were necessary components, and also storage for dishes, pots, and pans. The scullery additionally was used for doing laundry, which required a copper boiler and a mangle. Catherine handcrafted the entire project using 
paper, matboard, paint, glue, clay, little bits of plastic and metal, and found items such as a few beads, some jewelry findings, and a metal miniature cat, crafted from basswood,The box, measuring less than four inches wide, is made of basswood and balsa, the latter a much softer wood but lighter in weight for thicker pieces. Since great quantities of water had to be brought inside real sculleries for washing, their floors were brick, stone, terra cotta tiles, or concrete so the floor in the mini scullery was coated with a very thin mixture of Creative Paperclay and gesso, then carved to resemble stones. Tissue was applied to wet gesso on the walls to create the texture of plaster. Against the back wall is a woodburning stove in an alcove of strips of balsa wood., and in the corner next to the stove is a copper boiler for boiling clothes. On the right wall is a sink, which would have been made of slate or soapstone. All of these appliances are basswood, painted to resemble metal, brick, or slate. Over the stove is a basswood shelf holding boxes made from cardstock; bottles of plastic, wood, or beads painted with glass stain; and a plate printed on a computer and glued to cardstock. A bellows made from cardboard and a metal wire hangs beside the stove, and on the other side is a broom made from broom straw. On the floor sits a basswood mangle, used for squeezing water out of clothes, and a three-legged stool of basswood is in front of the stove. Over the sink is a set of copper utensils, made by twisting pieces of copper wire into shapes. On the left wall is a basswood shelf holding plates (punched from cardboard with a 1/4-inch paper punch); bowls (beads and pieces of dried glue); and jars (beads and wooden bits). On the floor are two pans, one made from the plastic blister pack from pills. The door is stained pieces of basswood, and on the doorstep sits a metal miniature cat. 
Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles was inspired by the painting of the same name; Catherine made he piece as an entry in the 2015 Gadsden Art Association Juried Show, and it won an Honorable Mention ribbon. Catherine shared some background on it, saying, “In a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent explained that the purpose of his painting was to express the tranquility and simplicity of his bedroom by using the symbolism of colors.” She described her use of materials, saying, “The five-inch wide box is four pieces of 1/16-inch plywood, with the floor cut on an angle as in the painting. The floor was scored to resemble planks, then colored as in the painting, using a combination of red oak stain and pale green acrylic paint. The doors are pieces of basswood strips cut to resemble a door frame and panels, colored with acrylic paints. Since there are no doorknobs seen in the painting, the doors have no knobs. The window is thin strips of 1/32-inch basswood, with a piece of plastic for the window. Glass stain was used to color the plastic. It is fastened to the wall to appear that it is partially open. The table, chairs, bed, and peg rack are basswood, although the pegs are bits of broom straw. The rungs of the chairs also are broom straws, with pieces of bamboo skewers for the front legs. The seats of the chairs are balsa, carved to look like the woven rush seats in the painting and also the pillows. The red coverlet on the bed is tissue paper, colored red with watercolor. The clothing on the peg racks and the towel hanging by the door are made from pieces of a heavy paper napkin, colored with watercolor paints, and the brim of the hat is cardstock, with a blob of crumpled tissue for the crown. On the table are a bowl and pitcher (plastic), a book (wood), and four containers made of bits and pieces of shaped plastic. Van Gogh actually made three versions of the painting, differing in the pictures on the wall to the right. The pictures in my replica are copies of Van Gogh paintings, shrunk and printed from a computer, and framed with cardstock. Except for the two portraits (one a self-portrait, the other of his friend Paul-Eugène Milliet), I could not tell what the paintings were, so I chose Van Gogh paintings that resembled the ones in the painting. One was his Autumn Landscape, another was View at Arles with Irises, and the third was Autumn Garden.”
As for her next projects, Catherine is working on a medieval scriptorium; a façade of a castle door; and a Chinese scholar’s table for the 2019 Gadsden Art Association Juried Show.

Contact information:
Name: Catherine Hawkins
Email: chawk909@yahoo.com
Phone: (256) 390-2718
Address: 627 Lake Vista Point, Rainbow City, AL 35906
Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/44872535@N02/sets