(Meg Rogers - AM228)

A Reflection of Irish Heritage

by Pam North

A Fisher Price Sesame Street row house was Meg Rogers’ ticket into the world of miniatures when she was only about 3 or 4 years old; she has been obsessed with dollhouses ever since. When she was 9, she built a dollhouse from a kit with her dad, and attended her first miniatures show in Philadelphia a year later. Miniatures were a magical art form for her almost from then on.
A Bachelor of Fine Art Degree in Painting, and a Master of Fine Art in Painting and Printmaking has added to her expertise, and she is a psychotherapist who often works with children. “There’s a tradition of therapists appreciating miniatures; we use them in therapy, and, of course, Dr. Ruth has a collection,” she commented.
Her current project is the collection of rooms in her 1:12 scale dollhouse, which she has named Mór Beag, which means Big Small in Gaelige (Irish). “It is a bit of a pun, and a good name for a very time-consuming miniatures project,” she explained.
When she was studying for her Master in Family Therapy degree, she realized that she needed an outlet to allow herself to be creative with no other agenda than satisfying herself. She began researching images of rooms that reflected the Aesthetic Movement and the Arts & Crafts Movement, and combined them with her personal interests and history, including traditional patterns, textiles, crafts, as well as flowers and animals (“there’s a dog on every floor, and owls everywhere I could hide them”). Her favorite artists are represented (Degas), as well as literary references (the hallway is an homage to Edward Lear’s The Owl & The Pussycat). She blends in elements from her cultural heritage and the countries in which she has lived; there are molded speculaas boards and Delftware around her fireplaces, Irish plasterwork on the first floor, and American woods such as walnut and oak used throughout the house. She finds furniture inspiration browsing through catalogs, frequently using the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Victoria & Albert Museum, and National Trust as sources. She plans on including more elements reflective of Irish and American culture as she adds relief sculptures to the exterior of the house. “The house functions as a massive self-portrait,” she said, “and my only limit is that any item represented in the house has to have been made or developed before 1909.”
The structure of the dollhouse was laser cut for her by Jen Hanson, of Robots & Laser Beams (on Etsy), from Adobe Illustrator files Meg drafted herself. The floors of the house are alder, oak, and ebony, and she used Paperclay for many architectural details. “I often use pear wood or walnut to create the wood furniture. Contrado is my go-to fabric printing company for my 1:12 scale Morris & Co fabrics.”
She finds immense joy and satisfaction in making as much as she possibly can herself from scratch, such as the kitchen cabinets, tables, dining room drop-leaf table, side-board and cabinet, desk, armchairs, dressing table, bedside table, wash-stand, butterfly fire screen, and bedding, most of the wallpaper, and all of the rugs and curtains in her house. “I love making chairs, and I’ve made a replica of a Charles Rennie Mackintosh chair and several Morris & Co chairs.” The hardest part of working on this project for her was not going over-budget at every impulse, and pacing herself. “I find I don’t make my best work when rushed, but I’m also impatient to see a completed result. I have to remind myself frequently to go slowly, tackling one thing at a time.” She does allows herself to purchase special artisan-made pieces to integrate with her own crafted pieces.
While the idea for her piece remains basically the same in process in terms of structure and intent, she allows herself to find fun new ideas to layer in or add to the contents of the house. “I’m making it entirely for my own amusement, and to see the satisfaction of creating work with my own hands. My professional work exists almost entirely as thoughts and concepts; this is a place to take ideas and make them visible. I probably love the character of the house the most, it is definitely its own thing. It always is surprising me and bringing me joy. There‘s a facet for any mood I’m in, be it repetitively laying bricks individually, to making paintings, food and flowers, which require much more spontaneity.”
Her technique for creating an item is to choose the piece needed, then research examples of such furniture in historical rooms. She’ll find examples in museum catalogs and sketch the pieces until she can make sense of how the piece was assembled. If she’s lucky, she’ll find a pattern for a life-sized version of the piece in a woodworking book. She usually makes the piece twice: once to trouble-shoot and once for the final product. Museums, books, television and movies, paintings, history, and nature are valuable sources of inspiration for her.
She currently is working on carpets for the bedroom, and adding brick to the exterior of the house.  She is looking looking forward to participating in the IGMA Guild School in summer 2022 as a scholarship student, where she will be developing her furniture construction skills further. “I feel like I’m learning a new skill every month with this project. I’ve learned: welding, cutwork embroidery, petit point, gilding, mold making, and how to work with polymer clay. She’d also like to learn to work with porcelain in miniature, to improve her marquetry and needlework skills, and learn stumpwork embroidery one day.
Meg has no plans to sell her Mór Beag. “Maybe I’ll consider selling bits and pieces out of the house as I find new items to add, but as this is a Victorian-era house, I feel entitled to cram it with as many interesting items as I possibly can.”
What she loves most about miniatures is that she can make whatever she wants while enjoying the process of researching, experimenting, and sharing with others. Her main difficulty is always seeming to want more time in the day to work on projects.
Meg feels hopeful for a bright future for miniatures. “Social media has been crucial for me in both learning about the art form and in developing my skill set. There are so many kind and talented artisans out there, and it’s a delight to connect with so many virtually. I hope we can continue to do so to share our knowledge and artwork.”
Contact information:
Name: Meg Rogers
Email: megankellyrogers@gmail.com
Phone: USA: 717-435-3003
Address: 463 E Ave, Coronado, CA 92118
Instagram:  @mor_beag_dollshouse\