Bio - Marijke Hurkens

Name:
Marijke Hurkens

Location:
Hanwell, New Brunswick (near Fredericton)

Years working in minis:
25+ years

Camp Mini Ha Ha attendance:
2003, 2005 - 2015, every 2 years since

Blog:
http://pulchinellascellar.blogspot.com/

Website: -----


Marijke is the mother of 3 grown children: a son and two daughters. She was born in the Netherlands and moved with her parents and siblings to Canada in 1956. She still speaks and reads Dutch and can understand a little written German as well, allowing her to take advantage of the wonderful Dutch miniature magazines available. She lived in various provinces of Canada over the years as well as in Jamaica for a time before settling in New Brunswick with her family.

What other types of artistic/craft pursuits do you follow?

Besides miniatures, I also sew, quilt, knit, embroider and keep a small collection of antique, childhood and interesting modern European dolls. As a doll person, I have given talks on dolls at Kings Landing Historical Settlement near here, where I also volunteer in museum accessioning. Unfortunately, aside from some small pieces of doll furniture, we do not have any miniatures in the collection!

How and when did you first become interested in the art of miniatures?

My active involvement in minis began about 1995, although I was visiting miniature shows for a couple of years before that, as both my daughters had dolls’ houses. I started to make things like accessories, rugs and pictures for them. Before long, they were able to create miniatures for them on their own, but I was hooked and began challenging myself to make “adult” miniatures. My first project was a market barrow, then a market stall, then more stalls and barrows. That was followed by a garden shed, and then by the first of my medieval structures.

We used to visit both Bangor shows, Camden, Boothbay and Belfast in Maine, as well as the very few shows in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; chief among those are the Moncton Miniatures and Dolls Show, and the CFB Shearwater Hobby Shows. Even before my active involvement, I was making small embroidered pieces for my kids’ dolls’ houses, until I decided, this is fun and I want to get involved for myself. 

Over the years, I made it to one Toronto show, Birmingham Miniatura, and the Arnhem show in The Netherlands, as well as an unforgettable visit to The Hague, The Netherlands, to see XXX Small, a show that featured some of the best antique dolls’ houses and dolls’ house miniatures in Europe, a once-in-a-lifetime experience for certain. And I got to the Kensington show one year, too.

Once I began to make polymer clay food items, I produced a surplus, which led me to begin selling my miniatures. What I made in those sales, I spent on acquiring some pieces by miniaturists whose work I respected. I have been selling at the Moncton show for upwards of 20 years, and have also sold at the CFB Shearwater show. The last few years, our small local miniatures group has also exhibited and sold at the Fredericton Model Railroad Show. With Marilyn and Louise and other Fredericton Area Miniature Enthusiasts we organized two shows here in Fredericton. I have also taught miniature projects locally and given a number of talks on miniatures at smaller, rural libraries in New Brunswick.

Since 2012, I have been writing a miniatures blog, pulchinellascellar.blogspot.com On the blog, I talk about what I have been working on, and offer occasional tutorials, primarily in miniature flower making. There are lots of photos! 

What most inspires your artistic endeavours?

Generally, I will see something that captures my imagination, and then I just go ahead and try it. That seems to be the pattern I follow in all the creative hobbies that inspire me. Usually, though, I try to add my own individual interpretation to whatever I am working on.

What are your favourite things to make in miniature?

First of all, anything that involves Tudor-type buildings is dear to my heart. Then, the sorts of things you find in a market setting appeal to me; I recently came across instructions for a hand-cart ice cream vendor, for example. Also, small, wooden antique or vintage items appeal to me, and I’ve made rather a lot of them recently! Miniature embroidery is a big favourite, at least as long as my eyes hold out; I prefer to work in 22 or 24 count canvas but have worked in 36 count linen. There are a few 48 count silk gauze kits waiting for me to get up the courage to make them. And, of course, flowers and food items are things I enjoy making.

What real-life piece, scene or building would you most love to try in miniature?

Right now, I have a pre-WWI wooden shoe factory on the go, and a two-part Tudor apothecary that will also get an apothecary garden. I’d love to make the Rembrandt House project, but am not skilled enough, although I will use some of the ideas presented there in my on-going Tudor settings. There is a project in a Dutch miniature magazine, entitled The Middle Ages Project, that I’d love to try….But, I have to accept that I am not getting any younger, and finish what I’ve got on the go right now!

Do you have a favourite miniature project from Camp Mini Ha Ha? 

There is more than one; I love the crowded kitchen, and the indoor-outdoor project. The book box project is a favourite, but it got damaged at a show, and needs some repair done on it. The fishing shack on a pier just needs time! I have all the pieces for both shack and pier, but adding the water to the beach has been put off for years now, as it has to be done out of doors – resin smells bad – and the weather always seems to be wrong when I have a stretch of time to work on it. The attic needs electrification, and the shop has been through several incarnations but nothing definite as yet. The castle is a lot of pieces, as is the loft. More hours in the day might help….

A favourite project that was not part of Camp?

The between-the-wars market lives in a box but has so much scope for additions to be made to it! The apothecary is built and needs furnishing only, and of course, the garden. (Some of the plants are made already.) During our period of self-isolation, I started a garden centre vignette that I keep returning to, I really enjoy it; it was intended to be a display base for shows, but has taken on a life of its own. Our local group project, my flower shop Floralia, is very dear to my heart.

Would you like to share some of your favourite Camp Mini Ha Ha memories?

My first experience with Camp MiniHaHa was a weekend at Debbie’s cottage in Nova Scotia; there had been some cancellations, and two mini friends and I were asked if we would be interested in coming. I have not really looked back from there. I followed CMHH to Berwick for 3 years, and then on to Annapolis Basin Conference Centre, not missing a camp until a death in the family made it necessary to cancel at the last minute. Then my youngest decided to get married one September; she should have known better, as she and her sister came to camp with me the year of the Castle Project! I missed another camp. 

Wherever I go, I seem to run into camp alumni, and that is fun! Working and playing with people for a stretch of days forms friendships, and those friendships are often renewed as people return to camp year after year. Camp has always been a reaffirming experience for me, to be able to spend time with people who are “infected with the miniature virus” just as I am. (That’s what they call it in Dutch!) Although I may not be able to attend every camp, I hope I get to partake of more of them for the next decade or two.