Find your (mini) people.

When I was around 11 or 12 years old, my grandparents built a dollhouse on their dining room table. It inspired me to learn to crochet from my grandmother, who taught me how to make the one and only thing I have ever crocheted: a bedspread for a future dollhouse. She, however, crocheted a staircase runner that had one color on the flat part, another on the vertical for their dollhouse, which I ended up inheriting. She was a master.

That house inspired me to build my own first house out of a cardboard box. I remember taking a Polaroid shot of the living room, with my pinecone / pipe cleaner Christmas tree, and showing it to my 6th grade teacher. He asked if it was a real tree; he was very kind.

I got my second dollhouse easily 20 years later, when I was getting married. I figured that if I was upgrading my life, then my dollhouse people should, too (never mind that I didn’t have people; I love the houses). I was a solo, budding miniaturist, who had no concept of there being an entire miniature world out there.

In my professional world, there is a huge emphasis on community building, finding your people… connecting. I just hadn’t realized it existed in the miniworld until it found me, through the incredible Carol Meade Gillon and Julie Hammons Johnson, who, along with me, have Joseph Angel dollhouses. They introduced me to the vast world of miniature shows with classes. Who knew?!? I certainly did not. They opened up a whole new realm of possibilities, inspiration, and shopportunities, and I could not be more grateful because since then, I have met so many wonderful people that have shared knowledge and have made me feel, well, normal for having a ton of houses (looking at, you, Alysha of Maple and Moss).

That is why, when putting together this website, it was really important to include a place to help others learn what is out there, where our people are, and how we can continue learning through the wonderful workshops that so many shows offer.

The result is this page: https://www.atmmuseum.org/map

It is not a complete list and I will continue to add as I become aware of more. I also hope to add retreats and other things and am definitely open to ideas. I hope this map helps you find miniature opportunities near your, or perhaps even gives you reasons to travel to museums or shows or shops!

Why a museum?

I read something that stuck with me: “The key to making things happen isn’t waiting for the perfect moment; it’s starting with what you have, where you are.” This is hard for a perfectionist, trust me. The blurb then continued: “Big goals can feel overwhelming when viewed all at once, but momentum builds through small, consistent action.” So… true! I am staring a BIG GOAL right in the face and am working on breaking it down.

But let me introduce myself. My name is Angela Mahoney and I am a miniaturist. Or a builder… or a collector. Or all the things. I just adore tiny treasures, and while I sincerely love making them, as a working mom with a decent household salary (Saint Husband and I make a great pair), but no time, to keep my dream alive, I spent 20 years buying dollhouses.

Why?

I have always loved architecture. It fascinates me. While it was almost 30 years between the first and the 3rd houses, the acquisition pace increased. The deal I had with my beloved husband was that if it was custom build, in an architectural style that I didn’t have, and was reasonably priced, it was fair game. I wanted a neighborhood where you could walk from one end to the other, from a log cabin to a saltbox to a Victorian to a McMansion, for example, sampling new American architecture with each step.

And I found some pretty cool houses! While my childhood dollhouse resided in one of the girl’s rooms, the others found a home in the sunroom… then the living room… then… Saint Husband brought it to my attention that we really needed another solution. We talked about a she-shed, and even built a retaining wall for the site, but as with all the best laid plans, COVID and some nasty Oregon wildfires made construction costs go through the roof, so our contractor suggested that if we didn’t need to build now, then wait. The challenge was, according to my husband, we DID need to build now, because he wanted the dining room table, my workspace, back (by this time we also had a large Husky tool bench we wheeled in and out of the sunroom for my tools, a very thoughtful Mother’s Day Gift).

We have a duplex that had a leaning garage with walls you could practically see through, but Saint Husband had a vision, righted the garage, sheet-rocked it, installed so many electrical outlets that we’re pretty sure the permit inspector thought we were creating a grow room, and viola - a workspace!

I filled my new workshop when I bought the Amburn collection. I had been dabbling with the idea of a museum by that point, to be able to share my collection, and had some solid encouragement by Saint Husband. Not quite an ultimatum, but encouragingly strong. And here we are!

What makes me think I can do it? I go back to a story my mom told of when I was performing with the color-guard in the World Expo in Vancouver, Canada, but had to be in Oregon the next day to compete in the State Math Competition. She bought a plane ticket so my 14 year old self could fly home through Seattle, change planes to Portland, and make it to the competition. One of her friends asked how she knew I could do it, and she said, “because I never told her she couldn’t”. So with the museum, I don’t know that I can’t. I am also leaning on 20+ years of problem solving while developing software solutions, and 11 years running a non-profit to teach women around the world to code.

That is my story. It’s very scary to be doing this. It’s a BIG goal, but as the saying goes, if you are scared to do something, then just do it scared. I am also reminded of something I heard at a Women in Tech event years ago: jump and build your wings on the way down. I thought about that and went back and quit my job, learned a lot and moved on to better things. We are now empty nesters, and while I am still navigating post breast cancer treatment challenges, I need a new career, and find myself once again jumping and building my wings on the way down. And today is my birthday, so my gift to myself is to make my museum happen.

I have several mentors and some volunteers that are quite helpful, and always looking for more help to bring to life a miniature museum in the Pacific Northwest! Interested in being a part of it? I’d love to chat. Want to swing by and see the collection? Please contact me - I want to share.

Now, let’s do this!