Comrade's Wargames

Here’s another milestone for me – last month, I officially took part in a curated art gallery at my local community center! This was a gallery for folks who are affiliated with the center; I teach miniatures painting classes there, so I was eligible to participate.

I entered a diorama showcasing a band of dwarven warriors mounting a hasty defense on the perimeter of a small settlement. An undead vanguard was emerging from a nearby forest, so the stage was set for an epic battle! A couple of my beautiful resin village buildings from Tabletop World made an appearance. I wrote a few paragraphs of free-form narrative lore to help put viewers “in situ” in the diorama.

It was a plumb location, right in the main lobby near the public entrance! All models and terrain was built and painted by me. Astute readers will notice some familiar faces in the setup!

The most challenging part of this installation was finding a suitable pedestal with a protective plexiglass cover on top! I called around to a number of local art nonprofits, community theater, library, etc. before finally striking gold at my local historical society! They had a large, well built plinth in storage, and they were happy to lend it to me for the duration of this exhibit.

Anyway, I’m properly chuffed at the somewhat silly idea of finally taking my place among the pantheon of “real artists.” Of course, I know that there are no gatekeepers on what constitutes art, and that anyone with a lick of creativity can claim that mantle. Still, it’s fun and rewarding to display my stuff in public (for 2 months, wow!) and help people expand their notions of what exactly “art” is.