The first podcast episode of Sustaining Craft is now live! Take a listen here, or keep scrolling to read some of what Tom shared. There’s lots more in the episode!
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Tom Brown, an artist whose main work focuses on functional miniature, has been interested in tiny, working objects since childhood.
Born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, he started with whittling–carving sticks and branches into the things he wanted. “When I was a kid,” Brown shared, “I really wanted to learn how to play the guitar, and in order to do that, I needed a guitar, but I didn’t have one. And so I thought, ‘How can I get a guitar? I know, I’ll make one.’ I couldn’t make a full sized guitar, so what I ended up with was a guitar that was two inches long. And I realized that I really liked making the miniature object better than I would have liked the full-sized object and that kind of became my preoccupation from there.”
In 2009, he moved to Calgary, Alberta to attend the Alberta College of Art and Design, where he continued to explore his interest in the world of functional miniature.
Photo courtesy of Tom Brown
“The initial impulse of making things in order to use them stuck with me,” Brown said. “And I came back around to this project when I was going to art school in a context where I understood why I was fascinated by miniature and why I was fascinated by people because it was just a really interesting reflection of the everyday world.”
He made miniature art for class assignments, even creating a miniature functional lighthouse, which, placed in a gallery with dim lighting, gave the viewer the sense of being a ship at sea.
From there, Brown moved to food. “I had the idea that food was kind of the natural next step,” he shared. “Because it exists in this place in our lives where food has an essential function and it’s also pleasure and a social function. And all these things I thought were really interesting to look at from an art context.”
Brown spent a year making his miniature kitchen, which looks like a toolbox, he explained. “It’s ten inches by ten inches by sixteen inches,” said Brown. “It’s portable so I can take it with me anywhere and set it down, set it up and transport the environment of the kitchen, a place that I love to be. I love to hang out and have deep conversations cooking supper with people. It allows that thing to exist virtually anywhere.”
Photo courtesy of Tom Brown
Then he started making food for others.
His first performance was for friends, and he called himself Pizza Tom. “I gave myself the moniker Pizza Tom because pizzas were a recognizable object,” Brown explained. “It’s difficult to serve a miniature soup that’s kind of formless. Pizzas have this really wonderful aesthetic side to them. A pizza is visually quite beautiful. And a pizza is recognizable. I can also just give you a slice of pizza in your hand and you can eat it.”
And they loved it. “The reception was absolutely wonderful,” Brown shared. “People were thrilled to see me invest so much time and energy into a project.”
Photo courtesy of Tom Brown
Brown changed his identifying name from Pizza Tom to Tom Brown Creates, calling his performance on the streets Feeding the Masses, and giving away the food for free. Strangers were just about as receptive as his peers. “It does really produce a sense of comfort with people when I have the kitchen out on the street and I’m doing the performance,” Brown said. “People are willing to try the food and sit with me and have a conversation and share a little bit about their own creative journey with me.”
But he’s doing more than just Feeding the Masses–he’s building community in another way with his second project, Finders Keepers.
About a year and a half ago, after Brown had started publishing videos of his miniature kitchen on Instagram and grown his audience, he decided to expand the project. “The first thing that I hide was miniature tongs,” Brown said. “I went out and hid it and took a video of me hiding it on Instagram. That first object was up for a few days and someone finally clued in and went out and found it and it was a really exciting result. I felt encouraged to do more.”
Photo courtesy of Tom Brown
Finds now average between a few minutes to an hour all over Calgary. Brown has had items found in Hawaii and even Spain. He’s mailed objects to others to hid for him and hopes to continue to expand.
“It’s just a really good way of allowing people the opportunity to own art who might not necessarily have that chance,” Brown said. “But it also gives them the feeling of joy and adventure while they’re out searching for the object, even if they don’t find it.”
As for the future — Brown is gonna keep on creating.
He’s also going to continue to experiment in other ways. A few weeks ago, he started making two objects per week. One is hidden for Finders Keepers, and the second is put on eBay.
Photo courtesy of Tom Brown
Brown has found some struggles in assigning a monetary amount to his work, and using eBay helped elevate some concerns.
“It’s a difficult thing to price artwork,” he shared. “I have quite a hard time with it in terms of what is my work actually worth, because the amount of time that it takes me to make something doesn’t necessarily reflect when the object is an inch big. By allowing the market to set the price this way, I think I’ve actually ended up becoming able to be paid more fairly than I was when I was asking for what I thought the right price for the object was. I’m really hopeful that will be future outlet for what I make. And it will allow me to make things that are more special, one of a kind and beautiful. I find when I make a larger run of objects, it is possible to make them beautiful, but if I can invest that same amount of time into just one object, then I end up with something that’s a little more special.”
And the objects he makes take time. Making an item that is not only in miniature, but functional, takes work and failure and finding new ways to be successful. Brown has begun to share more of the whole story–when he’s selling at a market, or through his social media channels.
Photo courtesy of Tom Brown
“They see a miniature coffee mug, they always [say], ‘Well, what is this for?’” Brown shared. “And I’ve thought a lot about that because my initial answer is ‘What is any art for? How can I say what is a painting for? What is a sculpture for? It’s to be appreciated.’ But it’s a little bit more abstract with what I do because it is also a functional object. So I’ve started telling people, when they ask that question, the story. Of everything that went into making the object and all of the context and everything behind the scenes. And I think that’s the power that’s becoming more and more available to creators these days with social media because you can share the story.”
He advises other artists is simply to try. “If you have something and you’re being blocked by the fear, just start and stick with it,” Brown advised. “Even if you only do five minutes of work a day. Make sure you practice a little bit every day. And it will build, whether it’s slowly and surely or suddenly, it will happen. Just as long as you start and stick with it.”
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There’s so much more in the podcast episode! Give it a listen here:
Also, check out Brown’s work on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and his website. His videos are wonderful! You can place a bid on his miniature handmade cast iron pan here.