Tammie Knight. Where do we begin?
There are few of us who can speak and write with such fire, grace, and humor. Tammie is one of those people. I’ll listen to her stories for hours any day.
Tammie has a voracious appetite for life, which she channels into her family, her work, and a very special art form known as miniature making. Miniature bars, miniatures homes, miniature galleries — you name it, she’s made it. A magician with all things mini, you’ll often find Tammie making something remarkable with the little pieces life throws her way.
In this spotlight, we dive into how Tammie first got into miniatures, her New York City upbringing, uphill battles she’s faced in the art world, and her favorite project to date.
Note — All images in this piece, except for one of Tammie with her mother, are miniatures. :)
So, Tammie, when did you start making miniatures?
My passion for miniatures started really early. I was probably six or seven. I grew up in New York and we didn't have a ton of money, but I had this amazing mother — still one of my absolute favorite people — who was just so connected to culture and art and history and really wanted that for her girls. If there was an event going on that had anything to do with music or art or entertainment, my mother got us to it. If it was free, we were going really fast. If we had to pay something, she'd figure it out.
It was always an adventure. We had one car, which my dad drove to work a lot, so we didn't have access to it most of the time. Plus, my mom didn't drive, nor did she want to. She loved to walk. She loved the subway. She loved New York City buses. That's how we got around. Sometimes it would literally take four modes of transportation to get to a show, an event, or a museum. At first, my sisters and I sort of just went along, but then we all started really loving it.
And for me, art has always been there. I drew a lot as a child. Then my mother introduced me to one of her favorite museums, which was the Museum of the City of New York. The first two floors are all New York history — everything from politics to lifestyle to city planning. But the third floor was miniatures and dollhouses. We got off the elevator, the doors opened, and I lost my mind! It felt like Christmas.
I wish I could’ve seen your face! Was that the first time you saw miniatures?
Oh, no! It's the first time I'd seen that many of them in one place. We used to go to FAO Schwartz, which was a huge New York City toy store, and I grew up seeing the Macy's windows. So I'd seen miniatures before. But the first time that I ever saw them in mass was at the Museum of the City of New York.
I think it changed my life. My mother jokes that I never wanted to leave. I just couldn't believe that something like that was there. That I could go and look at it again and again. So it became my muse and when I did get my dollhouse, the first thing my mother said she noticed was that I wasn't just playing with it. I was designing it. I made wallpaper. I would ask her for snips of fabric from an old pillowcase to make a sheet. I just constantly wanted to sew and make it more than the dollhouse it was. I wanted to design it. That was really fun.
When I did get my dollhouse, the first thing my mother said she noticed was that I wasn't just playing with it. I was designing it. I made wallpaper. I would ask her for snips of fabric from an old pillowcase to make a sheet. I just constantly wanted to sew and make it more than the dollhouse it was.
What do you think inspired you to make these dollhouses your own, rather than leaving them as they were?
I think, to be honest, it was things like House and Garden Magazine. My mom was a magazine person. We always had traditional black magazines in the house, like Ebony and Essence, but we also had decorating magazines like House Beautiful. I would look through the magazines and see these very beautifully designed rooms. Even as a kid, I totally got that there was someone doing that work. It was bigger than just “Oh, there’s a really pretty room.” It was like, “Wow, someone chose that sofa and designed that wallpaper and put that chair in that corner.” I had the sense that it was a designed space and that was huge for me.
So, sometimes I tried to replicate what I saw and other times I would see it and decide that I could do it better. I know, how big of an ego is that? [laughs]. But I was like, “I can do that.” So I tried. And that started the journey of art becoming really serious for me.
So, sometimes I tried to replicate what I saw and other times I would see it and decide that I could do it better. I know, how big of an ego is that? But I was like, “I can do that.” So I tried. And that started the journey of art becoming really serious for me.
I became the person in the family that made our Christmas and birthday cards, all of which were handmade even though I could go to the store and buy Hallmark cards. By the time I was in middle school, I told my mother that I wanted to go to an art high school. So we started to investigate what the process would be like. My parents bought me all the paper and all the markers and all the paints that I needed to create my portfolio. It was just a really cool journey. My parents completely fed this talent and wanted to see where I would go with it.
I didn’t know you were so into interiors and art at such a young age. That brings even more dimension to what I know about you and your miniatures. What kept you fixated on the miniature scale?
That's a great question. I have to think about that. Maybe being a young girl and having a dollhouse at a young age was part of it.
But I also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art starting around age six or seven. I loved it. They had period rooms and I really connected with the idea of things in a space having meaning because of where they came from, when they came into the space, and what they looked like in contrast to something else.
So, with miniatures, part of it was that I could control the scale because they were so small. I could create a whole space without making an entire life-sized room. And that stuck with me for reasons that are a bit control freakish, because I've got that going for sure. [laughs]
So, with miniatures, part of it was that I could control the scale because it was so small. I could create a whole space without making an entire life-sized room. And that stuck with me for reasons that are a bit control freakish, because I've got that going for sure.
And, to be honest, I never really wanted to be an interior designer. A friend of mine asked me, “Why didn’t you become an architect, a textiles designer, or do something bigger with that passion?” I think it’s because I wasn’t going to have to wait a very long time for my miniatures to come to fruition. It wasn't going to take five years to be built. It wasn't going to take the input of eight people and six months. It was going to take me, my skill, my ability to get things, find the resources, and build it. And that was super appealing. If it’s small, I can see an end to it.
I was never a very patient person. I could wait for something if I knew I wanted it, but I was always watching the clock go by and wanting something interesting to happen. My dad had this wonderful expression. He said, “I'll tell you something, young lady. Life does not move at the speed of Tammie.” And I thought, “Ok, Dad. Got it!”
My dad had this wonderful expression. He said, “I'll tell you something, young lady. Life does not move at the speed of Tammie.” And I thought, “Ok, Dad. Got it!”
It’s interesting because “control freak” has a negative connotation, but there seem to be two sides to the coin. There’s the side that isn’t always able to surrender, but there’s also the side that lends itself towards being proactive and owning life’s circumstances. That’s a quality I’ve always been really drawn to in you. Where do you think that comes from?
Well, thank you! Sometimes it's a cliche when people say they had a lot of strong female role models in their life, but in my case, that is fact. Two of my favorite women were my great grandmother, Lacie, and my mom. These two women, more than others, really stand out as being incredibly strong pillars for me.
I think I've told you that my sisters and I joke, “You know you have a special mother when she has three daughters and each of you think you're her favorite.” That was my mom. When I was with her, whatever I was doing felt like it was the most important thing to her. And my sister Audrey, who sings, would later say, “You know, Mom got me those guitar lessons that we couldn't necessarily afford and really encouraged me musically.” She felt like she had her full attention there. And my sister Lynne loved to sew and felt like she had my mom's full attention there too. We really were very fortunate to have a mother who threw herself at whatever we wanted to do one hundred percent.
I also started paying a lot of attention to my great grandmother Lacie as a young child because she seemed incredibly wise. I knew quite a few adults who I thought were smart, but I loved that she was wise. She used to say that she's stronger than her circumstance and I decided that that was a good mantra to have. She had a lot of quotes like, “Enjoy the good times, for they surely will pass. Endure the bad times, ‘cause they’re not going to last.” And she didn’t mean it in a negative, fatalistic way. She just meant that life is wonderful, but can be hard. So you're going to have great times and you're going to have awful times, and each of those things are organic and fluid and they're going to keep moving and changing, but what has to be constant is your belief that you can and will survive. And, even thrive.
So I decided that that had to be how the world worked for me, especially because I was very small for my age. Tiny in size. When I was 16, being tiny and in a big city, I just wanted to feel some kind of power and strength in my person. And that became core to who I am.
So I decided that that had to be how the world worked for me, especially because I was very small for my age. Tiny in size. When I was 16, being tiny and in a big city, I just wanted to feel some kind of power and strength in my person. And that became core to who I am.
I love that. Is there anything else about growing up in New York City that influenced your creativity and how you see the world?
Absolutely. The Met was a huge part of my life for so many reasons. I spent so much time going there. But there was a complexity to it all for me.
When I was a freshman at Parsons, there was a dollhouse shop on Madison Avenue that I found. And I thought to myself, “Oh my God. How long has this been here?” I couldn't even believe it was there. They were closed the day that I happened upon it, so I got their number and called. They told me that they weren't hiring and I thought, “Ok, I'll fix that!”
So I went home, put together pictures of my dollhouse projects, went back a week later, and went for it. I was like, “Hey, I'm Tammie McKinnon.” And they said, “Yeah, you were interested in a job. We're not hiring.” And I said, “Right. I know you said you're not hiring, but I want to work here and you don't even have to pay me a lot. And in fact, I have a feeling most of my paycheck will go back to you because I love miniatures and I'm just going to be buying a lot of stuff.”
So, I sold them on the idea of trying me part time. Within a month I had a full time after school and weekend job there. And as I got more experience working in the dollhouse shop, I became the person that did dollhouse repairs. So that meant if someone's electricity went out in their dollhouse or their daughter wanted to convert a bathroom into a nursery, I would head out with mini electrification tools, wallpaper, and pink carpet and get to work. We actually made house calls! That was such a cool thing.
But this was all happening in a New York neighborhood known as Carnegie Hill, which was extremely affluent and extremely lacking in diversity. And I have to tell you, it was very painful for me at times because I realized that I was being treated much better than some of the other people who were people of color, because I worked for a dollhouse shop, because I spoke “properly”, and because I was this “magical” dollhouse person.
But this was all happening in a New York neighborhood known as Carnegie Hill, which was extremely affluent and extremely lacking in diversity. And I have to tell you, it was very painful for me at times because I realized that I was being treated much better than some of the other people who were people of color, because I worked for a dollhouse shop, because I spoke “properly”, and because I was this “magical” dollhouse person.
So I would go into these exquisite homes, mostly owned by wealthy white New Yorkers, and I would catch a glimpse of their nanny or their housekeeper giving me looks that were not very friendly. And it created this confusion for me. I can't really describe what the looks were, but they didn’t give me a good feeling. I started to sort of feel like I was an impostor and that if I looked like me, but I wasn't necessarily doing the dollhouse thing, that maybe I wouldn't be treated the way I was. It was just a very strange feeling.
So often, especially on the weekends, I would end up working at the dollhouse shop, making a house call to someone in the neighborhood, and then retreating to the Met because the Met was like home for me. I would walk through the American wing and feel like I could just picture that period in history. I’d study some of the paintings by John Singer Sargent and be blown away. I’d go into the Egyptian wing and think, “I want to go to Egypt one day.” In a way, the Met was like traveling the world for me. It was a very exciting, powerful place to be.
But I always had this weird triangle of the dollhouse shop, these brownstones, and then the Met. It was my little corner of the world.
Did those uncomfortable feelings ever tarnish your relationship with miniatures? Or challenge your identity as a miniature maker?
For sure, they did. I had to fight through some of my own insecurities and pain. And frankly, though not often, I had to fight through some racism. When I was about 19, I did a miniature show in New Jersey. Out of 40 or 50 participants, I was the only black person. My mom was always my biggest supporter so she came with me and I can tell you that some of the looks we received were just rude and incredibly uncomfortable for me.
I remember thinking that I had to be tough and that I couldn't look vulnerable. That became a very pivotal time for me because I realized that this is the world. It wasn’t that everyone who’s white is a racist. That wasn't my view of the world. But I definitely knew that I was going to have an uphill battle with some people because I look like this and I was making dollhouses.
I have to tell you, frankly, some people have said things like, “Well, how did YOU get into miniatures? You don't see a lot of black people in miniatures.” And that's true. It's actually not something that you see a lot of people doing out here in California. I've been going to shows for decades and it comes up often. So I just decided that I had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable because people aren’t always going to be open minded towards me.
But, I also love the idea of doing something that people are looking at for what it is. I’m very proud of my blackness. I wear it with pride. But there’s more to me too. And I know that it can be really tricky for people because not everyone sees the world that way. But the world I see is the one where I’m doing this creative work. I want to do good work. I want to do work that excites people. That is positive. That brings something beautiful and new to the world. I want people to see that first and foremost. I want that more than anything.
I want to do work that excites people. That is positive. That brings something beautiful and new to the world. I want people to see that first and foremost. I want that more than anything.
I create this work with such a passion for it. It’s almost like I can't help it, like I have to create it. Which might sound kind of weird, but it's true. It’s a passion... and, it’s an obsession.
You’ve also been recently working on creating miniature galleries with artists, like our former co-worker Adrian. Can you tell us about those and where they are now?
They're all here with me. It's challenging for this Knight family of mine because I don't have a studio, so the house is my studio. At any given time, there are miniatures on the kitchen table, on the living room table, on the credenza. They're literally everywhere.
But I love the idea of creating micro galleries and I just started working on another one. I can't say the name of the artist or the project, but they are going to have a gallery show next year in the Bay Area and came up with a brilliant miniature gallery concept that I’m going to make for the show.
I've never done anything like this before. Adrian inspired this work with the request for a miniature of his ‘We Matter’ exhibition, and I am so grateful. Creating micro galleries with artists is an idea that has legs. It has room to grow. It also gives me the opportunity to show other people's work and to learn more about them. And I'm like you. I love connecting with people in a very genuine and real way. So having an opportunity to get to know someone's story through their work...it doesn't get better than that for me. This is work that I plan to be doing for a long time.
I love connecting with people in a very genuine and real way. So having an opportunity to get to know someone's story through their work...it doesn't get better than that for me. This is work that I plan to be doing for a long time.
Do you think you'll be doing other types of miniatures too?
Oh, yes! I still have the almost seven foot brownstone dollhouse that I have yet to finish. So, yeah, there are other projects. I'm working on a mini banquet for a friend, so I’m sourcing food and fabric. I'm also working on a book that I'm hoping to get out sometime this summer — fingers crossed — that is about miniatures taking on a very celebratory theme. So, I have a lot of projects and I'm trying to queue them all up. But for right now, in the near term, I’m totally focused on the galleries.
Very exciting! Lastly, do you have a favorite miniature? I'm sure that's a really hard question. It’s probably like asking your mom to pick a favorite child. :)
Oh, yeah! So my husband and I were dating during what I like to call San Francisco’s Golden Age. It wasn’t as expensive or populated as it is now, and the whole startup thing hadn't happened yet. You could go places...any place, quickly and easily. It wasn't super crowded and he’s a native, and we loved falling in love in his city.
One day we were hanging out and I asked him, “If you could have a business, would you want to open a restaurant?” He was in culinary school at the time and he said, “You know I love to cook, and the food thing is great, but I would want to open a bar. Not because I want to drink all the time, but because I love the camaraderie.”
So when he went away on a trip with his childhood friends, I made him a miniature bar. When he came back, he was shocked and blown away and excited that I spent time making this special thing for him.
That’s probably the miniature that I'm most connected to in many ways because it constantly takes me back to being new to San Francisco, being newly in love, and working on a project that I made with my whole heart. It's very detailed on the outside and the inside. And even now, some 30 years later, when I look at it, it takes me right back to that time in our relationship. And I sometimes imagine us sitting on the little bar stools or walking through the bar, which to me, is the magic of any miniature.
I sometimes imagine us sitting on the little bar stools or walking through the bar, which to me, is the magic of any miniature.
That is magic! Thank you so much Tammie.
To close out, can you share what’s at the top of your list of favorites these days?
1. Song — Underdog by Alicia Keys, mantra for me and a bunch of people
2. Film — Come To Daddy, Uncorked
3. Smell — Autumn, central park, leaves start to turn, air has bite to it
4. Destination — Paris
5. Fashion designer — Donna Karan, Stella Jean
6. Home accessory — Lamps/Lighting!
7. Flower — Hydrangea
8. Cocktail — Vodka Martini, shaken, three olives
9. Artist — Kadir Nelson
10. Book — Just Us by Claudia Rankine
11. Color — Navy Blue
12. Food — Mediterranean
To see more of Tammie’s miniature work, check out her website or follow her on Instagram and say hi!