Julia Weber
Staff Writer
Mark Teets, an employee in Chautauqua Institution’s Gardens and Landscapes department, found a pastime in making miniatures. What first started as building fairy garden miniatures for his granddaughter has since morphed into a series of intensive miniature architectural feats. His latest? The historic Miller Bell Tower.
When he initially set out on this mission, Teets said he wanted to recreate a recognizable feature of the Institution. At first he considered replicating the Athenaeum Hotel, but wanted to opt for a less intricate structure. After some debate, he settled on the iconic bell tower for his project.
“I was looking at the Miller Bell Tower, and I said ‘I don’t know.’ I decided to do it,” he said.
Teets got the dimensions of the bell tower and set to work. First, he had to scale the building down to a manageable size — set to be 6 feet tall by the time it is complete. He said that while the measurements aren’t exactly to scale, he works to make the miniature versions as close in resemblance to their full-size counterparts.
“If you look at the real one, you see there’s a lot of unique characteristics. The colors of bricks, the size of bricks, some bricks are very skinny,” he said. “Mine is the same way.”
Teets had never worked with brick in miniatures before, and he had to learn how to make his own in the right proportion when scaled down. He said he relied on tutorial videos of how to make standard-size bricks — and a healthy dose of trial and error — to come up with a successful method.
Teets said one of the challenges he has faced in creating the miniature bell tower so far has been navigating the curvature of the door frames and window arches. As he continues building the tower, he’ll need to figure out how to install the bells in his miniature to resemble the original’s structure.
“If you look at (the bell tower) very closely, the top part is very intricate,” he said. “I’m going to try to maintain the integrity as much as I can.”
He said that while other artists who make miniatures sometimes conduct extensive planning before they begin making the structure, his process is much more organic. He said while he makes mistakes sometimes because of this, he appreciates seeing the variations in form on the real bell tower.
“(My process is) basically all in my head, but sometimes I make mistakes because of that,” Teets said. “When I thought that, I looked at the tower, and I went, ‘Look at all of those “mistakes” that are on this thing.’ ”
Teets has been asked on occasion why he makes miniatures and, in particular, why he felt inspired to recreate Chautauqua’s bell tower. He put it simply: “I do it because it’s fun. I just enjoy it.”
For Teets, Chautauqua is a place of community, and he appreciates that it feels “almost like a family.” He said he enjoys the community’s engagement and shared sense of purpose.
“I like it,” he said. “I love it here, I do.”
