- Hi everyone, I'm Kate Perdoni.
- And I'm Michael Gadlin.
- Welcome back to Arts District on Rocky Mountain PBS.
- Antique clocks; vintage radios; old cameras.
These are fun items for any collector.
And to artist, Scott Hilderbrant,
they're portals into an alternate dimension.
- Arts District Producer, Alexis Kikoen,
brings us into the whimsical world of miniatures,
showing us how small art can make a big impression.
(lively music)
- The way people react to my art is different and fun,
and priceless, all at the same time.
(train whizzes)
When they see that the pieces light up,
and then it's fun to see their faces light up.
And I see their imagination light up.
And it's really kind of a fun thing to sit back and watch.
It's really such a humbling experience to hear
people tell me about how it moves them,
and the feelings that it invokes in them.
There's nothing in the world like it,
it feels wonderful.
(guitar music)
My name is Scott Hilderbrandt,
and I'm a miniature artist,
and I work with re-purposing old clocks,
cameras, radios and TVs.
I would say for over the last ten years,
I have built probably close to, maybe 3,000 pieces.
All different shapes and sizes,
nothing is really off-limits.
And this is actually airplane salvage.
So this is an old wheel cover,
from an old landing gear,
an old Cessna 182.
The love of miniatures probably started
when I was close to six or seven.
My grandfather used to put up his old train set
from when he was a boy.
And, I just remember of being in awe
of how beautiful it was, and how it ran,
and all the little miniatures that went with it.
And, I was just fascinated with it.
And, as I got older, I would build models.
And I loved the scale of trying to recreate
these scenes in miniature format.
Like this an old hard back case,
- Oh! There's a little switch
on the bottom.
It makes them portable,
so that you can put them somewhere.
But, you can open it up, and have a nice little display.
- Oh my gosh. (chuckles)
Mr. Christmas is a term, or a name,
that was given to me probably about ten years ago
when I first started doing this.
- It's very creative of what you done.
- Thank you, I appreciate that.
- Beautiful work.
- I felt Pakistani vintage Christmas pieces,
and my first piece that I ever made,
actually was a little Christmas village
that was under glass.
People took interest in that style of art,
and so I just sort of absorbed the name, Mr. Christmas.
I would describe the personality
of my work as more whimsical.
I think miniatures, in general,
reminds adults of that same imagination
that sometimes you repress and put away.
And it brings you back to a really good place
in your life that you remember when you were younger.
And it's almost like a safe place,
and it creates these warm memories that people love.
- Where do you source your antiques?
- I go to a lot of estate sales, and flea markets.
Garage sales.
A real interesting weekend for me is thrifting.
A fun weekend like that will turn into fun weeks of
finding these pieces and then
getting a chance to build into them.
This poor clock, it stopped working,
and the motor burned out.
So, I'm going to re-purpose the face.
I never put people inside of my artwork.
I feel like the scene itself creates a wonder or mystery,
and I want the focus to be on the quaintness of
the scene itself, and that you could
imagine yourself maybe there.
The thing that really inspires me to continue with my art is
the ability to create something
that connects people together.
And that's also a very endearing challenge to me
to be able to create something that I can imagine.
There's nothing more satisfying to be able to complete
something that you've thought about.
It's just such a form of accomplishment,
and it's so satisfying,
that it kind of makes me feel complete, as an artist.
- [Interviewer] Do you title all of your pieces?
- I try to.
- And what would you call it?
- Um, a clear sunset. (chuckles)
I cannot imagine not doing it.
It's part of my life, and it's really part of who I am.
- Scott has already made a name for himself,
despite being relatively new to the art scene.
- That's right, in 2016, he won the best-in-show
at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, which is huge.
You can see more of his work at local Colorado markets,
or on line at clevermrchristmas.com
- I love that name.