WILMINGTON, DE.-The Delaware Art Museum is pleased to present Precious Spaces: Masterpieces in Miniature, the Museum's second annual miniatures exhibition, on view November 17, 2007 - January 13, 2008. Precious Spaces has become the Museum's signature holiday display, and this year, each vignette is a showcase for the miniature artist's interpretation of an original, full-scale work, as well as a diminutive masterpiece in its own right. Artists from around the region have produced scaled-down versions of major paintings by luminaries such as Howard Pyle, N. C. Wyeth, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Claude Monet. Each three-dimensional miniature uses a scale whereby one inch equals one foot, and five of the eight miniatures are based on works in the Museum's collection.

Inspiration came to the miniature artists in a variety of ways. When Monica Graham saw C. Cole Phillips' depiction of a woman repairing her stocking at the Delaware Art Museum, she was motivated to reproduce the painting's subtle, muted tones. Deborah Mackie's purchase of a luxurious hide of curly red Tibetan lamb hair immediately brought to her mind the flowing locks of Rosetti's Lady Lilith. Dana J. Pyle, Jr., who is related to master illustrator Howard Pyle, has long been inspired by his ancestor's imagination and illustrations. He recreated Howard Pyle's So the reasure Was Divided, taking the time to fashion 32 individual pirates.

Visitors to the Delaware Art Museum will be able to vote for their favorite miniature until the evening of Friday, December 7, 2007, when the Museum will be open late as part of Wilmington's Art on the Town program. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., admission to the Museum will be free on this date, and the After Party, featuring DJs in Fusco Hall, will last from 8:00 p.m. to midnight. Voting will end during the course of the evening, and the first-, second-, and third-place miniatures will be announced. The miniature artists will attend this event so they can speak to visitors about their work.