Speaking to her Twitch followers on Tuesday, ex-Warhammer TV presenter Louise Sugden announced she was involved with a feature documentary about the art of painting miniatures. The documentary ‘Art In Miniature’ is being made in collaboration with a gallery exhibition of the same name, and stars creators from the UK’s miniature wargaming hobby scene.
The Art in Miniature exhibition is currently open at the 20-21 gallery in Scunthorpe – which, yes, is a real place in England, and we all find the name funny as well. The exhibition contains models, dioramas, and conversions from 25 artists, drawn from every imaginable Warhammer 40k faction, Age of Sigmar army, and the wider, weirder world of tabletop miniatures.
Snippets from the documentary are already available on the 20-21 gallery’s YouTube channel.
Sugden explains how director Rachelle Strange contacted her and gave her “a brief overview of Art in Miniature, the exhibition, and the fact they were planning a documentary…” She was impressed by the quality of the work, but “was a little bit suspicious because it was so good it looked like a scam”.
During a video call, she realised she recognised Strange from a Live Action Role Play event they both attend, and agreed to participate.
While Sugden’s miniatures are on show in the exhibition, “my role in the documentary has changed a little bit. I think I’m more of a presenter now”, she says. That might be her modesty talking: “the point of the documentary is to showcase these wonderful artists” she says, referring to the other creatives who have been interviewed.
The documentary’s IMDB page gives an impressive list of interviewees: GW author Gav Thorpe, ex-GW miniature designer and sculptor of the first Space Marine Bob Naismith, hobby streamer Kerriss Brown, diorama maker Laurence ‘Baharroth’ Senter, independent miniature manufacturer Annie Norman, among others.
The Art in Miniature exhibition is open until 28 October. Sugden says it “might” tour to other museums, but this won’t be clear until the first exhibition wraps up.
If you can’t wait for the documentary to be finished, we have some interviews with its stars that might satiate you. We spoke to Louise Sugden about her journey through Games Workshop when she launched her hobby channel Rogue Hobbies.
We met Laurence Senter at Warhammer Fest 2023 to learn how he created his diorama of the coronation of Roboute Guilliman. And just last month we had the pleasure of talking to Annie Norman about how her female historical miniatures help to surface hidden histories.