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player ready...Britta Bergman Mulligan, a painter in oils for 35 years, has been happily doing windows for the past three years.
Working out of her home studio in West Chicago, she hand-carves them in miniature, in a hybrid art form. Photo-realistic and three-dimensional with exquisite attention to architectural detail, her “Windows of the Past” triggers happy childhood or travel memories in viewers.
Most of the framed pictures are turn-of-the-century Scandinavian windows, including grand residences, cottages, churches and other public buildings, inspired by photographs the artist has taken on trips there.
Some are American and a few are South of the Border with tiny iron balconies, blue tiles and flowerpots on a white stucco background.
“I’m somewhere between a painting and a miniature shadowbox, and it can be considered fine craft or contemporary art,” says the 57-year-old, Finnish-born artist.
What makes it come alive is her unerring sense of charm, as expressed in myriad decorative details–the tiny blue shutters on a cottage window, the geranium-filled flower boxes, the intricate Victorian architectural gingerbread around the outside frame of the windows.
Delicate white lace curtains hang within. Many of the artist’s “props” come from miniature shops, but she does have a serendipitous touch with creating accessories from found items. A crystal bead becomes a Lalique vase; a toothpaste cap, painted, becomes the lampshade on a tiny candlestick base.
Mulligan’s “Windows,” now on exhibit in Stockholm, also have been shown at the Swedish American Museum here. The windows cost $125 to $800, depending on the size and work involved. For information or an appointment, call 630-293-0268.