BRATTLEBORO FESTIVAL of MINIATURES
AT THE HEART OF IT ALL:
THE ITSYBELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM
in the window of Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts
November 27, 2026 — January 10, 2027
Free and open to the public
WORK IN PROGRESS
Each year, the centerpiece of the Festival’s Holiday Stroll is a show stopping miniature of immense scale installed in the front window of Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts on Main Street. This year, it’s our homage to the famed Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston—ItsyBella Stewart Gardner Museum—which is providing challenging yet whimsical opportunities for the artists and makers in town. The team at Dollhouse Clubhouse is busy restoring a historic 1910 dollhouse built by renowned architect, Harvey Paige, and gifted to the Festival by his great-granddaughter. Once the structural work is complete, it will be adorned with the original miniature works of 100 local artists and artisans.
The Brattleboro Festival of Miniatures will post a full gallery of all the works when this masterpiece is unveiled. Watch the ItsyBella Stewart Gardner Museum come to life.
Festival Centerpiece
BRATTLEBORO IS GOING SMALL IN A BIG WAY
The Brattleboro Festival of Miniatures is a free town-wide celebration of small scenes with a big imagination.
HOLIDAY STROLL
Visit Brattleboro and discover more than 60 store windows brimming with magical miniature scenes, darling doll houses, tiny terrariums, and steaming model trains.
SHOP & TASTE
Enjoy unique local stores and a pop-up artisan holiday market to find stocking stuffers galore. Sample tasty treats—from mini bagels to tiny tapas—in our one-of-a-kind restaurants.
EXPERIENCE
Puppet shows, tea parties, mini baking contests, a Museum of Things Tiny and Found, and exhibits, including the restored ItsyBella Gardner Museum filled with the original work of 100 artisans in miniature!
Vermontitude: Miniature Brattleboro
AT THE HEART OF IT ALL: THE ITSYBELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM
Our replica of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston—the ItsyBella Stewart Gardner Museum—is providing challenging yet whimsical opportunities for the artists and makers in town. Our team is busy restoring a historic 1910 dollhouse built by renowned architect, Harvey Paige, which will be on displayed at Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts. Once the structural work is complete, it will be adorned with the original miniature works of 100 local artists and artisans, including:
• teensy pottery
• teenier paintings
• the teeniest, hand-blown glass you’ve ever seen
• woven rugs, stitched quilts, miniature baskets and furniture—all lovingly local
THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM
The museum was built in 1898–1901 by Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924), an American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts in the style of a 15th-century Venetian palace. It opened to the public in 1903.
Gardner began collecting seriously after she received a large inheritance from her father in 1891. Her purchase of Johannes Vermeer’s The Concert (c. 1664) at auction in Paris in 1892 was her first major acquisition. In 1894, Bernard Berenson offered his services in helping her acquire a Botticelli. With his help, Gardner became the first American to own a painting by the Renaissance master. Berenson helped acquire nearly 70 works of art for her collection.
After her husband John L. Gardner’s death in 1898, Isabella Gardner realized their shared dream of building a suitable space to exhibit their treasures. She purchased land in the marshy Fenway area of Boston, and hired architect Willard T. Sears to build Fenway Court, modeled on the Renaissance palaces of Venice. Gardner was deeply involved in every aspect of the design, leading Sears to quip that he was merely the structural engineer making Gardner’s design possible. After the construction of the building was complete, Gardner spent a year installing her collection in a way that evokes intimate responses to the art, mixing paintings, furniture, textiles and objects from different cultures and periods among well-known European paintings and sculpture.
VICTORIAN HOUSE CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Michael Abrams, Eric Aho, Jason Alden, Mark Barry, Ines Zeller Bass, Shoshana Bass, Bruce Berg, Josh Bernbaum, Marta Bernbaum, Kat Gooch Breault, Enrique Chavez, Brittany Bills-Coleman, Leslie Black, Natalie Blake, Tom Bodett, Rachel Boettcher, Susan Breary, Jason Breen, Karen Caldwell, Finn Campman, Kaitlyn Clark, Sara Coffey, Genevieve Cole, Cathy Cone, Louisa Conrad, Kate Conway, Jo Dery, Ezra Distler, Robert DuGrenier, David Eichelberger, Amelia Farnum, Jared Flynn, Cecilie French, Jim Giddings, Greg Goodman, Kathleen Granado, Richard Harlow, Sabine Harnisch, Mary Hayward, Christie Herbert, Teta Hilson, Charlie Hunter, Julia Jensen, Wolf Kahn, Karen Kamenetzky, Carrie Kidd, Tina Kinsbourne, Sandy Klein, Ellen Korbonski, Willow Leslie, Mark Littlehales, Evie Lovett, Cindy Ludlam, Elana Lyakir, Lily Lyons, Emily Mason, Robert McBride, Kristin McDermet, Helen Merena, Steven Meyer, Petria Mitchell, Briony Morrow-Cribbs, Peter Muller, Willow Ngoma, Stephanie Nichols, Helen O’Donnell, Cathy Osman, Cynthia Parker-Houghton, Rachel Portesi, Sally Prasch, Stephen Procter, Laurie Rabut, Ida Robertshaw, David Rohn, Steven Rose, George Sawyer, Bob Schaeffner, Deidre Scherer, Helen Schmidt, Cameron Schmitz, Carol Schnabel, Tim Segar, Chris Sherwin, Margaret Shipman, Larry Simons, Eric Slayton, Ross Smart, Jill Spiro, Sara Steele, Terry Sylvester, Lydia Thompson, Eric Truran, T Breeze Verdant, Jen Violette, Lauren Watrous, Lynne Weinstein, Mara Williams, Wendy Windle, Betsy Wing, Andy Yoder, Shari Zabriskie, Keira Zagaeski, Jana Zeller, Laura Zindel
2025 HOLIDAY CALENDAR OF EVENTS
December 5 – 7
Gallery Walk & Holiday Tree Lighting, Downtown Brattleboro
Gingerbread Barn Contest & Mini Cookie Contest, Retreat Farm
Brattleboro in Miniature Opening Reception, Mitchell Giddings Fine Arts
December 12 – 14
Model Train Display and Mad Hatter Miniature Tea Party, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center
Performances of “The Flea Circus and Shadow Nativity Play” by Sandglass Theater
December 19 – 21
Exhibition of “Spirit Houses,” the same dollhouse reimagined by 12 area schools, Boys & Girls Club
New events and partner events are being added daily from partners such as Brattleboro Co-op, Brooks Memorial Library, and more!
FREE Holiday Parking
Saturday, December 6, Sunday, December 7
Saturday, December 13, Sunday, December 14
Thursday, December 18 – Wednesday, December 24 (seven days leading up to Christmas Day)
Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts curates a diverse collection of innovative works that stimulate the seasoned collector and aesthetic explorer.