This is a happy story but it begins with loss. Earlier this year, a month before her 75th birthday, my aunt Kathy Walker Young’s heart failed, without warning. Suddenly, she was gone.
She was mom to her beloved son Will; she was the greatest great aunt to our daughters and to me, Kathy was that special aunt - my idol.
Here’s why: she is the first artist I knew and loved. She was talented, majoring in apparal design at Texas Women’s University. But that was just a start. She expressed creativity in every aspect of her life, from sewing her own wardrobe to drawing and painting; to interior design, then architectural design and renovation.
I admired the many marvelous things she made. But I loved her for the way she lived.
She modeled an artist’s will to go your own, original way. Kathy didn’t intend to worry her anxious, very proper mother. But my Mimi knew when her daughter’s elegant jawline took a familiar set and her chin lifted, her baby girl wasn’t going to swerve from any wild notion.
Encouraging Kathy, which her mother always did, could have unintended consequences. At a preschool age in the early 1950s, Kathy declared “I am an Indian.” Mimi got her a costume and her cattleman daddy threw a blanket on a gentle horse. Then little Kathy refused, for an entire summer, to dismount or break character. Go to town? Sure, as an Indian. On my horse. Go to Sunday School? Only like an Indian, Mother.
This “phase” faded, but her strong will - never.
Fast-forward through Kathy’s life of chasing myriad passions, when miniatures lit up her mind. Her obession escalated through a series of projects, peaking with the big house shown here.
As she and her husband, with their young son, Will, had moved back to her late parents’ spacious ranch home, she had room to create this magnum opus, made from two large kits.
She was, almost, like a boatbuilder whose yacht got too big to transport to the sea. This mighty big miniature sits on a 4 x 6-foot base.
Kathy completed it with furnished, lighted rooms, fabricating much of the tiny decor that enhanced fine, purchased furniture. She added on a sunroom and even landscaped a tiny garden around a copper-roofed gazebo.
As I came to understand about many artists, her pleasure was more in making a thing than possessing it in its finished state. One day, after years of it commanding her dining room, she crated the house and moved it out to the barn.
Her miniature “phase” had faded. She would spend 20 years renovating her life-sized house, with even more drive and creativity. Due to her, another generation got to enjoy the house where we are all rooted. And despite her distinctive transformation of almost all of it, she was gifted with an ability to preserve the emotions and memories we all have about our shared home and the loved people in it. We’re happy that Will has chosen to homestead there a bit longer.
His passions are his love, Taylr, and creating electronic dance music. Will and I agreed that his mom would have liked my idea to recruit a team to refresh her biggest little house and then to invite others to see it.
I am not a gifted craftsman, but I know one! Foremost, I roped in Sonny and Sue Robison. I’ve written about his creative accomplishments and I knew he was between projects, so I asked quickly. Sue is his resourceful “enabler” and engaging kids is her trademark motive. (Yes, they portray Judge Isaac C. Parker and wife Mary for students visiting the Museum of History). I needed Sue’s superpowers to contrive this goal: to refresh the house, decorate it for Christmas and display it at the Fort Smith Trolley Museum’s annual Polar Express reading. It will amuse children waiting in line. This inspired Sonny to add a 1:12 scale streetcar to the scene. Now he’s churning and it’s happening!
Then, I learned yet another dimension of a multi-talented artist and friend, Laura Wattles. Not only does she make outstanding portraits in many mediums, she creates minatures! Laura will contribute her artistry in some way, too.
This week-old dream team is already active. Do any of you readers have a desire to join? Maybe you, too, have put away miniature furniture or decorations that could live again in this project? Please discuss with me at 479-494-1888 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
We will not be gathering in Sonny’s snug workshop. We’ll be Covid-safe. But we can have drop-offs, short rendezvous or virtual meet-ups.
After its holiday display, a new plan may arise for the house. Its future is unwritten. I feel a bit comforted knowing my Aunt Kathy’s creative essence and artistry will fascinate fresh eyes.
I will do as she would: saddle up for a dream and stick with it until the next one charms you.
– Lynn Wasson
