those skills for the first time when he decided to make a Christmas gift for a loved one by building a mini-Christmas scene and placing it under glass. He started making more of these wintery scenes and started experimenting with putting them inside vintage household items (think radios, clocks, TVs, etc.). That was the beginning of Mister Christmas. And as he continued to explore vessels, he pushed the boundaries of his skills and cultivated a curiosity about everyday scenes and the wonder one can find in the mundane if one just applies a little imagination. Hildebrandt discovered a true artist within himself. An interesting detail to notice while looking for clues inside one of Hildebrandt’s dioramas is there are no people in any of them. Each one feels as if the people that logically should be there have just left the scene. The coffee is still warm. You just missed ‘em. “I never put people in my stuff. Maybe it’s an empty scene, maybe with a small animal that adds a whimsical element. But without people, you can imagine yourself there. It’s the nostalgia of the vessel and then the miniature inside. It’s kind of like a memory inside of a memory.” - Scott Hildebrandt Let’s go back to memories … remember when we were talking about memories (see what I did there)? When you spend a lot of your time in the Convergence, you become more comfortable than you’d imagine with time, space and memory becoming a bit … wobbly. Even for those not subject to intermittent memory storms, memory is so much more than just a chronological recalling of factual details. The fabric of memory is an intricate tapestry woven from sensory experiences, personal interpretations, feelings and the meaning we attach to the snippets of events that make up our lives. It’s also colored by context and by our imaginations — do I remember that or is that a story someone told me or that I told myself? Memories are dynamic, slippery things that are influenced by new experiences and insights and their significance can change over time. In the end, the value of a memory is as much about the meanings and feelings we attach to them as they are about the linear sequence of events. In short, factual schmactual. Scott Hildebrandt’s work extends beyond the visual; it stirs something within the viewer, evoking a sense of wonder and nostalgia. His meticulous attention to detail and his ability to see something magical in mundane relics of the past are truly inspiring. His work encourages us to see the beauty in the simplest (and sometimes the smallest) things and to imagine the stories the everyday objects around us might tell. CHECK OUT YOU ARE HERE, JUST OFF C STREET ON THE 4TH FLOOR AT MEOW WOLF DENVER’S CONVERGENCE STATION & MORE: MEOWWOLF.COM/VISIT/DENVER SEE MORE OF SCOTT HILDEBRANDT’S WORK AT: CLEVERMISTERCHRISTMAS.COM & ON INSTAGRAM: @MISTERCHRISTMAS VISIT MEOW WOLF'S OTHER PORTALS NEAR YOU: HOUSE OF ETERNAL RETURN IN SANTA FE, NM; OMEGA MART IN LAS VEGAS, NV; THE REAL UNREAL IN GRAPEVINE, TX; AND COMING SOON: HOUSTON, TX & LOS ANGELES, CA: MEOWWOLF.COM/VISIT YOU ARE HERE, PHOTO BY KATE RUSSELL
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