ON EXHIBIT NOW: Amazing Miniature Collection of Alexandria African American Historic Buildings
Dollhouses from the Sharon J. Frazier and Linwood M. Smith Dollhouse Collection On Display
Alexandria Black History Museum, 902 Wythe St. from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. through July 30, 2018
MEET THE ARTISTS ON JUNE 16th
Sharon Jones Frazier and Linwood M. Smith, both lifetime residents of Alexandria, began working together on their collection in 1994, combining their talents and drawing on their memories of places and people in Alexandria. Mrs. Frazier, a retired registered nurse, developed skills in miniaturization while Mr. Smith, a retired automotive mechanic, used his skills as a craftsman to construct dollhouses to scale. They first exhibited at the Alexandria Black History Museum in 2008.
This exhibition is composed of many works including the Carver Nursery School (pictured), Robert Robinson Library, and the Hayden Photography Studio. Several of the buildings including a barbershop and hair dressing salon, a medical building, an attorney’s office, and a florist, all patterned after actual businesses in the Parker-Gray community, a historically African-American neighborhood in Alexandria.