DARTMOUTH, N.S. — You might miss it if you’re driving down Dartmouth’s Pleasant Street, but residents strolling along by St. George’s Lane have been watching a whole new world appear on the front lawn of a bright yellow 19th-century duplex.
If you take a closer look at the trunks of two giant elm trees, you’ll see a variety of miniature dioramas featuring stick figures with acorn heads, enjoying various activities like playing darts or cribbage, skateboarding on a half-pipe, or having a backyard barbeque.
Adorned with clothes made out of scraps of fabric, wispy green lichen for hair, and an assortment of handmade props, the detailed figurines in their lifelike settings pop with personality, just like their creator Dawn Asprey who eagerly awaits to see what the next pedestrian will make of her ever-growing garden gallery.
“I started doing these just as a way to keep myself occupied, and then it started catching on,” says Asprey, who feels that people need some cheering up while coming out of self-isolation after a string of recent tragic events. She’s overjoyed that what began as a pastime to stay busy indoors now brings a smile to the faces of her friends, neighbours and curious passers-by outdoors.
“I’d catch neighbours smiling and giggling as they checked them out, and then the cards started showing up, and I thought, ‘Hey, people really like these! I’m gonna make some more!’
“So I kept going, and the feeling just became more infectious.”
Asprey says she got hooked on crafts at an early age as a member of the 4H Club while growing up in Cow Bay. At age six she was doing crochet, and by eight she was sewing. Now she just needs a glue gun, some supplies borrowed from nature or picked up at the dollar store, and a good idea to start with.
“There are things that I think of and things that people suggest, and I just love the fact that it’s bringing so many joy,” she says. “A few minutes ago, some of the neighbours came by and just shouted out, ‘We love these!’ from the sidewalk.
“I get a lot of feedback when I’m out here weeding or putting a new set out, people will stop at random and tell me how much they love my creations. It’s been a big thing, and the amount of people that it seems to be touching is what’s doing my heart the most good.”
On Thursday, Asprey was in the front yard, about to prepare a new space for her latest diorama showing a quartet of acorn people playing tennis. She created it as a tribute to her backyard neighbour, the St. George’s Tennis Club, a fixture in Dartmouth sporting life since 1885.
The set of mixed doubles will join her personal favourites like a fishing dory that harks back to how her father and grandfather earned their livings working from a family-owned wharf in Eastern Passage, a couple at a pool table that captures a memory of a first date, and a Highland dancer complete with Nova Scotia tartan kilt and stockings.
“She was technically the easiest, but also the hardest because I wasn’t sure how she was going to come together,” says Asprey.
“But when I started thinking about how I used to sew and put a pattern together, that’s how I made her jacket, and I cut out the pieces and sewed them together the same way I would if I was making a shirt for myself. Then I glued it to her, and saw how it was coming together and just went, ‘YES!’ I got excited at that point.”
Once the tennis players are in position, Asprey will begin work on her next set, which will be dedicated to all the students like her daughter at Cobequid Educational Centre who won’t get to have a graduation ceremony this year due to the COVID-19-imposed restrictions on large gatherings.
Like her previous installations, it will probably earn her more of the positive comments she’s received like the anonymous postcard her boyfriend Normand found on the doorstep which reads: “I love your amazing tree creations, they’re absolutely delightful and so cleverly made, they brought a broad smile to my face and greatly cheered my heart. Thank you!
“I walk by often so I wanted to express my appreciation and admiration.”
Asprey flips over the card and looks once more at its front image of a vintage illustration of ladybugs and other assorted insects and beams.
“That’s really sweet, somebody really likes my work, I’ve got a secret admirer! And Normand said, ‘That’s really good, that makes me glad too.’ ”
