Sunday, September 28, 2003 - The Beaumont Enterprise - 
'The Region; Texas and Louisiana' - Page 11A - Brian Pearson, managing editor

Master builder of just-right minis

Among the models of buildings made by Kathy Mailloux is a wood representatlon of her own home In Silsbee.

Woman's artistic bent emerging in balsa wood models
By JACQUELINE LANE -THE ENTERPRISE

SILSBEE - As a young girl in Louisiana, Kathy Maiiloux would ride her bike along a neighborhood street lined with abandoned stores.  In the window of one old antique store stood a replica of a Victorian mansion made from wood.  "I looked at that and I'd go every
day and just stare at that thing, she said. "I think in the back of my mind I thought one day I'm going to either own that or build my own.  So I guess that was my early inspiration."

In the corner of the dining room in her historic Silsbee home, a long, thin box containing different sizes of balsa wood leans against the wall. On a table, plastic bags are filled with tiny wooden pieces, some barely an inch long.

Working anywhere from eight to 10 hours a day for as long as six months, Mailloux has put together those tiny carved pieces and scraps of plastic household items to form replicas of some of Hardin County's historic landmarks.

It's a talent the 49-year-old SiIsbee resident, who was raised in New Orleans, stumbled on by accident after she made a foam board model of the Kirby-Hill House for museum curator Nelda Overstreet in 1997.

She was then urged to take on a  project started by a Hardin County resident, who had been building a model of the county's former courthouse when he passed away. The pieces were in a garage for five years when Overstreet suggested Mailloux pick up the project, which she recreated from a photograph of the former county landmark.  "So I took his little box of pieces
of stuff and put it all back together," she said.  "... I took his pieces and when I saw how easy it was to work and  figure I said, 'Oh this is the way to  go, not foam board.'  Because this stuff, I could make it do anything."

So far, MaiIloux has made five models from balsa wood: the  Kirby-Hill House, the former   Hardin County Courthouse, her  own historic Silsbee home, a relative's house in Arizona and a
church her sister bought in New Zealand.

MODELS, page 13A


Continued from page 13A
         
She's considering as her next project a replica of Silsbee's Ice House Museum or a church
her brother is a minister at in Florida.

Mailloux is from an artistic family.  Her father was an artist on Jackson Square in New Orleans
when she was growing up.  She spent much of her working career as a graphic artist in New Orleans before her husband was transferred to work at the Port of Beaumont several years ago. She was the "projects person" at the company she worked for and was often given difficult, tedious tasks that took a lot of figuring.

She retired after the move to SoutheastTexas and spends her time working on art projects and volunteering at the Kirby-Hill House.

Overstreet said the Kirby-Hill House model was put on display at last year's Texian Days in Kountze.  "It catches their eye and  they're very intrigued," she said of the public's reaction.

The model now sits in the visitor's center.  Most of the models come apart in several places to reveal the detailed interior of the buildings. The doors swing, the windows can be looked through, the rooms include closets and door handles.

For each model she starts with a sturdy wooden base where she draws out the plans in pencil. Using a sharp blade, she cuts the wood into small pieces and glues them together.  About 24 pieces of 35-inch long balsa wood are used for each creation, she said.  She starts building from the  bottom up, first placing the four corners then filling everything else in. Staircases and
other detailed pieces go in first, then the walls, followed by windows.

She doesn't always have the luxury of using floor plans.  Instead, she bases her figuring
on something that is a constant, like a doorway.  "If you've got one doorway measure you can figure out the rest of it-" she said. "Like  the walls will be how many doorways wide."

She recreated the Arizona home from a photograph by counting the exterior bricks.  "Now I'm not a math wizard or anything, but that's how I just figured these things out," she said." ... Every shingle (on the model) was laid individually, just like the house was."

In her own home and the Kirby-Hill House she took measurements. The Kirby-Hill House, she said, was a partlcular challenge because of the oval staircase.  "Each step had a certain rise and you had to get the same amount of steps in there," she said.

"I learn as I go," she said.  "Each one gets a little better."  Mailloux admitted that she works constantly on a project until it's done. She sits at her kitchen table and listens to music.
"I'm kind of compulsive that way," she said. "I'm so anxious to see the next step. If you can appreciate people who work puzzles ... it's kind of like making my own puzzle."

Her models can be seen on www.agalleryofartists.com  
Reach this reporter at: (409) 833-3311, ext. 420
         jlane@beaumontenterprise.com