Tiny treasures

A Magical, Miniature Wonderland Circles This Sarasota Home

This intricate yard art puts gnomes to shame.

By Kim Doleatto April 30, 2021

A Tuscan villa. "I don't remember exactly where. Italy is where I found myself and just about every inch of it is special to me," says Sault. She lived in there for eight years.

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

Here is the entrance to Calcata, an abandoned, ancient town near Rome. "The oak doors are long gone but the ramparts of the castle just inside the entrance still stand. The road takes a sharp turn left just inside the gateway, and any intrepid invaders who managed to storm the gate would probably have had rocks and hot oil dropped on their heads. The church of Calcata claims as its holy relic the foreskin of Christ (so do several other churches) and in medieval times this tiny town was the scene of lavish religious processions and a popular site for pilgrimage," says Sault. "When we knew it in the '70s it was crumbling, all the young people had left to find jobs elsewhere, the church was shuttered and many buildings were abandoned. It has since been restored and become an artists' colony."

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

This represents the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian quarter of Old Jerusalem.

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

"This is my very quirky and not at all historically accurate symbol of Camelot. I built it to evoke atmosphere when teaching a workshop on Arthur of Britain," she says.

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

"This is a pub in a village in North Yorkshire that was once voted best in the world. To my shame, I didn't record its name or the name of the village. We call it the leaning pub of Yorkshire as the roots from the black olive next to it are flexing their muscles and showing who is boss," she says.

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

This is a replica of Robin Hood's Bay, a fishing village on the North Yorkshire coast, in the North York Moors National Park. "The connection with Robin Hood is tenuous—we have lots of Robin Hood this and that, sort of like all the places that claim Washington slept here or there," says Sault.

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

"I raised my son and granddaughter on the stories of Dr. Seuss. I built this when I was in despair over the loss of the old oaks on our street to new development," says Sault. The Lorax is a story about tree loss and the importance of protecting the environment.

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

This is Haworth, home of the Brontë sisters in Yorkshire, England. "They lived in the parsonage and from their bedroom window looked out over the moors, immortalized in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. I didn't have room for the parsonage but it would be behind The Black Bull (next to the phone booth) where their brother spent a lot of time," says Sault.

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

This represents the Dome of the Rock in the Muslim quarter of Old Jerusalem. "A couple of years ago I started to build a miniature Jerusalem in my front yard. It started as an idea for a symbol representing the three religions whose most sacred sites are there and evolved into more realistic-looking buildings that represent the Jewish, Christian and Muslim quarters of the old city," says Sault.

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

Tangled was Sault and her granddaughter's favorite film, and she built Rapunzel's tower "in a moment of nostalgia for those times," she says. The "rocks" are colored mortar shaped in an ice cube tray. "The lizard has taken up residence and suns himself on the spire," says Sault. "If you get too close, he withdraws inside the door and pokes his head out to let you know you are trespassing."

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

A little replica of Hogwarts from J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series inspired a crop of mushrooms to grow at its base.

Photography by Kim Doleatto

This is a replica of a building Sault found online in the Christian quarter of Old Jerusalem.

Photography by Gigi Ortwein

What might you call someone who fashions miniature worlds out of travertine, cement and colorful tiles? "Fairy House Lady," which is how one child described the creator, seems right.

The child's gratitude came from stumbling upon a magical home on Datura Street in Sarasota, where little mythical villages sprawl among the succulents, keeping darting lizards company and spreading happiness to passersby.

Jennifer Sault started creating these wonderlands in her yard around 2000 as a hobby. Inspired by the birth of her granddaughter, the first mini-enclave was a home for fairies. That soon mushroomed into many other small structures.

“I made it up and it just kind of grew by itself," says Sault, a former mental health counselor. "I get totally lost in it. It's a spiritual exercise for me."

Since she retired in 2007, she spends roughly three to four hours a day on the structures. Now, the little towers, castles and homes, roughly 10 to 25 inches high, circle her home from front to back. The roofs are made from grout applied with a palette knife.

"All of my buildings are my own impressions and memories," says Sault. "Nothing is an accurate copy and nothing is to scale."

Originally from Leeds and Hull in Yorkshire, England, Sault lived in Italy for eight years and in Costa Rica for five years. She reads Russian and speaks Italian and Spanish. She also authored a book titled Arthur of Britain: Universal Archetype for Healthy Chakra Development. Published in 2018, it's about the connection between the chakras and the myths of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

But instead of a spotlight on her many accomplishments, she prefers the sunlight, where she rebuilds renderings of her homeland, her travels, her love of archaeology and history and her life experiences.

There’s a slice of the village where the Brontë sisters lived, Dr. Seuss' Lorax and a glass tile sign she made that says, “Unless,” a reference to Seuss' quote, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” The crumbling shoreline of Yorkshire is spurred by global warming, and a caved-in abbey shows when King Henry approved the destruction of Catholic houses of worship. You’ll also find a Harry Potter world and a replica of her favorite pub in Yorkshire, the Lion Inn.

If you happen upon Sault’s handmade wonderland, remember to greet her spirited dog Zeuseleh (Yiddish for “Little Zeus”), and take time to revel in her whimsical worlds.

Gardens, Art, Sarasota, Design

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