Finding Meaning in Small Spaces

Studio art alum Marcie Wolf-Hubbard ’83 transforms memories into miniature works of art while helping others tell their own stories.

By Jessica Weiss ’05

First came cardboard and masking tape. Then layers of newspaper, papier-mâché and encaustic—hot wax—paint until a miniature chemotherapy room began to take form.

Studio art alum Marcie Wolf-Hubbard ’83 recreated every detail she remembered from the hospital room where she was treated for breast cancer in 2023—from the reclining chair and IV pole to a window overlooking the koi pond outside. The finished piece joined a growing collection of 3D “tiny houses” lining the shelves of her Silver Spring home studio, which includes miniature versions of a front porch, historic C&O canal lock house and artist’s studio.

They’re also the centerpiece of workshops she leads as a teaching artist across the region, where participants recreate places that hold meaning in their own lives.

“It’s like you’re revisiting a place or an environment and creating it,” Wolf-Hubbard said. “It’s recognizing somewhere that’s special to you. And it really becomes a community when people create these tiny houses together.”

Wolf-Hubbard has long been fascinated by her surroundings. Growing up in Baltimore, she had a habit of observing birds and other animals, landscapes and interiors, and she was constantly drawing.

“I just am inspired by looking,” she said, “by really noticing.”

After studying at the Maryland Institute College of Art, she enrolled at the University of Maryland to study art, and classes in painting, drawing and collage quickly broadened her practice. 

One line from Associate Professor of Art Patrick Craig would go on to shape Wolf-Hubbard’s artistic journey: “Pastel can be painterly,” he advised. He also encouraged her to explore collage.

After graduation, Craig’s lesson—that art isn’t bound by rigid rules—influenced the freelance career she built in design and illustration, while continuing to paint and make collage. Along the way, she and fellow studio art alum David Hubbard ’82 got married, had two children and built a life centered on art. 

Her career took an unexpected turn when both of their children were diagnosed with progressive hearing loss. Wolf-Hubbard began learning American Sign Language and took a job in Eleanor Roosevelt High School’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing program to immerse herself in the language and culture. Eventually, the demands of doctors’ appointments and advocacy made full-time work difficult, leading her to home-and-hospital teaching and, later, arts integration training through the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.

What began as a practical shift soon became an artistic one. Wolf-Hubbard started bringing collage, painting and mixed-media projects into hospitals, senior centers, schools and community organizations. She facilitated arts workshops for people living with Alzheimer’s, partnered with wraparound services for children and families, and eventually joined the Maryland State Teaching Artist Roster with support from Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic, a membership organization.

Today, Wolf-Hubbard no longer separates her work as an artist from her work as a teaching artist.

“It really is a community anytime you’re in a class,” she said. “People have gotten through cancer, losing their pets, losing family members. It is a community, and art is what we focus on.”

Wolf-Hubbard continues to work across painting, encaustic and sculpture. Her bas-relief painting, “Life Drawing,” is currently on view in the 6th Biennial Maryland Regional Juried Art Exhibition at University of Maryland Global Campus. Over the past eight years, she has also expanded her mixed-media practice into sculptural, diorama-like constructions that extend collage into physical space.

The tiny houses emerged almost by accident. In 2018, while working with four young brothers through a wraparound program, Wolf-Hubbard wasn’t sure how to engage children ranging in age from 2 to 8. An art therapist suggested construction, so she arrived with cardboard and a hot glue gun, planning to build simple houses. One child made a rocket. Wolf-Hubbard made a house, and immediately knew she had stumbled onto something. 

“I got really attached to my house,” she said. “I kinda thought, ‘This is it.’” 

Her tiny house workshops are as much about storytelling as building miniature worlds. Participants recreate childhood homes, neighborhood landmarks, beloved restaurants and gathering places. One student built a tiny falafel shop as a memorial to her business partner, who died during the pandemic, then gave it to his widow. Others return time and again, forming a creative community.

This summer, she’s bringing that approach to Goodman75, a Montgomery County celebration marking the 75th anniversary of architect Charles Goodman’s midcentury modern neighborhoods. In partnership with the Glenmont Forest Neighbors Civic Association, Wolf-Hubbard received grants and assistance to facilitate a series of free workshops where participants create miniature versions of the distinctive homes while learning about the architect’s legacy and the communities he helped shape. 

Looking back, Wolf-Hubbard said she is most grateful for the people and opportunities that have shaped her artistic journey, as well as her own determination when things didn’t go as planned. 

“I always hustled,” she said. “I always followed up. It’s about building relationships, staying connected and sharing.” 

Asked what advice she’d give art students today, Wolf-Hubbard returns to the same philosophy that has guided her work for decades: “Just be in the world and keep noticing,” she said.

A final Goodman75 workshop is scheduled for late September. Learn more and register.