THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608090180
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Around Town
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: 72 lines
When Anne Fuller retires next month after 17 years as a travel agent for Art Jones Travel Service in Suffolk, she will change careers.
Finally, Fuller said with a laugh, she hopes to use the art degree she got from the College of William and Mary ``99 years ago'' to design and build miniature houses.
``I've always done a lot of artwork,'' said Fuller, 64. ``You know, sewing, creative things. I did some of this when my daughter was little - shadow boxes, doll furniture.''
But last Christmas, she took on her biggest project: re-creating the old Suffolk train station in miniature for her son-in-law and 2-year-old grandson.
The idea started even before her daughter and son-in-law, Sharon and Joe Thatcher, were married. When Sharon gave him a toy electric train one Christmas, Fuller thought she would one day build a train station for Joe.
She got started early last fall. Fuller said she looked at both of Suffolk's remaining train stations, on East Washington and Main Street. The latter won out as a model because of its little tower and abundant character, she said.
``I've never really done a model like this,'' Fuller said. It's just under a half-inch to a foot, in scale with the train.
Fuller researched the history of the Main Street station, which is to be restored thanks to a federal grant, and found that it originally was natural brick trimmed in a kind of Williamsburg blue.
The model is made of hand-carved balsa wood. Fuller used sand paper, emery boards and an art knife as tools. The brick color was accomplished with pastel chalk sprayed with a fixative.
The detail of the model is stunning, from brass fixtures on the doors to tiny wreaths hung on lamps on the building. Except for a couple of barrels on the porches, everything - down to the tiny weathervane on the tower - is handmade. Fuller cut dollhouse shingles in half and glued them on the roof and tower one by one.
Originally, she said, she had hoped to complete the project by November. She finished, after three months of work, a couple of days before Christmas. When Joe Thatcher got it Christmas Day, it was emblazoned with the name ``Thatcherville'' on one end, and he got a photo album comparing the original Suffolk train station with the model.
Fuller enjoyed the train station project so much that she went on to another project. Neighbors, she said, had recently purchased a historic estate in Matthews County. They were trying to decide how to remodel the outbuilding into a workshop but were dissatisfied with an architect's drawing.
Fuller built them a model, a Williamsburg-style dependency house with a woodpile, a porch and windows they were uncertain about including in the design. When her neighbors got the gift, they went for the windows - and Fuller had a better idea.
``I'm working right now on talking with some architects,'' she said. ``A lot of times people just can't see what they're going to get with blueprints, floor plans or an architect's drawing. This is artwork. It's three-dimensional. You can really see what something looks like with a detailed model.''
Fuller, who lives in Olde Towne Portsmouth, said her three-month relationship with the Suffolk train station caused her to feel closer to the historic building.
``I really hope they follow through and do something with it,'' she said. ``I'd love to see it look the way it once did.''
Meanwhile, if you'd like to have somebody build a little house for you, Fuller soon will be in the market to do that. She can re-create an existing home or show you what that house you're building will look like.
Finally, after all those years of being a travel agent, Fuller plans to become a real working artist. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Anne Fuller re-created the old Suffolk train station for her
son-in-law and grandson. The scale is about a half-inch to a foot. by CNB