Enjoy these mini-Milwaukee Public Museum dioramas from last night’s Diorama-Rama

Back in 2016, Milwaukee treasure Danelle “D” Kirschling hosted the inaugural Diorama-Rama. The friendly competition—part of Kirschling’s self-created National Diorama Month—featured local dioramists creating shoebox-sized scenes that adhered to a certain theme.

“I really liked dioramas, and as an adult I didn’t really get the opportunity to make a lot of dioramas,” Kirschling told us in 2016. “I had gone to the Milwaukee Public Museum, which obviously has a lot of dioramas, and I had also purchased a pair of shoes at that time, so I decided to make a diorama. It just kind of snowballed into National Diorama Month.”

The first Diorama-Rama took place at Blackbird Bar; subsequent installments set up shop at the Walker’s Point Anodyne, Lakefront Brewery, and Amorphic Beer. On Tuesday night, Diorama-Rama made a big move to the place that originally inspired it: the Milwaukee Public Museum. And what was this year’s theme? Well, the dioramas of MPM, of course!

Yes, hundreds of people crowded MPM’s second floor last night to take a peek at dozens of miniature MPM dioramas. It was delightful! And the event raised more than $3,000 for the Walker’s Point Center for the Arts! Here are just a few of the entries! They’ll be on display in MPM for a few weeks! (And yes, the Boat made an appearance, too.)