Photo: Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times.
Carol and Dave Clark in front of artist Ray Vasquez’s works exhibited in one of the micro-galleries they built.
I wrote about Stacy Milrany’s mini art gallery a while back and have been following her work ever since via Instagram. Her idea was to create an art gallery similar to what most of us know as the Little Free Library, a box to hold free books, set up like a mailbox in residential neighborhoods.
Now a couple in California have taken the idea a step farther.
Stacy Perman wrote at the Los Angeles Times, “Two years ago, Long Beach artist Dave Clark exhibited a small sculpture of his called ‘Together. Forever. Maybe. Regret’ at the local Mantel Gallery — itself a small, repurposed Little Free Library that does double duty: When it’s not filled with books, it displays the works of artists like Clark.
“At the time, Clark and his wife, Carol, were struck by the concept. ‘That’s cool,’ he said. ‘But what if I had something bigger? You can put more art in there, and it becomes more of a real functional art gallery.’ While his neighborhood had many artists, he noted, it did not have any galleries.
“Inspired, he designed and built a micro-gallery measuring about 16 inches wide and 14 inches tall. It has movable walls, a floor and a ceiling that could be adapted for rotating artworks; a solar panel powers the little ceiling light. He installed it on the front yard of their house in the Wrigley neighborhood. They named it Gallery 17, the sum of the numbers on their Eucalyptus Avenue address.
“Last summer, the couple organized an exhibit by local artist Cody Lusby. About 40 people showed up. One of their neighbors saw it and wanted a Clark micro-gallery too. Soon, others began commissioning Clark to build micro-galleries on their front lawns. And then, artists from around Los Angeles and as far away as Ecuador began asking to show their works in them.
“An archipelago of 10 micro-galleries stretches around neighborhoods in Long Beach as well as in San Pedro and Lomita. Two more, also in Long Beach, are set to be built in the coming weeks. …
“ ‘It’s important that art become a part of everyday life,’ said Linda Grimes, executive director of the San Pedro Waterfront Arts District, who’s husband commissioned a micro-gallery for her birthday in April. ‘Not everybody feels welcome going into an art gallery or a museum. We started painting those traffic signal boxes so that people could see art and appreciate it outside, on the street every day. And then we painted large scale murals.’ …
“ ‘I thought what a great idea Dave had,’ [said Eric Almanza, a classically trained oil painter]. ‘Instead of books, this has little masterpieces that can brighten someone’s day. There’s been many times I’ve headed outside the house to run an errand and encounter someone at the box looking inside.’ …
“Almanza, whose own photo realistic paintings examine the nexus between politics, culture and identity with a focus on the border wall and immigration, initially made scaled down prints to show in the box and sold them for $50. …
“ ‘I like the idea of being able to bring art to the masses in the community,’ he said. ‘I think nowadays we don’t see much public art. I feel like art in general is not as appreciated as in the past. This felt like a good way for artists to show their work and to put public art in my neighborhood.’ ”
More at the LA Times, here.
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