CAZENOVIA — Last spring, the Cazenovia College art program installed a “Tiny Art Exchange” at the Jephson Campus on Albany Street.
The project is housed in a small wooden gallery mounted on the iron fence at the campus entrance.
Similar to the “Little Free Library” book exchange concept, the installation encourages passersby to view the display, take one of the miniature works of art like paintings or sculptures and/or leave a creation of their own.
The initiative is modeled after the “Free Little Art Gallery” trend, which gained traction in December 2020 when Seattle artist Stacy Milrany installed a miniature gallery in front of her house. Her goals were to make art more accessible and to encourage people to connect through art during the COVID-19 shutdown. Today, similar galleries can be found in cities like Atlanta, GA, Oakland, CA, Phoenix, AZ, Hyattsville, MD, Austin, TX, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, CA, Evanston, IL, and Edmonton, Canada.
Anita Welych, M.F.A., art professor and art program director at Cazenovia College, read about the national movement and decided to put the idea into action locally.
Welych reached out to her colleague Shawn McGuire, adjunct professor and studio arts building manager, to assist with the project and create the gallery.
McGuire explored several designs and materials before eventually arriving at the current style. He installed his creation at the Jephson Campus at the end of the spring semester last May.
“I looked at common designs used to hold books for Little Free Libraries before deciding that the structure needed to be changed to accommodate the displaying and viewing of artwork,” McGuire said. “[I decided on] a large window for both light and visibility of the work and a bright white interior to really compliment the gallery’s contents. Also, I thought the exterior appearance was important to draw people in and make it understood that this was about art and not books. I chose to paint the exterior in a bright Mondrian style pattern to both attract participants and make it clear that this was a creative, artistic space.”
McGuire’s role in the project also involved helping to generate and maintain student participation.
Initially, the gallery was populated with works completed by the college’s painting students.
Now that students have returned to campus for the fall semester, the college’s efforts to fill the gallery will resume.
The exchange is not, however, restricted to the college community. Anyone is welcome to view the gallery, leave art and/or take art, free of charge.
The goal of the project is to provide a way for community members and college students to interact and to create a community connection. It is also intended to serve as a way for residents and visitors to casually enjoy and appreciate local art.
“The Tiny Art Exchange further reinforces Cazenovia College’s commitment to building relationships with the community,” explained McGuire. “Art can be that vital bridge, the making of it, and in this case the exchanging of it, provides an opportunity for us all to share in a type of generosity and communication that is very unique.”
According to Welych, the project experienced active community engagement this summer.
“The community has been very good about putting work in; we were not expecting that,” Welych said. “The initial thought was that our students would populate this, but it’s really become extremely interactive in terms of community involvement. That’s what called my attention to [the idea] — the artist engaged her community and her neighborhood, and it generated conversation and kept people interested. Particularly when people were still doing a lot of social distancing, it provided a way to feel engaged.”
To learn more about the art & design programs at Cazenovia College, visit cazenovia.edu/academics/art-design.
