Every time we head to the Greensboro Curb Market on Yanceyville, we swing by the Percy Street Free Little Art Gallery (FLAG). During COVID, these little galleries were popping up as a way for people to engage with art and to have their art seen when larger, brick and mortar galleries were closed. These "galleries" are the size of the Free Little Library boxes. As you can see from the above photo, it is a miniature diorama, stocked with small paintings, collage pieces, sculpture, and even a tiny figure. In the corner is a box with tiny art for the having. We usually only look, but a 1"xv2" mixed-media painting of an artichoke stole our heart, and yes, it was free for the taking.*
These little boxes make art accessible to more people even people who don't tend to frequent galleries; people from all walks of life. Especially during the pandemic, they gave people something to talk about and gave artists a chance to show their work. There is something special about working in miniature. Anne Lamont gives her writing students an exercise to take a tiny 1" frame, look through it, and write about what one sees. That hyper focus on an encapsulated space is a fun experience that you should try. Even better, if you are an artist, consider curating a box! Perhaps best of all, they aren't closed on Mondays!
The Free Little Art Galleries (FLAG) have a Facebook page with posts from 2013, meaning the galleries have been around for almost a decade. To our knowledge, the Percy Street FLAG is the only one in Greensboro. If you know of others, please let us know. It would be fun to do an art tour.
*read this article in the Smithsonian Institution Magazine if you want more details about this innovative idea. Also, see here, for a Washington Post article.
Very creative!
Posted by: William Kendall | Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at 08:35 AM