Art in serendipitous places

Little Galleries founders Jeremy Wineberg, left, and Rachel Bruya pose outside the Little Galleries location on Monroe Street. The project seeks to put art in unexpected locations (Abby Becker/Madison Commons).

Public art embodies the ability to create a community space and extends an invitation to unexpected interactions.

While speaking with her on a bench outside of the Little Monroe Gallery featuring artist Julie Ganser's work, a man approached myself and Rachel asking to borrow pen and paper and to sketch both of us.

Little, unplanned interactions between unsuspecting community members such as this one can result from a small-scale, understated art gallery placed in the heart of a community.

"You're kind of opening yourself to interactions that you don't have control over," Wineberg said. "It's just stuff that you don't expect or you don't know what's happening; you're inviting interesting things to happen."

Bruya, who launched the first Little Mifflin gallery in her front yard, said she was inspired by storefront displays and understated art that "you literally stumble into."

"It's that sort of sidewalk unexpected interaction with people that I was after with [Little Galleries]," Bruya said.

"It's nice to have little things that aren't asking anything of you," Wineberg said. "Somebody did something here just for you to look at—a gift to the passersby where they just have to look."

Little Galleries are miniature art displays showcasing a variety of artists and their work. The series began in May 2013 although Bruya began developing the project in November 2012.

Currently, Little Galleries are located outside of Monroe Street Framing at the corner of Monroe and Harrison Street and on Mifflin Street between First and Second. A third gallery is planned for Langdon Street outside the Red Gym on UW-Madison's campus, but a structure has not been constructed yet for that site.

The structures are created by a UW-Madison graduate student and built out of steel and thick glass for security purposes and UV protection for the artists' work.

Shows switch out each month, and the Little Galleries series runs from May to October. The change in art displays brings attention to Little Galleries as a focal point of the community, Wineberg said.

Public art is lacking in Madison, Bruya said, and that absence also inspired Bruya to create the permanent yet revolving public art displays.

"We both have lived in other cities where there is a vibrant arts scene, and it feel like sometimes in Madison things come and go," Bruya said.

Both Little Gallery locations are on private property, but invite members of the public to stop and experience the artwork making it very different than a typical art gallery.

"It doesn't seem like traditional galleries stick [in Madison]," Wineberg said. "Those kinds of situations where you have private-public in-between spaces that can work together and reinforce each other seems to me a good approach for getting more art out there and getting more people interesting in art and just being an imaginative expressive human being in general."

As focal points of the community, one of Little Galleries' greatest assets is providing a place to come together in a shared experience.

The blurred line between public and private is what makes Little Galleries unique and a way to "broaden people's horizons" by creating an opportunity for conversation and to expand the definition of art for individual people, Wineberg said.

The Little Monroe Gallery is currently showing Julie Ganser's work, and Soyoung Kim's work is displayed on Mifflin Street. New shows begin July 5 in both locations. For more information on Little Galleries or the featured artists, please visit www.littlegalleries.org.

Little Mifflin 2014 Schedule
July 5 - 30: Jason Ramey

Aug. 5 - 31: Liz Heller

Sep. 5 - 30: Josh Wilichowski

Oct. 5 - 30: Chele Isaac & Beth Ann Harrington

Little Monroe Gallery
July 5 - 30: Derrick Buisch

Aug. 5 - 31: Heather McCalla

Sep. 5 - 30: Jenny Bosbin

Oct. 5 - 30: Melanie Kehoss

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