Home Culture Montclair’s Tiny Art Gallery Debuting New LAND BACK Show on 11/1

Montclair’s Tiny Art Gallery Debuting New LAND BACK Show on 11/1

by The Montclair Girl Team
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Standing proudly on the corner of 8 Stanford Place is Montclair’s own Tiny Gallery, a small showcase of miniature art pieces from local artists. Created and directed by Montclair resident Francesca Castagnoli, the gallery features themed, month-long exhibits and is free for any curious passersby. After hosting a variety of different shows since its inception in February 2023, Tiny Gallery’s newest exhibit — LAND BACK — will make its debut on Friday, November 1st to kick off Native American Heritage Month. Read on to learn more about Montclair’s Tiny Gallery, the new show, and the Montclair resident behind the project.

^ Long Trip. Photo Credit: George (Ofuskie) Alexander (Muscogee)

The Ivy at Chatham

The LAND BACK Show

Tiny Gallery shared with The Montclair Girl that LAND BACK: A Tiny Gallery Takeover in Lenapehoking is a celebration of Native American Heritage Month (which is celebrated in November each year), and features collections from seven contemporary Native artists that will be installed in six Tiny Galleries across Montclair, Glen Ridge, and Bloomfield — all part of Lenapehoking, the ancestral homelands of the Lenape people. The exhibit is curated by Jennifer Ley.

There will be a kick-off event at the Tiny Gallery at 8 Stanford Place on Friday, November 1st from 5PM-8PM, which will showcase all seven collections and one of the artists participating — renowned Diné photographer Eugene Tapahe. Other artists participating in the show include Ahchipaptunhe (Lenape), Amanda Beardsley (Choctaw Nation, Laguna Pueblo, Hopi), Darby Raymond-Overstreet (Diné), Fiona Henry (Paiute), Karma Henry (Paiute), and George (Ofuskie) Alexander (Muscogee).

Read More: Art Galleries to Visit in the Montclair Area

Starting on November 2nd, the works will be distributed to the six Tiny Galleries around town and displayed through February 1st, 2025.

Head to Tiny Gallery’s website for more information, and see below for a few more of the artworks you’ll be able to browse starting November 2nd (or November 1st, if you’re attending the kick-off event!) 

^ Remember Our Sisters, MMIW. Photo Credit: Eugene Tapahe (Diné)

^ Wükadügü-ku Tabedzupa (Stacked Sunset). Photo Credit: Karma Henry (Paiute)

^ Married. Photo Credit: Fiona Henry (Paiute)

Behind Tiny Gallery

When Montclair resident Francesca Castagnoli first imagined the miniature gallery, she was met almost exclusively with dismissal. Neighbors and friends were quick to say it wouldn’t work, or people wouldn’t care, or whatever other excuse is often presented in the face of a good idea. As the story goes, Francesca didn’t listen.

francesca castagnoli montclair nj

^ Montclair resident + founder of Tiny Gallery, Francesca Castagnoli

She first got the idea from Little Free Libraries, a non-profit organization that has now placed over 150,000 free book-sharing cases, from which anyone can take a book in exchange for a book inside, throughout the country. Francesca looked at these cases and wondered: What if it was art? 

The art of it all doesn’t come at random. Francesca descends from a long line of artists and briefly worked at an art gallery in San Francisco after college.

She decided that there would be rotating exhibitions from local artists and that the artists would hand paint the tiny art pieces, rather than have them printed to the smaller size. This, admittedly, is a challenge: Francesca says that the challenge, and the opportunity to do something totally unique, is why the artists are on board.

montclair new jersey tiny gallery

^ From Parade of my Color Dreams by Yana Rodin + Vacation Terrra/Sol3 Earth, U.S.A by Joan Park

The gallery first launched in February 2023, and after the initial launch, Francesca received an influx of inquiries from local artists. Tiny Gallery has since featured a variety of shows, each with respective receptions, from local artists.

Francesca describes the gallery and her experience creating it as one that is “all joy,” and perhaps this is evidenced most by the fact that the project raises zero profits, despite how many hands are involved. Artists can commission pieces independently, but as far as the gallery is concerned, it’s completely free to the public.

See More: Where to Paint Pottery in Northern New Jersey

Eventually, Francesca hopes that the Tiny Gallery will make its way throughout the U.S. with traveling shows. For now, we can think of it similarly to Montclair: a small pocket of joy that functions through its community and creativity. You can read more about the story behind Tiny Gallery in our article here, and keep up with the gallery on Instagram and its website.

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