Something Small is Taking Shape

Sometimes a new body of work starts with a very intentional plan. And sometimes it starts with scrolling Instagram, filling out a “Contact Us” form, and impulsively ordering 32 tiny canvas panels.

This one was definitely the latter.

I first discovered Tiny Gallery on Instagram. They were putting on a local exhibition at Lackawanna Station in Montclair, just a short drive from me, and I was immediately fascinated by what they were doing. Their focus on miniature art was so different from the work I was used to creating, and I wanted to understand more.

I noticed they had a contact form on their website, so I gave it a shot. That led to a conversation with the founder about the project, and before I knew it, I was completely intrigued by the idea of working within such a small format.

The constraint was part of the appeal. At 3×3 inches, every bit of canvas has to count. There’s nowhere to hide and not much room for overthinking.

So I got to work.

Or, more accurately, I ordered 32 3×3-inch canvas panels and got obsessed.

And I wasn't the only one.

My almost-six-year-old, a budding artist herself, could barely contain her excitement when she saw the tiny canvas squares. Before long, it became our thing—working alongside each other at the dining room table, each of us creating tiny works of art.

There was something incredibly freeing about working that small.

I decided not to worry about creating a perfectly cohesive collection right away. Instead, I treated each little canvas as its own project. I played with different images, materials, colors and compositions and let each piece become whatever it wanted to become.

Because there was so little surface area, I felt like I could fail quickly. If something wasn't working, I could collage over it, paint it out, change direction and move on in a matter of seconds. The stakes felt lower, which somehow made the experimentation more fun.

And the more I made, the more I realized I didn't want this to be a one-off project.

I originally started creating these pieces specifically for Tiny Gallery, but the experience sparked an entirely new body of work for me: Mini Originals.

These are 3×3-inch, one-of-a-kind original collages—small enough to invite experimentation, but still made with the same materials, techniques and point of view that define my larger work.

I’m still developing the collection, but eventually the Mini Originals will be available as a collection on glamourgoth.com.

I'm grateful to Tiny Gallery for the inspiration and for introducing me to a way of working that I probably wouldn't have explored on my own.

Read more about the org: https://www.tinygallerymontclair.com/