Being a Graphic Artist my mind is always going 100 miles a minute. I love being creative and finding new outlets to share it. Back in March 2021, I had came up with this plan. It would of course need to enlist my husbands part in building it, but I took out my ipad and drew my idea in procreate. It was a take on the Free Little Library but with a Free Little Art Gallery Twist! I wanted both. Now we don't live on a busy street or corner, but I wanted a way to add something creative and fun to our little neighborhood.

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I had hoped for it to be done by Mother's Day. However, with a husband who travels a lot for work, time got away from us, and he finally brought it in the house during Christmas Break to work on it. He used a lot of recycled materials, but we did have to purchase a few things for it including the posts and concrete.

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I set up a Instagram and Facebook to showcase different art that is added. The idea tho is that people who come by can take out a book or a piece of art and add their own - we've added some to get it started. A fun exchange that I hope has some great interaction! The biggest size of art can be 4" x 6" and can be in any medium. Some of the art currently in there include paint, pencil, watercolor, printed sticker, etc. I do have some little easels in there as well as some little people who are checking out the art.

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I hope to build my fairy garden at the bottom like I've done in years past in the spring - and we won't be able to stain the posts until then either. But it's a start! I also added a little pallet I found at Dollar Tree and some blank canvas's that people can take and create their art and bring back.

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Both Kenny and Christopher are saying that I wont have anyone interaction with it, but I'm hopeful. I will try to check it often but if anyone does add anything let me know, and I can go out and photograph it for social media. I can't wait to see what people create! The kids helped me create a few of the pieces we put in there over the last few days.

We even added some lights that can be controlled by remote when it gets dark - we'll keep them on for a little while each night. The timer is set for 120 minutes. But of course it's up all the time.

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I'm really excited about this project, I'm calling it the Happy Little Art Gallery and Library.

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I hope to take some better pics when it's sunnier out, it was just really gloomy and late today when Kenny finished up the weather stripping for the doors.

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I'm so grateful for my husband for taking my idea and helping make it something truly magical! And hope that sometime you can stop by to take a book or art piece or leave your own to share!

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Since it's been up now for almost four months, there have been 45 different art pieces that have gone through, tons of books have been shared and exchanged and someone had put a couple cans of asparagus in there so we ended up making the one side a food pantry. It's like a one stop shop!

 

Instagram: @happylittleartgallery

Facebook: Happy Little Art Gallery