Taking a tour of one of the most eclectic art galleries in the city, you'll find a ladybug lounging in a corner made from yarn. There's also a piece of sheet metal sitting on a shelf with a cactus painted on it. Hanging on another shelf are inverted monochromatic images of a fish and some mountains.
The gallery patrons are miniature human figurines, some equipped with berets made of acorn caps. They stand with their arms crossed or inside their pockets looking pensively at the art that surrounds them.
This isn't a fever dream.
The art and the patrons live inside the gallery, which is about the size of an average mailbox (12″ x 16″), and that gallery lives outside the home of Grace Trautman.
Trautman is the owner and curator of a Free Little Art gallery, a teeny art space where folks can put art in, take art out or just observe the unique miniature pieces. Think free little libraries but with art.
Like the libraries, the galleries are all over the states. Trautman said a coworker coming back from Spokane, Washington, introduced her to the galleries, and Trautman knew immediately that she wanted to make one.
"I love small delights like that where you would just be walking down the street and see something you didn't expect to see," Trautman said. "My partner and I are both artists and so he and I wanted to have a way to engage .... It was that and the desire to connect to the community and desire to bring a little joy and light into my life."
Connection to community is important for Trautman, who moved to Denver from Seattle around 2014. Trautman said she grew up in a tight-knit area where her neighbors were some of her good friends.
After Trautman and her partner Evan Hicks purchased their house in the Overland neighborhood in February 2022, Trautman was looking for that neighborhood connection. The gallery provided that bridge, and they installed the structure right around Halloween.
"I think it's one of the ways that we can show that we're friendly and approachable," Trautman said. "It's become a way for people to identify us like, 'Oh, they're the ones with the gallery in front of their house' .... It provides a sense of belonging."
Trautman recalls coming home one day and seeing a small bike strewn on the sidewalk and a little girl on her tip-toes peeking into the gallery.
"It was the sweetest thing, and that's why we built it. It's a great conversation starter," Trautman said.
Trautman said the gallery was made from reclaimed material laying around the house and it was constructed using some strong nails so little kids can hoist themselves up to see the art.
Inside the gallery is a mix of art from Trautman and Hicks along with the strangers who walk past the gallery, which is on Bannock Street between Harvard and Vassar avenues. Trautman said as "curator," she doesn't have to do much.
"It's become a thing of the community that happens to be at our house ... but it's very much outside of ourselves," Trautman said. "At the very beginning, I was worried whether or not people would engage, but I'd say every few days new stuff comes in or goes out. There's always something happening or if there isn't new stuff, people will just reorganize the gallery or do something that might not be adding or taking but it's making it their own."
Trautman and Hicks sometimes interact with people stopping by to check out the artwork, but sometimes, they have no idea who is leaving what. So they have codenames.
There's the shrinker who one day took a 4×4 inch black and white drawing Hicks made and returned it in a shrunken form: a 1×1 inch piece, colored and framed.
There's also the framer who takes unframed art, frames it and returns it.
Trautman said the shrinker and the framer are regulars but there's other pieces that just pop up. Little finger puppets have been dropped off, wood carvings, tiny pottery pieces. Many of the pieces are repurposed items, like a can that was crushed and painted to look like a blue and white porcelain piece. Trautman said there's always lots of collages or cartoons.
The most surprising piece, Trautman said, were these hand-made ceramic mugs that were about the size of an average teacup.
"I think that I've also been honestly surprised with the quality of work that's coming through. Somebody left two ceramic hand-made mugs in the gallery, which is just like a lot of work and effort and it was beautiful," Trautman said.
The little surprises along with the community engagement are the whole purpose behind the little free art gallery.
Trautman said she hopes to see more pop-up across the city. In an Instagram post, Trautman lists the specs of the gallery if anyone was interested in creating their own.
Ultimately, it's a cute conversation piece for neighborhoods and a reminder to stop, smell some roses, talk to a stranger and find some delights.
"If you're looking for delights, you're going to find a lot more delights," Trautman said. "I really had no expectations for it going very well. I was like, 'This could be cool or it could be weird,' but it's given me so much love for our community .... It's this living breathing thing without me and it just makes me feel like there's so many real people around that want to have fun and delight in this thing too."
