Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a warm Friday evening in July, and the Queen Village neighborhood is abuzz. Philadelphians are grabbing dinner and perusing the many shops. One shop, particularly, has attracted a crowd that it can barely contain.<\/p>\n
Inside the vintage store At My House, people are immediately amazed by the knickknacks that surround them. They grab a cocktail and line up for the main event, waiting their turn to view a wall at the front of the store displaying a range of art pieces \u2014 all of which you can hold in the palm of your hand. <\/p>\n
On Friday, Kelly Braun, founder and owner of At My House, hosted the second annual mini-art show, dubbed the \u201cMini Mini Art Show.\u201d Last year, the show invited artists to make art that was 3 inches by 3 inches. <\/p>\n
Braun upped the ante this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, we realized we needed to go mini-er,\u201d she said. \u201cIt needed to be more extreme, more silly, more ridiculous. So we cut it in half.\u201d<\/p>\n
All of the art on display at \u201cMini Mini\u201d is about 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches \u2014 no larger than a postage stamp. While last year\u2019s artists were invite-only, this year\u2019s show is a mix of submissions and invited artists. <\/p>\n
On the wall are displays of tiny clothing items, makeshift houses and rooms, and some original drawings. All of the artwork is for sale, with items ranging from $60 to $300. <\/p>\n
There are even miniature illustrations of classic art, like Vermeer\u2019s Girl With a Pearl Earring and Botticelli\u2019s The Birth of Venus, created by the event\u2019s cohost, Fabiola Lara.<\/p>\n
\u201cI draw from everyday life, which is why a lot of my prints are Philadelphia-themed. Today, I wanted to take a break from Philadelphia-themed stuff, and literally take the theme of mini art and take the opportunity to do something different,\u201d Lara said. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved to draw, it\u2019s my favorite way to be creative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lara, a Chilean American artist, has been making mini art since 2024, when she started her mini art vending machines<\/a>, of which there are now 13 across the city. Anyone can insert four quarters to get a business card-sized piece of original art by Lara, or two quarters for a stamp-sized one. <\/p>\n \u201cI think fine art in museums is so focused on large-scale, which is great,\u201d said Lara, \u201cbut also you have to have the studio space for it, and it\u2019s expensive. I love that people still turn out for this tiny stuff, which is actually really hard to make.\u201d<\/p>\n