Through the window’s of The Tiny Gallery, visitors can view Bayer’s playful and intimate installation of miniature homes and domestic scenes.

The Tiny Art Show is back. Again. After an eviction, a Kickstarter campaign, excellent location scouting and some fabulous fine carpentry, the art project that says go little or go home has a new permanent space in downtown Provo.
Ever since McKay Lenker Bayer decided to satisfy a college assignment to publicly display her artwork by going twee, the Tiny Art Show has been encouraging viewers to crouch down, peer in, and experience art at a radically reduced scale. From tiny invitations to petite hors d’oeuvres, Bayer embraces the entire art ecosystem at Alice-in-Wonderland scale. Since 2018, she has curated tiny pop-up exhibits for artists in unexpected places, from the floorboards of museums and shopping malls to a utility box and even New York’s Central Park.

Last year, Tiny Art Show found a more—and then less—permanent home in Provo’s newly opened Alma Gallery. At the back of the space formerly occupied by Writ and Vision, Baker was invited to build out a cubby halfway up a flight of stairs. It was just enough room to crouch in and examine a dozen or more playing-card size artworks. She mounted several successful and popular shows until she was asked to leave in February.

The shows may have been too popular. “It became its own creative force,” says Alma Gallery owner Tyler Alexander. “With Alma’s very limited staff, we just couldn’t operate both entities—especially since, despite sharing the word ‘gallery,’ they were really two very separate things. I was really glad to see the Tiny Gallery carve out its own space—it ended up being a much better fit for both galleries.”

This latest iteration, The Tiny Gallery, emerged from Bayer’s fascination with a closed-off stairwell and little red door between two storefronts along Provo’s University Avenue. “I’ve had this idea for years,” she wrote in a recent Instagram post. “It was inspired specifically by this little door.” Sketches followed. She studied local architecture. She brainstormed ways for people to peer inside and considered whether to include a second story or tiny gift shop. (She’s left herself an access panel, so stay tuned.) “I feel really excited about the new space,” she says. “This exact gallery/concept has been a ‘dream project’ in my head for several years.”

With tens of thousands of social media followers, McKay has always had a loyal fan base, so she funded the project with a Kickstarter campaign. “I’ve been feeling really grateful,” she says. “Tiny Art Show is a labor of love and a passion project, and it felt so good to see friends and fellow artists donate so much time and help to this gallery.” Once the money was in the bank, she finalized her design and handed it off to collaborator and builder John Connors, who brought it to life in his Salt Lake City studio, while Bayer, who knows a thing about marketing, teased her audience with Instagram posts of tiny posters and miniature refreshments.

Over three days in late April, the duo installed the tiny brick façade and dollhouse-scale windows, adding details that mimic the surrounding buildings. At just over three feet tall and a few feet deep, The Tiny Gallery mimics a traditional exhibition space—complete with wall text, signage, and rotating shows. From concept to completion, it took less than three months. Who says we can’t still build things in America?

Bayer sits inside the hidden access point of her newly installed space, a passion project that merges art, architecture, and storytelling

The first exhibition at Tiny Art Gallery—the 25th in the Tiny Art Show project—features Bayer’s own work. No, she hasn’t turned from shy debutante to media-hungry art diva. “I wasn’t planning on doing the art but the artist I had lined up had some health problems so we moved their show back and I did the show instead,“ she explains. It’s an exhibit about motherhood, a miniaturization of her Mere Maison show at Writ and Vision last year. “I feel like my Mere Maison-self is a totally separate person from my tiny art show-self so it was funny and weird to combine the two,” she says. “I love that it gave me a push to create.”

Additional exhibits at the 7-square-foot gallery are scheduled through October. “All Utah artists and all really talented creatives that I admire,” she says. “Keep an eye out because I booked one of my bucket-list artists,” she teases. “I’m really excited to play with this new space.”

The Tiny Gallery can be found at 35 N. University Ave. in Provo, Utah. The gallery is open on Saturdays from 5-8pm. You can also book a private tour for a $20 fee. To do so, email tinyartshowproject@gmail.com.

All images courtesy of The Tiny Gallery.

Shawn Rossiter

The founder of Artists of Utah and editor of its online magazine, 15 Bytes, Shawn Rossiter has undergraduate degrees in English, French and Italian Literature and studied Comparative Literature in graduate school before pursuing a career in art.