It’s 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.
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 — all of which you can hold in the palm of your hand.
On Friday, Kelly Braun, founder and owner of At My House, hosted the second annual mini-art show, dubbed the “Mini Mini Art Show.” Last year, the show invited artists to make art that was 3 inches by 3 inches.
Braun upped the ante this year.
“This year, we realized we needed to go mini-er,” she said. “It needed to be more extreme, more silly, more ridiculous. So we cut it in half.”
All of the art on display at “Mini Mini” is about 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches — about the size of a postage stamp. While last year’s artists were invite-only, this year’s show is a mix of submissions and invited artists.
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.
There are even miniature illustrations of classic art, like Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring and Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, created by the event’s cohost, Fabiola Lara.
“I 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,” Lara said. “I’ve always loved to draw, it’s my favorite way to be creative.”
Lara, a Chilean American artist, has been making mini art since 2024, when she started her mini art vending machines, 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 roughly stamp-sized one.
“I think fine art in museums is so focused on large-scale, which is great,” said Lara, “but also you have to have the studio space for it, and it’s expensive. I love that people still turn out for this tiny stuff, which is actually really hard to make.”
At My House opened its doors in January of last year, and has since become a thriving vintage clothing and homewares shop and event space. When it’s not hosting a mini art show, it hosts collage nights, book clubs, photography pop-ups, platonic speed dating, and even lamp-making workshops.
“The Mini Mini Art Show” is on display through Aug. 2 at At My House, 760 S. Fourth St., Philadelphia. atmyhou.se
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