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big deal
Theo Ellsworth’s “The Ghost Doctor is Wearing His Cosmic Relaxation”
As the Alan Jackson song goes, “It’s all right to be little bitty/ A little hometown or a big old city. Might as well share/ might as well smile/ Life goes on for a little bitty while.” Forgive me for quoting pop country, but it was one of the most fitting things I could think of for appreciating the small things in life. Our culture has plenty of sayings about big things—“Go big or go home” or “It’s a huge deal.” When it comes to art, we tend to be more impressed with physically larger things, like the biggest paintings, the tallest statues, the largest works of architecture. Those monstrosities certainly deserve the credit they get.
WHAT: {mini} show reception WHEN: Fri., April 11, from 5:30-8:30 PM WHERE: ZACC HOW MUCH: Free MORE INFO: zootownarts.org
[30] Missoula Independent • April 10–April 17, 2014
But it’s just as impressive to make a statement with a limited amount of space and time. Take the ZACC’s upcoming second annual {mini} art show and fundraiser. The show asks a wide array of Missoula artists to submit work that has to be 6 inches around or less in size. This year features works like “Burial Throne,” an intriguing sculpture by Lee Stuurmans that appears to be a housefly perched on top of a white, tooth-like box, and painter Alison Dillon’s “It Was Over Her Second Cup of Coffee That Josephine Decided To Give Herself the Day Off,” which tells a whole story just in one little title. You can check out these itty bitty works and much more at the ZACC’s Second Friday {mini} show reception on April 11. It all leads up to the gala fundraiser on Sat., April 19, a night of food and entertainment with diminutive cocktails and weensy hors d’oeurves catered by creative local chefs. Proceeds go toward the ZACC’s mission of fostering community art. In case you forgot, the space hosts youth classes, gallery receptions, screen-printing, allages music and much more. For a little gallery, that’s a pretty big deal. —Kate Whittle