Building Art Districts One Tiny Gallery at a Time
A Candid Conversation with Dave Clark who’s starting a Micro-Gallery Revolution in Long Beach
I’m sitting here thinking about this conversation I had with Dave Clark, and honestly? It’s one of those things that makes you want to drop everything and start building something with your hands. You know those moments when someone describes their project and you’re like, wait, you can just… do that?Dave and his wife Carol live in the Wrigley neighborhood of Long Beach, and they’ve basically turned their street into an outdoor art district using these little galleries that are 15 by 15 by 13 inches. When Dave first told me about them, I’m thinking tiny – like dollhouse tiny. But no. These things are substantial enough to hold three 8×10 paintings or sculptures that weigh up to 5 pounds (he learned that limit the hard way when an artist brought work that would’ve toppled the whole thing).
The whole thing started because Dave was frustrated. And I mean frustrated in that way that makes you do something about it instead of just complaining. He’d been submitting to galleries for years, spending hundreds of dollars on application fees, watching artists fight over “that one little crumb” of gallery space. You know the drill – the pay-to-play system where you shell out nonrefundable fees just for the chance to maybe get rejected.”There’s gotta be a better way for artists to show their work,” he told me. “And in a way that doesn’t cost anything.”So he built one. The first micro-gallery sits in front of their house, and he couldn’t figure out what to name it. (I love this part.) He’s literally tossing and turning one night when it hits him – their address adds up to 17, and the gallery measures 17 inches. Gallery 17 was born.
The Numbers Tell a Story
Here’s what blew me away: Gallery 17LB and 23LB are two micro galleries located in the Wrigley neighborhood of Long Beach, CA at 2483 Eucalyptus Ave (in front of our residence) and at 2489 Eucalyptus Ave (right next door on the corner) where their existence is to share and/or promote art/artists by providing an alternative venue to show smaller scale art works with the larger community. No income is generated from any acceptance of an exhibit or from any sales.Read that again – NO income generated. Artists keep 100% of sales. Dave charges exactly $450 to build and install a gallery for someone else, which just covers materials. That’s it. He’s not trying to make money or build an empire.And it’s working. Between just the two galleries Dave and Carol curate (Gallery 17 and Gallery 23), they’ve had 50 openings. They’re booked through August 2026. Artists are sending work from Canada, South America, New York, Florida – everywhere.But here’s the thing that really gets me: Dave has now built 28 of these galleries. Twenty-eight! There are 9 on their street alone, spread across 4 blocks. Gallery 17 is part of the Wrigley “Arts District” on Eucalyptus Ave. in Long Beach, and that’s not just marketing speak – they’ve literally created their own arts district.
The Challenge Changes Everything
What I find fascinating is how the size constraint forces artists to think differently. Dave told me about Jordan Christian, an abstract painter who usually works 9 feet by 12 feet minimum. Jordan was like, “I don’t know, Dave, I haven’t done anything smaller than that in forever.”But then he figured it out. Instead of going big, he went small – creating “basically a smaller piece of what I do.” Same artistic voice, different scale. Nikolas Soren Goodich went from 8-foot by 8-foot pieces at NOMAD to 1-foot by 1-foot pieces in the micro-galleries.This is exactly what I was talking about with Dave during our conversation – artists need challenges to evolve. Whether it’s scaling down your work or having 24 hours to create something (like in call and response shows), constraints push you somewhere new. Who knows what that could lead to?
Community in Action
The galleries are positioned about a foot off the sidewalk on private property, but they’re clearly meant for public engagement. And people are engaging! Dave and Carol can hear passersby: “Oh my god, look at this! Oh, this is great!”Kids from the elementary school across the street stop by regularly. Dave told me about this one installation – ICE DISH (Department of Illegal Superheroes) – where kids were riding their bikes and one yelled, “Dude, you gotta get over here! Gallery 17’s on fire, this is great!” That’s the kind of authentic reaction you dream about as an artist.”I built them with the idea of an alternative venue for artists to exhibit their work in a public space,” said Clark, who notes the gallerists have held about 25 openings — on the first Saturday of every month — since his inaugural show.
The Ripple Effect
What started as Dave’s solution to his own frustration has become something bigger. Other artists started commissioning their own galleries. Eric Almanza has Gallery 99 (his jersey number if he played sports). There’s Gallery 30 where Luke hosts bands during openings, turning the whole block into a cultural event. One gallery owner only shows children’s work. Another only shows his mother’s art.The LA Times picked up the story when a reporter literally stumbled upon Dave installing a gallery – she lived next door to the artist installing work. At a time of dwindling support for public arts and artists, these micro-galleries have created neighborhood art districts, providing places to show work while also generating new forms of cultural engagement.And here’s something that shouldn’t surprise anyone but somehow does: there’s been zero vandalism, no theft, no graffiti. People respect these little spaces.
The Bigger Picture
Dave’s not trying to take over the world. When the LA County Fair wanted him to build 12 galleries for $450 each, he said no. “It’s not a business,” he told them. “I don’t want another career.”But what he has done is prove something important: you can create your own opportunities. You can bypass the gatekeepers. You can build community one small space at a time.The micro-gallery movement is bigger than Long Beach, by the way. There’s a global initiative also called Micro Galleries that uses an arts methodology to generate change…in small and creative ways. They connect local communities with artists and innovators from around the world who know how to tackle thorny social issues with a creative twist. They’re transforming underpasses, creating pop-up exhibitions in public spaces, bringing art to under-resourced communities.
What This Really Means
Dave’s story matters because it’s about agency. It’s about looking at a problem and building a solution instead of waiting for someone else to fix it. It’s about understanding that art doesn’t have to live behind white walls with business hours and admission fees.”Our goal was to build an alternative venue for artists to show in that allows the public to see it without having to worry about, you know, business hours or whatever,” Dave said during our conversation.Every time I drive past a Little Free Library now, I think about Gallery 17. Both are about sharing something valuable with your community. Both trust that people will engage respectfully. Both prove that small gestures can create big changes.Dave builds galleries for $450. He charges exactly what materials cost because that’s not the point. The point is creating “little art districts throughout” neighborhoods, bringing art to the public, giving artists a chance to be seen.And honestly? In a world where everything feels impossible and expensive and gatekept, that feels pretty revolutionary.
The Long Beach micro-gallery art crawl happens annually – check local listings for dates.