In Dec. 2024 two Virginia Highland neighbors and Midtown moms, Kim Gnatt and Cameron Carter, built and installed a simple wooden box, similar to the non profit boxes known as a Little Free Library, onto Rupley street. However, this box wasn’t built for the traditional use of exchanging books; its purpose was to share their love of art with the community and to spark art creation and exchange. The Little Art Library hit its one year anniversary at the end of Dec., and continues to serve as a place for neighbors to create and exchange.

Gnatt and Carter wanted to bring something new and creative to the neighborhood, and their idea stemmed from a larger national movement. Carter said it was a fun birthday project to celebrate both Gnatt’s birthday and their friendship.

“We both love art, design and making anything creative,” Carter said. “So when we looked into the little lending library and discovered Free Little Art Galleries was actually a national movement, we decided for Kim’s birthday last year it would be perfect to launch this one. And that’s what we did.”

They decided early on that their gallery would be art instead of books or other objects. Carter said that both her and Gnatt have a passion for art and design, and that they both wanted to support creativity.

“Books are amazing, yet you can find those little [libraries] all over the neighborhood,” Carter said. “We wanted to do something different, plus we wanted more people to create art and share it with others.”

Gnatt and Carter created an Instagram account to garner community interest and involvement. Gnatt said they wanted the gallery to expand outside of their circle of friends and to the whole community.

“We built the little gallery out of wood, installed it exactly a year ago, created our social media account and began to promote local artists to bring their pieces,” Gnatt said. “Our goal was to get as many people in the neighborhood across all ages involved in art.”

For local artist Allyson Cumming the gallery is so important in bringing happiness to the community.

“Passing by the Little Art Gallery reminds me that if you are observant you can find art everywhere,” Cummings said. “I also love that the gallery may encourage more people to create something and put it out into the world. I believe being creative is a key element to a satisfied life – so more creativity equals more happiness and satisfaction equals more peace.”

Gnatt said that the community response has made the gallery worth it, and that it has certainly exceeded their expectations.

“We find this provides a lot of happiness and fulfillment to our neighbors and tourists,” Gnatt said. “We love seeing the joy in people’s faces when they open the gallery door and take a piece they love. And people love being featured on our Instagram page which is a fun way to promote their art and the library.”

Gnatt’s son, freshman Benny Gnatt, said the project has become bigger than what he originally thought it would be when he heard about it one year ago.

“At first I thought it was just for fun, something just our family and friends would do,” Benny Gnatt said. “But over this past year it was really cool to see other neighbors get involved, especially the kids. At Porchfest a lot of kids came to a table we set up, and they made all sorts of creations for the library, themselves and their families. I think that meant a lot to my mom and it spread the word about the art library.”

Ruby Warner, Virginia Highland neighbor and fifth grade student at Virginia Highland Elementary said that she loves contributing to the little art library, and it’s something fun for all of her friends to do together without any pressure to be perfect.

“I love making things when I’m bored and walking down to the box to put my art in and look at other peoples,” Warner said. “When all my friends make things together it’s even more fun. I really like seeing my art gone from the box when I go back to add new things, I am not bored of it and I am so happy they have added it to my street.”

Carter said she thinks they have reached their goal with the library — to promote creativity and accessibility. She said they will continue to do this and try to reach even more of the community.

“Our goal is to inspire our community to make, create and enjoy art,” Carter said. “Every one piece is worth creating and celebrating; every individual’s work is art. Our dream is for some of our local neighborhood professional artists to maybe co-host this with us and expand the art library even more.”

Carter’s daughter, junior Lily Carter said that the idea surprised her at first and she didn’t quite know what to expect, but now she loves helping with it in her free time and spending quality time with her mom.

“I pictured it to be much bigger than it actually is,” Lily Carter said. “I thought people would be putting huge canvases in it, but how they designed it is honestly perfect. I’ll occasionally do a craft with my mom when we are watching a show and then we walk it over to the little gallery together.”

As 2026 begins, and the library enters its second year, Carter and Gnatt said they want to grow the library and keep it fun.

“We gave ourselves permission to make 2025 a learning year, and we’ve learned a lot,” Carter said. “Now we can put those insights to work, keeping this project fun, community and art focused.”

Gnatt said she hopes to gain many more memories and share her outlook on art and life through the library.

“We went into this with the motto: ‘Take a Piece, Leave a Piece,’ and this emphasizes the positive cycle of giving and receiving,” Gnatt said. “Building community, expressing creativity and gratitude are what guide us. It’s been meaningful for us and for everyone involved.”