Tucked along the side of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, passers-by will find Juneau’s newest art gallery--the museum’s Free Little Art Gallery or FLAG for short. Anyone is free to add to the collection or take a pocket-sized treasure home. The gallery is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (Dana Zigmund/Juneau Empire)

Free Little Art Gallery opens downtown

Juneau joins growing list of cities hosting FLAGs

Tucked along the side of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, passers-by will find Juneau’s newest art gallery—the museum’s Free Little Art Gallery.

The gallery resembles a miniature diorama and includes a rotating display of art. Anyone is free to add to the collection or take a pocket-sized treasure home.

In a recent interview, museum director Beth Weigel said the gallery, called FLAG for short, provides a “low-risk place to display art” and helps to build community.

“Since the Free Little Art Gallery works with miniature artworks, it is the perfect venue to inspire children, as well as adults, to display their creations and perhaps even be what inspires someone to become an artist,” Weigel wrote in a recent paper describing the project.

Finding inspiration

Weigel said the idea of a FLAG is built on the same sharing principle that inspires the Little Free Library Concept.

She said the gallery consists of a repurposed display case. The display is mounted on the outside of the historic Veteran’s Building, which houses the museum.

Staff members added shelves and paint, and the maintenance crew installed the display under an outdoor light and set it back out the weather. Artists and collectors can access the gallery without entering the building. So, they can stop by at any time to scoop up or leave a treasure.

“FLAG’s are reminiscent of the endless childhood hours spent creating tiny tableaus or scenes from collected treasures like rocks and feathers mixed with tiny figurines or other miniatures,” she wrote in a paper explaining the project and posted by the Alaska Humanities Forum.

Weigel explained that Juneau’s first FLAG came out of an ongoing project with the Alaska Humanities Forum that looks at what’s possible when community and media connect. She said in this case, she and her collaborators took a broad view of the term media.

“Our small group of Fellows, geographically centered on Southeast Alaska, wanted to know what happens when you look beyond western culture’s dominant forms of media. What stories do we see about communities when you expand your definition of the medium? Our collaboration into this space sent us in many directions,” she wrote. “We finally convened on a common medium used throughout our region: the community bulletin board. We wanted to know: what stories are told when the telling is completely decentralized? What do these boards say about a place and a people in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic as an organic, community-driven storyspace?”

Celebration marks completion of mural

How it works

The gallery operates on an honor system, with people taking and leaving the lilliputian pieces as they pass by.

Weigel said museum staff adds things from time to time, like a handful of photographs that appeared in the gallery this week. Earlier this summer, the staff put supplies into the box and encouraged people to create flags to celebrate the FLAG.

Weigel said she’s been surprised by the variety of items that artisans and crafters have dropped off. She said origami pieces had appeared alongside jewelry, collages, watercolors and painted rocks.

Overall, she thinks there have been slightly more things taken from the display than added but said there are usually items in the gallery.

Weigel asks that people collecting treasures leave the easels and other display pieces behind.

She said she’s surprised by how quickly some items move through the gallery, with some pieces being picked up shortly after they are added to the collection.

Labor of love: Union collects for service organizations

Growing popularity

According to the Washington Post, the Free Little Art Gallery concept is growing in neighborhoods across the country and started as a response to pandemic-related restrictions that made it difficult for art lovers to visit museums and for artists to display work.

The Washinton Post resorts similar installations in Seattle, Texas, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and Illinois.

Contact reporter Dana Zigmund at dana.zigmund@juneauempire.com or 907-308-4891.

More in News

The Norwegian Bliss arrives in Juneau on Monday, April 14, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Ships in port for the week of April 20

This information comes from the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska’s 2024 schedule.… Continue reading

Liz Harpold, a staff member for Sen. Donny Olson (D-Golovin)​, explains changes to a bill increasing per-student education funding and making various policy changes during a Senate Finance Committee meeting on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Revised education bill with $700 BSA hike gets new policy measures, advances to Senate floor

Changes easing charter school rules, adding new district evaluations fall short of governor’s agenda.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Tuesday, April 22, 2025

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Monday, April 21, 2025

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

A 74-pound cabbage grown by Keevan Dinkel of Wasilla is displayed on Sept. 2, 2018, at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Palmer legislator proposes Alaska’s record-setting giant cabbage as official state vegetable

Nomination could raise recognition for Alaska agriculture, says Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer.

An Alaska Airlines plane passes above participants in the annual Turkey Trot run/walk next to Juneau International Airport on Thanksgiving Day of 2022. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file photo)
Alaska Airlines issues warning amidst travel industry downturn due to Trump-fueled uncertainty

Company reports $166M loss during first quarter of year, won’t release an outlook for 2025.

A vote board shows a veto override attempt Tuesday by the Alaska Legislature on a $1,000 increase to per-student education funding falling short of the necessary two-thirds majority with a 33-27 vote. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Senate adds $700 BSA hike to school phone policy bill a day after veto override on $1,000 increase fails

Lawmakers say quick floor vote by Senate, concurrence by House may set up another override session.

Mike Verdoorn, Patrick Bracken and Richard Ward of The Segal Group Inc. provide an overview of their study of Alaska state employee salaries to the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Shortcomings revealed in state employee salary study won’t be addressed until at least next year

Legislators and state administrators dispute who is underpaid and by how much, but agree fix is complex.

Participants of the 2024 Sustainable Southeast Partnership annual retreat in Sheet’ká (Sitka). This week more than 150 people are gathering for the 12th annual retreat to strengthen relationships, accelerate ideas and energize work already happening across the region. (Photo by Bethany Goodrich)
Woven Peoples and Place: Celebrating values in action

Mentorship and storytelling with Shaelene Grace Moler.

Most Read