Sometimes great things come in small packages. With art, these small packages can be made into gifts.

J GO Gallery co-owner Jude Grenney, formerly of the Phoenix Gallery, knows this, so she decided to feature an exhibit with pint-sized paintings that, she says, are perfect for the upcoming holiday season.

“When we had the Phoenix Gallery, we found that most people buy significant art for themselves, but don’t buy significant works for gifts,” Grenney told The Park Record. “So we wanted to create an event around art that would be good for presents. Thus, we came up with the Massively Small Show.”

The Massively Small Show will open at the J GO Gallery exhibit space at 201 Heber Ave., behind Zoom restaurant on Friday, Nov. 25, and run through Saturday, Dec. 24.

The exhibit’s title refers to the massive talent of the artists and the number of pieces that will be in the show, Grenney said with a smile. All the works included in the display measure less than 15 inches by 15 inches.

“We had initially dreamt up the idea of having all the pieces being no larger than 12 inches by 12 inches, but Siddharth Parasnis, the first artist who finished his works and sent them to us, left for India,” she said. “His art measured 15 inches by 11 inches and we didn’t have the luxury of calling him up and asking for smaller piece.

“So, the sizes of the works were determined by the first artwork that was finished.”

Approximately 15 artists will participate in the exhibit.

They include Parasnis, Dale Livenzy, Paul Vincent Bernard, Jeremy Mangan, Sherri Belasen, J GO co-owner Curtis Olson and Greg Ragland, to name a few.

“Some of the artists are still sitting on the fence because they’re still working on their pieces, and most of them don’t live in the area,” Grenney said. “They’re like, ‘Well, if the paint dries, I’ll get them to you.'”

The art will come from all areas of the country.

“We have works that are coming in from New York, such as photographer Jeri Eisenberg’s pinhole photography,” Grenney explained. “We’ve had her works displayed in J GO in the past, but these are a little different because the diffused images are shown under an encaustic media.”

Painter Mangan, who hails from Fife, Wash., will represent the Northwest during the show.

His art, which includes a piece called “More Notorious” featuring the death-mask shot of John Wesley Hardin painted on the side of a building, is typical of his detailed-oriented style.

“He does portraits of famous Western outlaws painted on a western façade and his attention to the little things is just phenomenal,” Grenney said. “He’s not that prolific because it takes a long time to get something with this much detail done, but his works are very interesting and the pieces both glorify and poke fun at Western art.”

Two other artists – Ragland and Bernard – live in Utah.

“Greg is one of our most renowned artists and shows in galleries nationwide,” Grenney said. “We are fortunate enough that he lives in town and allows us to cherry-pick his work because his studio is close by.

“As he finishes new works, we go and choose what we think are his strongest pieces,” she said. “He just dropped off his small work, one of which is ‘Red With Female Ruby Throat,’ that is a hummingbird in the midst of red background.”

Bernard, who infuses an Asian aesthetic into his pieces, is heavily influenced by an artist named Richard Serra who mostly paints with black and a very limited palate, Grenney said.

“Paul plays with the same types of boundaries and focuses on subject, but not a lot of field,” she said.

Grenney said the strength of the show lies in the partnership of the works’ variety and the J GO Gallery’s exhibit space.

“It’s a smaller venue with 550 square feet, and we’ll also put up a couple of partition walls so we have more display room.” she said. “It’s like being inside a white rectangle. It makes for an intimate setting and to see the diversity all these gift-sized pieces in one space is what’s exciting about the show.”

In addition to the art, the live music by classical guitarist Michael Lucarelli and tapas from the Sky Lodge will add some flavor to the event, which will become an annual competition, Grenney said.

“Next year, we’re planning to send out a call for entries and then we’ll jury the submissions, which will give us a group of artists that we don’t normally carry in the J GO Gallery,” she aid. “That way, we’ll have a massive body of small works available year round on display and online.”

J GO Gallery will open the Massively Small Show at its exhibit space, 201 Heber Ave., at the Sky Lodge, with a free reception that is open to the public on Friday, Nov. 25, at 6:30 p.m. The show will run through Saturday, Nov. 24. For more information call (435) 649-1006 or visit www.jgogallery.com .