Kathleen Heron’s “Unbelievable, Believable” on Display in Montclair, NJ
A new distinctive and quirky art show had its art gallery opening reception on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Montclair, NJ. This was for a show of miniature art pieces created by Kathleen Heron and curated by Francesca Castagnoli from https://www.tinygallerymontclair.com/. This tiny art gallery is custom-made just for this art show. There’s good news and bad news about this art exhibit. The bad news is you cannot enter the gallery physically with your body. The good news is that you can view this art gallery at any time for free.
Kathleen Heron’s creative journey began in Orange, New Jersey, where she was born and now lives and works once again after decades in major artistic hubs like New York City, Boston, and San Francisco. Though she has been a lifelong visual artist, her professional path has been rich and varied. She studied graphic design at Parsons School of Design and fine arts at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, continuing her education with additional classes under the guidance of notable artists and curators including Brice Marden, Yuko Shimizu, Victoria Kahn, Marcia Tucker, and Larry Fink.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS OF KATHLEEN’S TINY GALLERY
Heron’s career outside the studio has also played a role in shaping her artistic eye. She worked in New York photo studios as a stylist, casting director, and production coordinator, experiences that sharpened her visual storytelling and attention to detail. Today, as part of the Jerry Gant collection management team, she assists Linda Gartrell Street, President of The Gartrell Gant Foundation for Cultural Guardianship, and Pink Dragon Artist Syndicate. She also offers personalized art-making sessions to individuals with disabilities. This work stems from an early role she held as a ward attendant at a psychiatric hospital, where she discovered the healing and expressive power of art through firsthand interactions with patients.
Ms. Heron is best known for her work in two mediums: drawing and assemblage. Her drawings feature imagined human figures created with expressive, fluid lines in pen, ink, and mixed media. These characters, though often imperfect in proportion, feel strikingly alive. Her ability to convey movement and emotion comes from years of studying the human form from life, fostering a connection that translates into her intuitive, gestural style.
Her assemblages take shape through an instinctual process, built from overlooked materials like wood panels, drawers, plaques, and boxes. These works are less planned than discovered, forming from textures, grains, and studio happenstance. She often draws directly on the wood, letting its imperfections guide the narrative. Her approach is guided by what she calls “peripheral vision”—those unplanned encounters between objects that suddenly make sense together.
This sensibility is fully realized in Unbelievable, Believable, her current exhibit in Montclair, NJ. The show invites viewers to peek into a tiny universe where imagination takes center stage. Though small in size, the artworks carry big presence. Each piece reflects Heron’s signature ability to blend the believable with the surreal—dreamlike figures, uncanny object pairings, and a gentle distortion of reality that feels unexpectedly grounded.
Heron’s goal is to make the improbable feel real. Whether through the gaze of a wonky, whimsical figure or the strange harmony of found objects, her work transforms the familiar into something enchanted. Unbelievable, Believable captures that magic on a tiny scale, inviting all who pass by to stop, look closely, and step, if only with their imagination, into a world unlike any other.
To visit Kathleen Heron’s tiny art gallery, simply travel to the Tiny Gallery Erwin Park located at 7 Erwin Park (Island Garden), Montclair, NJ 07042 and enjoy the show.
Good news, all art pieces are for sale. If you or someone you know is interested in procuring any of the artwork in this show, contact by emailing here.