Ming Toy Gallery Celebrates 10th Anniversary

July 8th, 2025

With a passion for the arts and a drive to raise up the local artists of Omaha, Teresa Gleason founded The Little Gallery in 2015. 10 years later, the gallery, now named Ming Toy Gallery, is celebrating their 10-year anniversary.  

“This is just something that I can offer artists, particularly young artists, who are either starting out or artists who have a day job and just have to make work,” Gleason said. “It gives them an opportunity, maybe, to have their first solo show and build their resumé.” 

Gleason founded The Little Gallery with her husband Tim McMahan to support local artists. Gleason had been working for Omaha non-profit Omaha by Design for nine years at the time when she decided to try something new. 

“I had always had kind of in the back of my mind that it would be fun to kind of try and go off on my own and just open up a little one person public relations communication shop,” Gleason said.

Gleason rented out a small office space on Maple Street with the intention to use the space as both her office as well as an art gallery. She soon decided on the name The Little Gallery. Gleason hosted her first art show at The Little Gallery in June 2015.  

Gleason began holding monthly art shows and exhibitions at The Little Gallery. As time went on, the gallery’s popularity grew and Gleason continued running her gallery from a bigger space a block away. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she moved the gallery once again to a space in the Blackstone District. She operated The Little Gallery in Blackstone through February 2022.  

After a year-long hiatus, Gleason reopened her gallery in February 2023 its current location, 6066 Maple Street. Alongside continuing to run her communications business, Gleason soon began hosting the monthly art shows in the new space. 

“When I started I gave myself a year and I said, you know, if I wasn’t making money with my clients then I would just go get another PR job somewhere but we’re still going strong after that gate,” Gleason said. 

To pair with the new location, Gleason reopened her gallery under a new name, the Ming Toy Gallery. The name, Ming Toy, translates to Daughter of Happiness in English.  

“Which I thought was kind of cool, you know, because we really strive to make our artists happy and give them a great experience so they can go out and do what they want to do,” Gleason said.

In celebration of Ming Toy Gallery’s 10-year anniversary, Gleason hosted an open house and art exhibition, Head Shot, during the month of June. The celebration will continue throughout the year. 

Ming Toy Gallery will be closed through July as part of a collaboration with the but will open again to host a new exhibition titled, Coping, by Alyssa Schmitt beginning August 1st.  

For more information about Ming Toy Gallery, you can visit mingtoygallery.com.