In June 2008, we find big ideas in places large and small, visiting Jack Fischer's 300-square-foot gallery at 49 Geary and tromping around town to check out Richard Kamler's billboard project.

Jack Fischer's CANDY GARDENS AND SPARKLING SABERS is a kind of coming out for Amanda Smith, who just received her MFA from San Jose State. And what a debut! Smith's ceramic paintings are like nothing we've seen -- intricate, thought provoking, and playful with a subtle, political subtext.

Kamler's SEEING PEACE: Artists Collaborate with the United Nations placed 10 billboards around San Francisco for the month of June 2008. Made by artists from South Africa, Israel, U.S., Puerto Rico, Cuba, Ukraine, El Salvador, Tibet and Iran, the project is a representation of what artists imagine peace might look like.