Courtesy of Nepenthe Gallery.Opening: Thursday, March 10 from 6pm to 8pm
Nepenthe Gallery announces the Grand Opening of a new art gallery and custom frame shop in Alexandria, Virginia. Nestled in the historic Hollin Hall shopping center in the Fort Hunt section of Alexandria, the gallery will open its doors for a Grand Opening event on March 10th from 6:00pm-8:00pm.
Named after the Greek term for “a place of no sorrow,” Nepenthe Gallery will be the first of its kind in Alexandria – a vibrant artistic oasis that gallery owners and Alexandria natives Jim and Carrie Garland hope will also serve as a community gathering spot. A retreat, a respite…a place of no sorrow. The word has a long and storied history for Carrie Garland, who said, “Our family has treasured this term for decades, from when my parents visited a restaurant named Nepenthe in the 1960s, to the early ‘90s when we were wedding planning and used it as our buzzword to retreat and calm down.” Carrie’s father even named the family boat Nepenthe, and, as she remembers, “never allowed whining or crying on deck.” With their gallery, the Garlands hope to bring that sense of escape and joy to their beloved community.
The art at Nepenthe is as dynamic and diverse as the local and regional community. “Our art gallery features work from a wide range of artisans,” Garland shared. “Local artists we know and love as well as artists from other parts of the country and around the world.” The gallery will feature a selection of oil and acrylic paintings, watercolors, photographs, glass art and sculpture, as well as a fun mix of iconic prints, neon images and hand-crafted objects. The on-site custom frame shop will offer a vast variety of custom frames and mirrors.
Nepenthe roster of artists that will be featured at gallery’s grand opening, include:
Local artists
Judy Heiser, Susanne Fyffe, Jennifer Lian, Erin Parsons, Nancy Ziegler
Artists from in and around the DMV
Debby Brisker Burk, Ben Olsen, Sonia Gadra, Natalie Cox
Artists from around the USA
Shima Shanti, San Diego CA; Staci Katsias, Virginia Beach VA; David Brashear, Virginia Beach/Williamsburg VA & NYC; Ann Sklar, Tampa FL, Kim Smith, Lancaster PA; Jason Wright, Hawaii; Connie Conway, Hollywood Hills CA; Eileen Wold, WA; Mark Hopkins, Newport News VA; “Flying Edna,” Cape Cod MA; Susie Webster, Chesapeake City MD; Cara Romero, Sante Fe NM; Vadim Kharchenko, New Jersey; Ancizar Marin, Florida; Evelyn Dunphy, Maine
International Artists
Carlos and Taller Clavelli, Uruguay
Works for sale by renowned artists: Alexander Calder, Victor Vasarely, Emilio Sanchez, Robert Indiana
Friends of Nepenthe Artists: Catherine Owens, Leslie Hatton, Maria Burke, Kim Carmichael
Every Thursday from 6-7:30pm, Nepenthe will host an “ART + WINE + CHEESE” event that highlights an artwork, artist or special guest or genre.
The gallery will always have on display a masterpiece work from the owners’ family collection – 19th century American art and offer gallery talks featuring those pieces. Artists include Thomas Sully, Alfred Bircher, John Sloan and Edward Potthast. The first featured masterpiece from the Owens Foundation is Les Regates, an oil painting by Theodore Earl Butler, an American Impressionist painter and protégé and son-in-law of Claude Monet. Works will rotate every other month. Notecards and prints of the featured art will be available.
Nepenthe is also pleased to announce that housed within this gallery space will be the studio of Renée C. Gage, a local Master Photographer who has specialized in capturing families, children, expectant mothers, and professionals with her camera for over twenty years. Gage is known for preserving life’s rich beauty and capturing the little moments that mean the most with elegance and eloquence. She is a member of the American Society of Photographers and this past January, was awarded her Photographic Craftsman Degree, awarded by the Professional Photographers of America. In 2020 and 2021, two of Gage’s images won the prestigious “Best Portrait of a Child” award from the Virginia Professional Photographers Association and “Ascend” was named Top 50 Portraits of a Child in the United States. Gage is also recognized internationally for her infrared landscape imagery and recently earned a place in the distinguished VPPA Commonwealth Collection.
While she will continue to offer her signature location sessions, Gage is thrilled to welcome her clients into a space alive with the energy of emerging and established artists from around the world. “You could scoop this gallery up and drop it in DC,” she says, “but the point is to have it in our little neighborhood.” As a military spouse of over twenty years, Gage has hosted gallery exhibits across the country to capture the beauty of all the places the Navy has taken her family – Maine, Virginia, Washington, and Texas. Opening her studio in the Nepenthe Gallery is her way of planting roots in her beloved Alexandria community.
With the many things it has to offer, the heartbeat of Nepenthe is its community accessibility. The Garlands have curated a collection of such breadth that any art lover can walk into Nepenthe and find something that speaks to their soul.
Nepenthe Gallery is excited to invite the public to join them for a Grand Opening reception on March 10th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Guests will enjoy light refreshments, community, and a one-of-a-kind art experience. Starting March 11th, the gallery and frame shop’s regular hours are 11:00am-6:00pm Tuesday-Saturday and by appointment. Every Thursday evening, the gallery will be open from 6-7:30pm for an ART+WINE+CHEESE event featuring different artists, experts and genres.
Nepenthe Gallery is located at 7918 Fort Hunt Road, Alexandria, Virginia 22308. www.nepenthegallery.com For more information, questions, or media outreach, contact Carolyn Johnson at [email protected].
