A different approach
By Casey Gillis on Oct. 22, 2008
(434) 385-5525
The first thing you notice when pulling up in front of the Art-n-Soul Gallery on Oakley Avenue is the clothesline hanging in the front window.
Unframed paintings are strung along the line, ready to be matted and framed and bought as is.
“Over 100 years ago, when an artist finished a painting, she would hang it on a clothesline,” says gallery owner Beth Colville. “If someone wanted to buy it, they didn’t have to bug her. They could just take the painting and leave the money on the clothesline. It was a time when everyone trusted everyone.”
Things are done a little differently at Art-n-Soul, though.
“They have to take the piece to us (to pay for it),” she says with a laugh.
Colville, who is also president of the Seven Hills Art Club, opened the gallery in July. It’s tucked away in an unassuming building on Oakley Avenue, far away from what many consider to be Lynchburg’s art districts on Rivermont Avenue and downtown.
“It is off the beaten track, but I think it will be worth the stop,” says Colville, who splits her time between the gallery and its neighboring business, Royal County Arts frame shop, where she’s worked for the past two years.
“It’s got a lot of possibility.”
Art-n-Soul is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
“I just felt like the artists needed more outlets,” Colville says. “Every place I had (shown) my work had limited hours. I wanted to open a place six days a week.”
The gallery’s main space contains several portable walls, so she can easily change the configuration with each new exhibit. Off to the side of the main gallery is a print room, where she sells prints of her work and the work of others, as well as note cards and memo pads.
The exhibits change monthly and, for now, will include the paintings and photography of multiple artists at one time. The next exhibit begins Nov. 3 and will feature the work of the Seven Hills Art Club.
In addition to the monthly exhibits, Colville also holds classes at her gallery. Right now, Nelson County artist Pat Echols Saunders is teaching a beginning acrylics class, and Colville says there are more to come.
“I think if we have an ability, and there are people who want to learn, (we should be) willing to teach them,” Colville says. “We shouldn’t take it to the grave. That’s not going to help anybody.”
Her own artistic side emerged early, when she was a kid growing up in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Maryland.
“I loved to draw,” she says. “My dad owned a horse farm and a dairy farm. I would go out and sit in the middle of the field and draw a thistle.
“I have been crafty all my life, doing all kinds of things.”
Colville met her husband, Tom, in Maryland, and the couple lived there for 10 years before moving to West Virginia and, nine years ago, Lynchburg.
In West Virginia, Colville ran her own business selling handmade Victorian ornaments. She started out buying them for her kids, but “that led into, ‘Oh, I can do this,’” she says. “I just wanted to see how much I could do.
“It was fun, and my kids all helped. Everything was hand-painted.”
Four years ago, Colville enrolled in several painting classes in Lynchburg and even had a studio at Riverviews Artspace for a while.
But the idea of opening her own gallery was always in the back of her mind.
“I’m in my dream world now,” she says, smiling. “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
Ask what inspires her work, and the busy Colville laughs.
“Who has time to paint?”
When she does have a spare moment, she’ll do some work after hours at Art-n-Soul or in her home studio.
She likes to paint architecture and nature scenes, mostly with acrylics and watercolors. Some of her work is on display in the gallery, including a painting she did of her son’s banjo.
“If I have something that hits me, I can’t wait to start painting it,” she says.
That’s what happened with a work of hers called “One Nation Under God.” Colville painted it after a trip to Lexington, when she saw an American flag waving in front of a church, an image that struck her.
“As soon as we got home, I said, ‘I’m sorry honey, I’ve got to go paint.’”
IF YOU’RE GOING
WHAT: Art-n-Soul Gallery
WHERE: 544 Oakley Ave.
PHONE: (434) 227-4966 or (434) 942-9626
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
WEB SITE: http://www.art-n-soul.net
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