Larry Hanlon has a passion for sculpture. The Peninsula Gallery owner even took a few classes.
“I was useless at it,” he said.
While the craft of creating a work of art may elude him, spotting, promoting, and pairing the right piece with its owner are something he’s become adept at over more than two decades.
This fall Hanlon, along with wife Gillian Hanlon, will celebrate 25 years of Peninsula Gallery, 20 of them in Sidney’s Landmark Building.
“Larry has a particular love of sculpture,” Gillian said. “He says if you don’t have sculpture you’re a picture gallery not an art gallery.”
Larry started the venture 25 years ago with business partner Ron Otteson, opening the gallery and framing shop in the then-new Mariner Village Mall. Five years later expansion called, and they moved to seaside end of Beacon Avenue. Unfortunately Otteson died shortly thereafter. But then the framing art of Elma Tankink came to the scene.
“She has a following,” Gillian said. “People come up from the States for it.”
Tankink does about 95 per cent of the framing of artworks in the Peninsula Gallery. With an eye for artwork, she creates individual framing for each piece, making the most of each work. Gillian began helping out at home, and about 13 years ago started working there full time. The business has slowly transitioned from framing and prints, to primarily originals. Including the ever-popular Robert Bateman.
A Peninsula Gallery Bateman show in 2000 saw art lovers filling the streets and businesses of Sidney. It brought 17,000 people through the gallery over a 10-day period.
“A lot more people and a lot more artists know us,” Larry said.
Though fame is not the game.
It’s about joy and love.
“To love coming to work every day, that’s special,” Gillian said.
It’s pairing a person with the perfect piece, whether it’s a university student willing to make payments for 18 months to start her art collection at a young age, a teen seeking out the perfect gift for mom and dad, or someone hoping to spend his small inheritance on a work that will remind him of grandpa.
“People get so much joy,” Gillian said. “It’s exciting to be a part of that whole relationship.”
Some simply stare at a piece of sculpture, or framed original on the walls of Peninsula Gallery and return to find it gone. Others seize that flash of desire, and some need sussing out.
One potential customer sent an email describing perfectly a small artwork they’d seen “several years ago” in the corner window of Peninsula Gallery. He could describe it clearly, as if the image haunted him. He wanted it.
Larry knows the work, and can picture it as well, on the wall of its owner.
They’ll celebrate 25 years with a show featuring 25 artists including Jack Kreutzer, Carol Gold, Brent Cooke, Gail Johnson, Philip Buytendorp, Kristina Boardman, Dennis Magnusson and Robert Bateman. Many of the 25 artists on display will be on hand for opening night tonight.
“The artists have really done some interesting things,” Larry said.
Among them, a little silver inlay in honour of the silver anniversary, sculpture in jubilant form, and the unusual, utilitarian coat hook sculptures.
The anniversary show opens with a reception tonight, Oct. 21 from 7 to 9 p.m. The show runs to Nov. 4.