Photo courtesy Pamplemousse Gallery
Pamplemousse Gallery
300 N. Robinson St.
instagram.com/pamplemousse_gallery
Founders Mary Fleming and Kevin Sabo want their gallery to be tart and fresh, which is why they chose the French word for “grapefruit” for the gallery’s name. “Our main goal is to have emerging talent that’s both local and international,” Sabo says, adding that because both he and Fleming are working artists, they see the space as a “love letter” to younger artists just entering the scene.
Pamplemousse debuted in December 2022 in a Scott’s Addition neighborhood building’s stairwell. “We really pimped it out,” Fleming says. “Once we had something easy to sustain, we got notice the building was going to be torn down.” They made the jump to the Fan, with a studio on the lower level and exhibitions on the main floor — all 350 square feet of it. “It packs a punch,” Fleming says. They left the large, street-facing windows unadorned, so people can peek in. “I say we’re the little night light of Robinson Street,” she says with a laugh.
Photo courtesy GLAVÉ KOCEN petite
GLAVÉ KOCEN petite
111 N. 18th St.
The name says it all. Unlike the original Glavé Kocen Gallery’s Main Street location, Jennifer Glavé’s new in-person gallery is much smaller and all hers. Husband BJ Kocen has stepped away for his own artistic pursuits — “He’s still my sounding board and gives great advice,” Glavé says. She’s expanding her art consulting business while maintaining a lighter gallery footprint. “The pandemic caused the two of us to think about what was important and what we wanted to bring to our lives,” she says.
The couple announced plans to close their original gallery early in 2020 but remained open until the fall, when an offer to purchase their building was too good to ignore. The gallery went online fully in September 2020 and remained so until December 2022, when Glavé moved into the Shockoe Bottom location. Seven exhibition openings are planned for 2024, including one with Josh George, who has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University and is now based in Philadelphia.
Photo by Lucy Gilbert
Page Bond Gallery
1520 W. Main St. and 4015 Fitzhugh Ave. (by appointment)
Page Bond’s eponymous gallery changed hands last fall, when Ashley Ryan Millen — who had grown up in the Fan on the same street as Bond — took over as owner, just in time for the gallery’s 25th anniversary. When Bond closed her Main Street gallery in February 2022 and moved to online-only sales, Millen worried that was the beginning of the end. “I thought, ‘Richmond needs this [gallery],’” Millen says. “The art that Page showed always resonated with me.”
Millen and Bond have worked together closely during the transition, which will likely last until mid-2024. “There’s a lot to learn; it’s a complicated business,” Millen says, noting that Bond has a vested interest in her success. “[The gallery] is her baby, [and] she cares about it so deeply,” she adds. “I’m so grateful for her, but as Page would tell you, I’m the boss of her now. Maybe I won’t take her advice, but I will always ask.”
