The Gallery offers art with local flair

PALMER — Living and shopping in a small town comes with some unique pleasures not available in urban retail outlets.

Here, if you know where to look, you can get a slice or two of history with your art. That’s part of why generations of local customers return to do business at The Gallery, 1150 S. Colony Way, KeyBank Plaza, Palmer.

After serving customers on the same corner in downtown Palmer for 27 years, shop owner Jo Ann Franks said by now nearly every home in the Mat-Su Valley has a picture from her shop.

The Gallery offers original paintings prints by Alaska artists such as Douglas Francois Girard, Gail Niebrugge and Forrest James and jewelry by Vicki Kluever.

At first, The Gallery offered only framing and art, but one cannot decorate with big pieces alone, Franks said.

“After you fill your house with big pieces, you need smaller pieces to fill in,” she said.

Inside, The Gallery is a feast for the eyes one could spend hours savoring. Every surface is filled with beautiful, colorful, unique gifts and collectibles. There’s something inside for every member of the family, including children, Franks said.

“Art is just kind of a learned lifetime behavior,” she said.

Assisting her is a woman Franks introduces as her left hand and a Colony Kid —Beverly Larsh Hayes. For the past quarter century, the two have served generations of customers at the shop together.

The Larsh family came here as Colonists when she was 5. She said her brother was the first boy born at the hospital.

“We have lots of repeat customers,” Hayes said. “And lots of people stop by to visit.”

Personal customer service isn’t listed on the shop’s inventory, but it’s the primary component of The Gallery’s success, Franks said.

Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman readers named The Gallery the Best Art Gallery in the 2012 Best of the Valley voting.

“It’s a real honor and we’re happy to get it,” Franks said.

The Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sundays.

For more information, contact 745-1420, or visit galleryak.com.

Contact managing editor Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.