Our Town Revisited: Peninsula Gallery

LEWES, De. – Continuing our trip down memory lane, former WMDT anchor and reporter Kelley Rouse visited the Peninsula Gallery in Lewes back in May of 1999. We had the chance to speak with Mr. Boyd-Heron again, this time with his wife, as they shared their 25-year journey, and what’s to come.

Appreciating Art

Tony and Carol Boyd-Heron have owned and operated Peninsula Gallery since 1996. As a young woman, Carol always had a deep appreciation for art. “I can’t draw crooked stick people, so I really am not an artist, but I have a great appreciation for art, I always loved the creativity of things, and so what custom framing has allowed me to do is develop a talent to showcase other people’s work.”

Colorist & Craftswoman 

Though she may not have had the backing of her family, she followed her dreams and now sees herself as more than just a custom framer. “I spent a year studying color, so I’m a colorist. So, people come to me because I have a different design sensibility. I understand scale and balance and proportion in a different way. So that makes me feel more like a craftswoman.”

They do all the work in-house carefully handling every piece of artwork that comes in. They have anywhere from 30 artists they feature at any given times. Some artists have up to 6 pieces on display. They constantly rotate work to make sure everyone can be appreciated.

Paint with Perks 

Carol says now with the 2 extra employees and the social media aspect they didn’t have 25 years ago; they can keep the public engaged. “We have one of the largest retail square footage spaces for fine original art in the state of Delaware, we have free unlimited year- round parking…”

She says they don’t have much trouble with foot traffic either. We’ve been able to establish ourselves as a destination, so people seek us out, so we don’t need to be in the pedestrian shopping area.”

Engaging Exhibits 

Tony handles a lot of the logistics and financial aspects, but he also is in charge of the exhibition, which is where they find the most joy, and the most profit. The current exhibit “On the Move” features over 40 trains, cars, boats and planes, all representing motion- and their artworks come from local artists, nationwide, and even globally.

Tony says he comes up with the themes himself. “We like the work that is coming into or exhibitions to be at least never seen in Delaware before and preferably brand new.”

Modern but Memorable 

Carol says her framing has to keep up with the modern times. “25 years ago, everything was big and gold and over-the-top. And now things are clean and streamline. So, I’m constantly trying to stay current with what’s going on in the design world.”

Still, Tony says they never forget their humble beginnings. “It’s not necessarily the biggest changes that are important, it’s what remains the same. When we started the gallery, we agreed that we wanted A to be a Gallery at Beach rather than a ‘beach gallery’.”

The Galley’s current exhibition “On the Move” started March 1st and ended March 31. However, they rotate exhibits every month, so something will. be in its place! Be sure to try and stop by Lewes Delaware to check out what these artists have to offer or visit their website.