After almost three years in business, the Williamsburg Art Gallery in Merchants Square will close its doors — but only at its physical location.
In favor of having more time to create artwork and handle family matters, Gulay and Clyde Berryman have chosen to shutter the Williamsburg Art Gallery’s physical location and continue business online only.
“The business is doing fine, but we are exhausted,” Clyde Berryman said. “Being an artist and managing a gallery is not always entirely compatible.”
On Sept. 1, the art gallery will transition to an online gallery, displaying “mostly, but not exclusively,” Gulay Berryman’s artwork.
The gallery has been open since October 2015.
“In 2015, we opened Williamsburg Art Gallery with the goal of bringing beautiful fine art to the residents of our lovely historic town and its many visitors and to provide a window into the work of our own talented area artists,” the Berrymans wrote in an email Tuesday morning.
The gallery opened in the same location as the Gallery on Merchants Square, which closed after about 15 years in the space.
Clyde Berryman said closing the gallery will give his wife, Gulay, more time with her true passion, painting. She will also have time to exhibit and do commission work.
“My wife had less and less painting time,” Clyde Berryman said. “For an artist, that’s the worst thing that can happen.”
As a tenant of Merchant Square, the gallery’s lease required the gallery to be open seven days a week, Clyde Berryman said. For a business run by two people, that meant the couple was unable to take much time off.
Colonial Williamsburg Vice President of Real Estate Jeffrey Duncan said the Foundation cannot comment on terms of the gallery’s lease or other leases in Merchants Square.
Since 2015, the Berrymans have taken off Christmas and New Year’s days, as well as one week for their daughter’s wedding. Otherwise, they have spent the majority of their time in the gallery.
Clyde Berryman worked shifts at the gallery early in the week, and Gulay worked the busier, later half of the week so visitors could meet one of the gallery’s artists.
Throughout their time in Merchants Square, the couple has also hosted or sponsored 50 local art events, Clyde Berryman said.
“In addition to its primary role of promoting fine art and artists, we wanted Williamsburg Art Gallery to contribute and help community organizations, charities, the performing arts and art in schools,” the Berryman’s email said. “We are pleased that throughout the past three years, we have accomplished these goals.”
While the Berrymans will shift their focus to their online gallery, they plan to be involved in the local arts community — perhaps more so than they were while managing the Williamsburg Art Gallery.
Further, if a future art gallery wants to move into their space, the Berrymans are more than happy to offer assistance. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation manages the lease, and any tenancy would be “contingent upon negotiations and discussions of space,” the Berrymans said.
“The Williamsburg Art Gallery, along with its owners Gulay and Clyde Berryman, have been a wonderful part of Merchants Square for the past three years,” Duncan said. “They created a beautiful gallery, which included the wonderful works of Gulay, and a rotavating assortment of local, regional, national, and sometimes world renowned artists. I have heard countless comments from visitors and shoppers in Merchants Square, who were delighted to discover the Gallery tucked among our other treasured shops and restaurants.”
“We will be very sorry to see them and their clients no longer represented in Merchants Square beginning in September, and hope there may be others who would want to create a similar experience in Merchants Square or in downtown Williamsburg.”
Note: This article has been updated with a comment and information from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
