
Camouflage (detail). Helene Lund Den Boer, artist
The beloved Hendersonville art gallery Art on 7th will officially reopen on Wednesday, January 15. Visitors to the reopened gallery can expect an array of works from Helene-impacted artists that tell stories of perseverance and renewal. The reopening marks a fresh beginning for gallery owners Julie and Phil Wilmot, as well as the artists and art lovers of Hendersonville and surrounding areas. “This is such happy and inspiring news after a very heavy fall,” said Helene Lund Den Boer, one of the gallery’s artists. “It’s a new start.”
Lund Den Boer, who works with delicate embroidery and appliqué on canvas, had work on display at Marquee that was lost to the flood. “It would probably not have lasted even an hour in the water,” she says. “I didn’t produce any new work the first month after the storm; I felt drained and probably still in some form of shock. But by early November, I slowly got back in my studio, and it felt great and quite therapeutic.”
Sandra Bottinelli, who has displayed her oil paintings at Art on 7th since it opened three years ago, lost her gallery and working studio Modern Muse to the flood. “Hurricane Helene literally wiped us off the map,” she says of Modern Muse, which also housed the work of six other artists. “About 50 percent of my work is salvageable, but needs a bit of reworking and restretching.”
Bottinelli is actively seeking another space to reopen a gallery in the River Arts District. “I have been a gallery owner in the District for 12 years and want nothing more than to see it thrive again,” she says. “I am thrilled that Julie and Phil have decided to house RAD displaced artists. I think it is a beautiful idea.”
Art on 7th will host an artist meet-and-greet on Saturday, January 18, from 3—5 p.m.
Art on 7th is located at 330 Seventh Avenue East, Hendersonville. Learn more at Arton7th.com.