The Gallery 32789 opens as the newest art venue on Park Avenue
Art has a new home in Winter Park with the opening of The Gallery 32789, a name that pays homage to the city’s primary ZIP code, on Park Avenue.
The idea for the space was hatched by Linda Barnby, a Central Florida lawyer-turned-artist and now gallery owner.
“I always wondered what it would be like to own and manage a gallery,” she said. “I started driving around Winter Park and thinking there should be another gallery, asking, ‘What would that look like?’ ”
For a city that has an immense appetite for art, there are several museums and one of the best art festivals in the country — the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival — but relatively few gallery spaces for buying and selling art.
Barnby saw an opportunity to fill a growing need.
“We are short on gallery space, especially here on Park Avenue,” she said. “We have some wonderful galleries who are here but we can certainly have more. A rising tide lifts all ships.”
Since the gallery’s soft
opening on Aug. 18, Barnby and fellow artists have already reorganized three walls after paintings have gone to new homes. Inside the gallery, visitors can browse art from 17 creators — mostly paintings with some photography and sculpture added in.
Artists represented in the gallery are Anne Olenek, Clair McCorkle, Claudia G. Thomas, Fern Matthews, Jacob Pakula, JR Ramoutar, Kristy Lee, Margaret Schnebly Hodge, Marla E, Marlene London, Martha Jo Mahoney, Mimi Hwang, Natalie Diienno, Nina Ramos-Travlos, Vidisha Kaushik Bajpai, William Chapin and Barnby herself.
Since opening the doors to the new Park Avenue art venue, Barnby has
found that visitors have welcomed the space with open arms.
“Everyone comes in and breathes a sigh of contentment. The space is clean and crisp, the art is wonderful and it smells good,” she said. “I didn’t realize how many pieces of the puzzle there are and how much work was involved, but it’s all been a labor of love.”
IF YOU GO
The Gallery 32789 is open 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at 515 N. Park Ave. in Winter Park. For more information, call 407-865-4676 or visit thegallery32789.com.