Wayne Paige “Wild”
Recent Drawings

May 9, 2025 – June 15, 2025
Opening Reception, Saturday, May 17, 2025 from 3:00 – 5:00 pm

311 Gay Street, Lower Level,
facing Main Street & across from Ballard’s
Washington, VA 22747
(540) 227-5066

Hours: Friday – Sunday, 11 am – 5 pm

Animal Kingdom was a pet shop a short walk from where I lived as a child in the Logan Square section of Chicago. At the time, it provided a wealth of insight to an eight-year- old who enjoyed drawing real and imaginary animals. Initially, it opened as a conventional pet shop selling puppies, kittens, and tropical fish. Over several years, the shop expanded, and more non-traditional and exotic animals were added—Monkeys,  tigers, bats, and exotic birds joined Dogs, cats, and goldfish. During this period, they were confined to cages and other restricted forms of captivity. This eventually ended with an outcry from an enlightened public. Nevertheless, I imagined them in the wild, uncaged, untamed, and drew them as such.

Since then, I moved to and around the DMV region, living in urban, suburban, and small-town locations. Eventually, I moved to Flint Hill, Virginia, where much time was spent observing the rural nature of Rappahannock County. The land, the creatures, and the overall environment stoked my imagination, and much time was spent capturing this wild essence in my drawings and paintings.

After a seventy-plus-year hiatus and unforeseen events, the animals of my youth have returned and appear under moonlit skies of imaginary comets, mountains, waterways, and woodlands. They have become untold stories populated by bipedal beings, spiritual entities, squirrels, bears, and a host of other creatures interacting with each other.

By tapping into this childhood memory, the content of my art has expanded and remained consistent with the overall focus of my previous work, which is creating art that embraces conflict, dreams, and humor. Currently, I am employed as an adjunct professor teaching Drawing and 2D Design at Laurel Ridge Community College in Warrenton, Virginia, and living and working in Washington, DC. From 2000 to 2008, I resided in Flint Hill, VA, and have been a member of Middle Street Gallery since 2004.

Jason Goldman, Gaston Lacombe, and Phyllis Northup

March 22 – May 20, 2025

Featuring new work from Rappahannock County, VA artists Phyllis Northrup and Jason Goldman, and Gaston Lacombe, who used to live in the DC area but now lives and paints full-time in Provincetown, MA.

337 Gay Street
Washington, VA 22747
(540) 227-5100

Hours: Friday – Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm or by appointment (540) 316-8898

Gay Street Gallery is also happy to help you by phone (540) 227-5100 or email office@gaystreetgallery.com.

Top Image: Jason Goldman
Middle Image: Gaston Lacombe
Bottom Image: Phyllis Northup

Thomas Spande Exhibit, “Sketchbook Adventures”

March 28 – May 4, 2025

311 Gay Street, Lower Level,
facing Main Street & across from Ballard’s
Washington, VA 22747
(540) 227-5066

Hours: Friday – Sunday, 11 am – 5 pm

Thomas Spande’s new show of finely detailed watercolors and drawings is a retrospective of Virginia scenes and travel drawings, made sketchbook in hand. Many of these lively and finely framed assemblages are reasonably priced at a few hundred dollars.

Animals, a farmer’s market, and special destinations here and abroad – from Cape May to Venice, from aquariums to zoos, make for attractive works framed with a sense of novelty and narrative.

The freshness of the works paper made “on scene” and the variety of approaches make for a compelling journey, and these include brand-new works from today and smaller works stretching back to the artist’s childhood.

Influences on Thomas Spande include David Hockney (a lively contemporary realist known for detailed drawings and paintings), and Albrecht Durer, a historical inspiration too.