THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609200826
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 114 lines
WHEN BRENDA WRIGHT was in her late 20s, she woke up with a dream that never let go.
The Norfolk art photographer dreamt she had her own gallery, and that it was called Shooting Star. The idea excited her so much, she just had to get up and write it down. Then she stayed up all night, pondering all the things she'd like to do - if she really had a gallery.
Some 15 years later, her Shooting Star Gallery Ltd. is finally opening - in downtown Suffolk, with a festive reception set for Saturday. The premiere exhibit is a solo show of Wright's photography.
The meteor has landed.
``It's a dream,'' she said, giving a tour of the pristine, newly renovated facility last week.
Wright, 44, has exhibited extensively in the region since the late 1970s - first at the outdoor festivals, and later at the better galleries. She's known for her handsome color prints, sometimes with a sly social comment.
Of her 35 or more prints on display, three are large grainy underwater images of swimming women. These photos ``are about rebirth, the constant evolving we have to do to stay afloat.''
The images remind her of her journey in opening the gallery. ``That's been my gut feeling about everything I've been going through. But, if you'll notice, all of these figures seem to be going toward - or coming from - the light.''
An end to the task. An opening.
Wright's 800-square-foot gallery will offer changing exhibits of regional contemporary art. The next entry, set for late November, will be a holiday group show. After that, she'll schedule a variety of shows, some with social content.
She's banking on her regional reputation to lure art lovers from other cities to downtown Suffolk.
Why Suffolk?
For one, she has co-owned Central Dental Laboratory for 13 years at the same address on North Main Street. And, there's the courthouse.
In early August, ground was broken on a new $14 million Suffolk courts complex, located just a few doors down from Wright's building.
Once the complex opens in early 1998, ``downtown Suffolk is going to make a comeback,'' Wright predicted. From then on, an abundance of white-collar foot traffic is expected downtown.
Meanwhile, Wright's prosperous dental lab will be footing the bills.
``We craft prosthetic appliances,'' she said, dryly humorous. ``We'd rather say that than, `We make false teeth.' ''
Wright, 44, and her business partner, Bill Barrera, spent about $80,000 renovating the building. In the last year, the lab was moved upstairs into a previously empty space. The downstairs was then converted into a slick storefront gallery, with fancy track lighting, gray carpeting and a vast expanse of white walls. A rear room is for framing, a sideline Wright developed in the last few years.
``What's the worst that could happen? It could fail, and I'd have the greatest little studio an artist could want.''
``Enterprise zone'' incentives helped make the project possible, Wright said. In 1990, downtown Suffolk was made part of an enterprise zone, which offers tax credits, low-interest loans and other state and local incentives to entrepreneurs to set up or expand businesses in that region.
Being part of the zone ``means my property tax will remain the same for 10 years. It means a certain amount of money we spent on remodeling, we'll get back. It means I'll get tax credits from employees who live in the enterprise zone,'' she said.
On a recent Friday afternoon, Wright and Barrera stared out on a lifeless North Main Street. ``Now they're going to have something else in Suffolk,'' said Barrera, a native of Colombia. ``Something else for people to come and see.''
``But we aren't just depending on Suffolk,'' Wright said. ``It's going to be a regional thing.''
Jim Armbruster, exhibit designer at The Chrysler Museum of Art and a Virginia Beach artist, hopes that art lovers will travel to visit Shooting Star.
``It's an easy drive. And there are going to be some quality shows out there,'' said Armbruster, who is assisting Wright with her gallery lighting.
Jan Riley, curator for Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, said she would travel to Suffolk to see Wright's gallery. ``I don't mind that distance. Sure, I would go.
``Basically, she's providing another venue in the area for contemporary art. And there are not very many galleries that show contemporary work.''
While wishing her luck, Riley noted that Suffolk is ``a hard market.''
``I just hope she can hold on until the courthouse opens,'' said Linda Glasscock Bunch, administrative assistant for the Suffolk Art League.
Bunch - a Suffolk native, an artist and a charter member of the art league - says there have been few galleries in her town. ``And, with Brenda's background, I doubt there has been one quite like this. I just think it's going to be top quality. Brenda is the type who'll do it right.''
While Wright is looking to the larger region to support her endeavor, Bunch thinks there may be enough cultural-minded people in Suffolk to keep her going.
``Suffolk is changing so fast. We have so many residential developments of all economic classes going up, we can't keep up. I think a lot of these people are coming from Norfolk and Virginia Beach, where they are acclimated to going to galleries. And these are big houses. They need some pictures.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MICHEAL[sic] KESTNER/The Virginian-Pilot
Fifteen years after having a dream about her own gallery, Brenda
Wright is opening Shooting Star in Suffolk.
Graphic
WANT TO GO?
What: Photographs by Brenda Wright
Where: Shooting Star Gallery Ltd., 118 N. Main St., Suffolk
When: Saturday through mid-November
How much: Free
Gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Saturday
Call: 934-0855
Grand opening reception: 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday by CNB