Gallery 37 Prepares for Reopening with New Direction in Downtown Milford

A downtown Milford art gallery is getting ready to reopen with a renewed emphasis on fine art following a period of reflection and redesign. (Photo courtesy of Gallery 37.)

A downtown Milford art gallery is preparing to reopen with a renewed focus on fine art after a period of reflection and reconfiguration.

Gallery 37, located at 8 S. Walnut St., was first opened in December 2013 by artist and owner Marcia Reed, who relocated to Delaware from western Massachusetts. Reed, a painter of nearly five decades, said her lifelong involvement in the arts and prior experience running a gallery space helped shape her vision for Milford.

“I have been in art all my life. I have been a painter for 49 years,” said Reed. “I moved here from western MA and have made Milford my home.”

Reed, who previously lived and worked out of a converted railroad station in Massachusetts, said she was actively involved in art programming and community events before moving to Delaware in 2012. After reconnecting with her high school boyfriend, David — now owner of the North Pole Creamery — she made the move and later opened Gallery 37. The couple married in 2014.

From its inception, Gallery 37 featured a range of fine art, including paintings, pottery, printmaking and sculpture, with artists represented from across the United States. Reed said many of those early connections came from her experience exhibiting in American Craft Council shows and living in a region with a dense arts community.

In the years following 2016, Reed adjusted the gallery’s offerings in response to customer feedback, incorporating more local artists and lower-priced items such as jewelry and crafts. However, she said those changes did not resonate as expected.

“Much to my surprise these pieces were not moving,” Reed said. “I noticed this same pattern over the next coming years.”

Instead, Reed observed a different trend among visitors, particularly those from larger cities visiting the Delaware beaches or maintaining second homes in the area.

“These people were buying other paintings, and large-scale ceramic vessels, handmade lamps, large blown glass platters, and taking them back to Philly, Pittsburgh, Arlington, Easton, Baltimore, DC,” she said.

That realization prompted Reed to step back and reassess the gallery’s direction. She ultimately decided to return to her original vision of Gallery 37 as a destination for fine art collectors.

“I know now for certain I am a destination gallery,” Reed said. “I decided I wanted to be more curatorial and perhaps expensive to some. It is worth it to me to get back to my original vision.”

The gallery temporarily closed to allow for a full redesign of the space. Reed said the interior has been repainted and reconfigured to highlight a more curated selection of artwork, with an emphasis on contemporary and abstract pieces.

“What will feel very different to people who have been in previously is that there is now more breathing space between work on the walls,” she said. “No more small gift items. More abstract paintings and works on paper, larger scale contemporary paintings, collages, 3-D assemblages, and new pottery.”

Reed added that she is taking a deliberate approach to the gallery’s reopening, carefully selecting and placing each piece while balancing her own work as an active artist. She is currently preparing for a solo exhibition at Gallery 50 in Rehoboth Beach scheduled for June.

“I’m not rushing,” Reed said. “It is just me making the decisions and working a few hours a day translating my vision.”

Installation pieces from artists in Pennsylvania and Wilmington are also expected to be featured in the gallery’s windows.

An official reopening date has not yet been announced, though Reed said she is aiming for late April and plans to host a reception once the space is complete.

More information can be found on the gallery’s Facebook page.