Sunlight pours into Healdsburg’s new Rena Charles Gallery through two sets of wall-to-wall folding glass doors, illuminating a series of large abstract canvases and colorful three-dimensional ceramic balloon sculptures that trace the wall.
“I really lucked out with this space,” says the gallery’s founder and owner, painter Rena Charles. “Or maybe this is the one that spoke to me with the vision I had in mind.”
That vision included creating a welcoming space that communicates joy and celebrates a wide range of contemporary work from both emerging and established artists.
Charles’s intimate gallery channels the creative vibe of an artist’s studio, filled with impressionistic California landscapes, black and white photographs of local landmarks, and towering ceramic beachballs rendered in grayscale. Located just north of the Healdsburg Plaza, the space personifies Charles’s exuberant, inclusive attitude.
“If people walk by and peek in, I’ll wave at them and tell people to take their time, have a look, ask me questions,” says Charles, who moved to Sonoma County ten years ago from Tampa, Florida, where she grew up.
She aims to create an atmosphere where everyone feels at home.
“I just keep in mind my experiences as an artist,” says Charles, who is Black and Asian American. “Being in art, there are not very many people that look like me, so I try to be as welcoming as I can.”
Charles discovered her passion for art at Atlanta’s Emory University, where she majored in art history. After working in galleries and befriending artists who inspired her, Charles began to focus on her own painting career. (The artwork of one of her mentors, Tampa-based, Peruvian-born painter Vanessa Montenegro, is on display.)
She decided to open her own gallery after her first big solo show as a painter in November 2022, in which she sold 14 of 18 paintings she exhibited. “I wanted to give a platform to local artists, regional artists, women artists and BIPOC artists… not exclusively, but just being mindful of that,” she explains.
And she knew exactly the town she wanted to be in.
“There is just this charm about Healdsburg,” she says. “It’s such a mecca here for creativity… So many local artists that have this amazing body of work. And to be able to share that—I think that’s really special.”
439 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. 707-813-2033, renacharlesgallery.com
