Mary Portera’s Cajun mother initially spoke no English, but loved flowers, and her father loved the land.
The two of them planted Portera’s appreciation for beauty.
And her four children, especially her three daughters, she says, gave her confidence to open the first business in the Bluff View Art District in 1992.
“I was scared as hell,” Portera recalls.
This month, River Gallery is celebrating its 25th anniversary with three artists who have been associated with the gallery since it opened. The anniversary exhibit, called “Little Jewels,” features painters Ed Cook and Victoria Pearmain, as well as potter Mary Lynn Portera, the founder’s daughter. A clay artist, Mary Lynn earned her bachelor’s degree in ceramics before the gallery opened.
An opening reception with the artists is scheduled Friday evening from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
“It’s going to be a festive atmosphere, great food, [a night to] celebrate their new work and the gallery’s 25-year-old birthday,” says Angie Supan, the gallery’s assistant director of sales.
Before the reception, Cook, 85, will do a miniature painting demonstration at 5:30 p.m. Pearmain, one of the gallery’s first employees, will give a plein air painting demonstration on Saturday. Exhibits will be displayed until Aug. 31.
Being an art dealer wasn’t Mary Portera’s childhood dream. She always wanted to be a wife and mother, which she considered “one of the most important jobs anybody could have.”
At first she felt embarrassed when customers asked about her formal art training because she had none, and she wasn’t an artist. Yet while small and midsize art galleries around the country close because of increasing online shops and mega-gallery takeovers, Portera’s gallery survives.
“It’s been by the grace of God. He gave me a lot of support,” she says, with so much emotion filling her voice that she momentarily stops talking.
Portera, a business major, operated her husband’s oncology office for nine years before he suggested she open an art gallery.
“It was the last thing on my mind,” she says.
She initially declined because she knew little about retail and had no formal training in art. But she enjoyed going to museums, and that’s how she and the children spent free time when they traveled to medical association meetings with Charles Portera Sr.
When her husband finished his meetings, Portera recalls, the family visited galleries and museums together.
It wasn’t until her daughters assured her of her ability that she believed she could operate the gallery. Son Charles Portera Jr. also encouraged her, she says, but was away pursuing his medical degree when the gallery opened (he’s now a general surgeon living in Alaska). She also got confirmation from Celia Marks, the owner of a former art gallery called Plum Nelly.
And she believed the Tennessee Aquarium, which had opened in May of that year, would bring family-oriented customers who would support the shop.
She later learned that Hugh O. Maclellan, the former president of Provident Insurance (now Unum), recommended in the 1970s that art-related establishments be located in the area to support the adjacent Hunter Museum of American Art. Portera’s daughter, Angela Niemeyer, president of the Bluff View Art District, discovered his statement while researching material to name rooms in a bed-and-breakfast in the district. Daughter Lisa Grafton also is involved in the family business, serving as a Bluff View Art District accountant.
The bluff consisted of homes and offices when Portera opened the gallery. Her husband eventually purchased all of the buildings on the block and opened more businesses to support the gallery.
“The reason the art district was developed was my husband began to realize that with what was happening with the aquarium there was no place to eat up here,” Portera says.
The couple saw the traffic to the aquarium and contemplated “how can we get just a portion of those people up the hill,” she says.
Her husband opened Rembrandt’s Coffee House in 1994. The Chocolate Kitchen and Tony’s Pasta Shop & Trattoria followed the same year.
The district also includes the Bluff View Inn, which occupies three turn-of-the-century houses, a picturesque Sculpture Garden, Bluff View Bakery and Back Inn Cafe.
Supan, the gallery’s assistant director of sales, says Charles Portera Sr. calls himself the groundskeeper.
He retired from medical practice about seven years ago, but while he worked, all of the art district businesses were developing.
“So in retirement, he is our head of grounds crew,” says Supan. “As particular as he was on his patients, he is on the plants.”
A soft horn toots jazz music overhead as Supan walks through the shop discussing its contents: paintings, drawings, jewelry, ceramics, fashion. The River Gallery includes artwork ranging from $5 to five figures to make art attainable to as many people as possible.
Portera credits her staff for the gallery’s 25-year survival because it’s the staff who presents the gallery to visitors.
Employees share knowledge about artistic styles, regardless if visitors make a purchase.
The gallery’s goal is to put care for people above making profit, she says.
“It doesn’t matter that you come into the gallery and you don’t buy,” says Portera. “It matters that you come in, and hopefully you walk out inspired.”
Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.
If you go
› What: “Little Jewels” exhibit opening reception and River Gallery’s 25th anniversary celebration.› When: 6:30-8 p.m. Friday. Exhibit continues through Aug. 31.› Where: River Gallery, 400 E. Second St.› Admission: Free.› Phone: 423-265-5033, ext. 5.