news + events

Sprawling fields and blossoming trees, wildlife critters happily at home in their habitats — It's difficult to capture the natural beauty that characterizes the area, but Painted Finch Gallery does just that.

“We sell nature here. We sell moments, and if it’s going to be people, it’s going to be something people can relate to,” said Wendy Neckers, owner of Painted Finch Gallery. Gallery visitors can expect to step into a space of serenity amid the hustle and bustle of downtown Corry. Wood-paneled walls tie nature into the space.

Hand-crafted jewelry made of crystals and stones captures the basic beauty in nature, while paintings piece together the more fluid aspects of a rural area — the rambunctious yet cautious look in the eyes of a deer, the movement of a stream as ice melts in the spring, every vein in a leaf branching out as if grows.

Sculptures on display are incredibly realistic, down to the small holes insects chew in leaves and the detailed tufts on the bellies of birds.

Stoneware serves a decorative yet functional purpose, elevating a dining experience. Each piece is glazed to create a smooth, non-porous surface, making it resistant to odors and stains.

“I want to curate the artwork that comes in so that the artist actually has a shot at selling as well as the patron can find what they’re looking for,” Wendy said, noting that each purchase encourages a local artist. “As an artist, we often devalue who we are and think that, 'Because I can do it, it’s not going to be appreciated by others,' and I think that’s one of the coolest things about this business, is that when we sell a piece of artwork, then that artist has validation,” Wendy said.

The gallery opened its doors in 2012, but Wendy says she never had a grand dream to open an art gallery. But as an artist in the area, she wanted a place to share high-quality artwork and foster the creativity that comes from regional residents.

A native to the area, Neckers left to get her degree in commercial art, then worked for an advertising agency in New York before moving to Tennessee to work for a music company.

After that, she took her family back to her roots. She began designing sets for Corry and Clymer theater productions. One night, as she was painting a backdrop for “Fiddler on the Roof” in a storefront on Center Street, it hit her — this would make a nice gallery space. So she began looking into it.

“I was meeting other professional artists like myself who were going, ‘We don’t have anywhere to show our work in this area,’ and so the dream started,” she said. She began recruiting other artists she wanted to work with like Jack Paluh, a well-known nature and wildlife painter from Waterford. Now, the gallery has about 66 regional artists on display. And because she’s an artist, she knows how she wants her work to be presented, and knows the quality and caliber of work that she wants to represent with her artists. 

“When people look at artwork, they value it according to the setting it’s sitting in,” Wendy said. “So if you hang it on chicken wire, and it’s in a place that’s not painted and you can smell mold because there was a bad water leak, it’s not going to be valued as highly as if it’s in a beautiful location.”

That's why the gallery is reminiscent of the true beauty that draws people to the region. She’s seen the interest in art increase as people learn that being an artist doesn’t have to be a professional, full-time job. In fact, those are few and far between today as most artists use expression as an escape rather than the basis of their livelihood. To Wendy, that doesn’t mean that an artist can’t flourish.

And although it’s not a place to find abstract art or the best new artists on the urban scene, Painted Finch Gallery tells the tale of hope.

“I would love for [Painted Finch] to tell a story of hope, about how your dreams could come alive, and you would see them come to pass. That Corry would view itself a little bit differently, and that other people viewed Corry a little bit differently. There’s another aspect to it then maybe what they were familiar with or how they had pigeonholed the town and what their expectations were. I think we raised the bar of what expectations are for Corry.”