Pictured above: Carrie Garland and Alexandria-based artist Rich Moore

By F. Lennox Campello

After restaurants, according to the US Chamber of Commerce, an art gallery is the “second most likely to fail business in the Unites States.

And running an art gallery is not an easy task – as Washington Post former and legendary Arts editor John Pancake once told me, it is a “heroic act.” In fact, opening and running an independent, fine arts gallery ethically and properly is an act of love and passion for the arts.

And once open and running, cracking the code and getting people to actually buy a piece of original artwork is a very difficult process, and unfortunately for the galleries and for artists, they only control a small part of it.

The most difficult part is getting people to actually know that there are galleries, and openings, etc. Getting the potential buyer to the gallery, or aware of the gallery or artist, is the key, and of course the most difficult part.

There are parts of the world where you haggle the price of everything and every time!  And to add insult to injury, there are apparently only two things in American culture that people seem very adept at haggling for: cars and art.

I once walked to a line of taxis in Bahrain and asked the first cabbie on the line how much to take me to the Souk (market place area of the city). I had been advised that it should be about 20 dinars.

“100 dinars”, he responded dragging deeply from his cigarette.  After 10 minutes or so of animated haggling, we settled for 20 dinars.

The next day, I wanted to go back to the market place, and seeing my cabbie again on the line, I walked to him, said hello to him, he recognized me and shook my hand.  He asked where I wanted to go.

“To the Souk again,” I responded.

“100 dinars”, he responded dragging deeply from his cigarette.

Here in the US, I recently saw a visitor to one of the art fairs in Miami during Art Basel week of Miami fairs drop almost $600 in buying second rate Champagne for her entourage of friends at the fair, and it was served in plastic wine flutes.

She then proceeded to ask a gallerist “What’s the best price that you can do on this?” – referring to a mid-sized original oil painting which was priced at $250.

See what I mean?

I love art galleries and the people behind them!

In Alexandria, Nepenthe Gallery entered the “gallery scene” a while ago and has already established itself as one of the top galleries in Northern Virginia – mostly as a result of fresh approaches to art and novel art shows!

We learn from its website about the naming of the gallery’s super hard-working owner Carrie Garland:

“Our family has treasured this word for decades, from the 1960’s when Carrie’s parents visited the wondrous restaurant in Big Sur named “Nepenthe,” to the early 1990’s when “Nepenthe” was our buzz word while wedding planning and prompt for all frustrated parties to immediately retreat and calm down, to the later 1990’s when Carrie’s dad named his boat “Nepenthe” and did not allow whining or crying on deck.”

We also learn that:

“Today, we are delighted to bring NEPENTHE GALLERY to our beloved and dynamic community.  Our art gallery features works from a wide range of artists–local artists whom we know and love, artists from other parts of the USA and around the world, and artists–living and deceased–whose works are critically acclaimed.  We are honored to hang works from our family’s private collection of 19th century and early 20th century American art and offer gallery talks for those masterpieces.  We offer a rotating selection of iconic, fun and familiar prints and neon images, as well as various sculptures, objects and Nepenthe Gallery merchandise.  We have a frame shop on-sight with a vast variety of custom frames and we specialize in custom mirrors, too.”

Every Thursday from 6-7:30 pm the gallery hosts an ART + WINE + CHEESE event that highlights an artwork, artist or special guest or genre.

On January 15, 2026, they will host ART + WINE + CHEESE: Fine Art Appraising:  What is it Worth? Presented by Nepenthe’s own JEFF TRAFIDLO, who is a Fine Arts Appraiser.  On January 22, they will have ART + WINE + CHEESE: Winter Solstice — A Curated Expo of Original Works by Six Local Artists (featured artists are Erika James-Jackson, John Minarcik, Harry Moxley, Cynthia Schoeppel, Jennifer Smith and Sara White), and on January 29 it is ART + WINE + CHEESE: Introducing New Artist HILARY WINFIELD from Virginia Beach.

Nepenthe Gallery is open Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm, Saturday & Sunday 9am-4pm, and by appointment. They are located at 7918 Fort Hunt Road, Alexandria VA 22308, phone is571-347-7961   and online at https://nepenthegallery.com.

About the Author: F. Lennox Campello’s art news, information, gallery openings, commentary, criticism, happenings, opportunities, and everything associated with the global visual arts scene with a special focus on the Greater Washington, DC area has been a premier source for the art community for over 20 years. Since 2003, his blog has been the 11th highest ranked art blog on the planet with over SIX million visitors.