4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
REALISM MEETS THE ABSURD
Distinguished artist
Jill McVarish opens
her own Astoria gallery
By WILLIAM HAM
FOR COAST WEEKEND
o the casual passerby, the space at
160 10th Street in Astoria may not
look much different than it has for
some time: Paintings can be seen through the
large storefront windows against the stark
white walls inside, and the hand-painted sign
identifying it as the Astoria Fine Art Gallery
still hangs above the door as it has for years.
T
But big changes have been visited on
this modest space in recent days.
For years, it served as a showroom for
some of the thousands of pieces of original
art owned by beloved Astorian teacher
and community booster Michael Foster.
After his passing in 2016,
locals Zelda English and
Barry Brown took over
and rechristened the
space the Wake Gallery.
And now, after only
two months open to the
public under that name,
it’s changed hands again.
As of March, it is
officially the McVarish Gallery, under the
proprietorship of Astoria-based painter Jill
McVarish.
McVarish has had her eye on the space
for some time, quite literally. For inspi-
ration, she takes a regular morning walk
along the waterfront with
her dog, Chauncey, and
the gallery on 10th was a
daily stop along her
route.
“Michael Foster
always had the most
amazing art hanging
here, just an incredible
collection,” she said.
“But I don’t think it was open to the pub-
lic, so I never went in. It always seemed to
be a place to enjoy the art from a bit of a
distance.”
This changed with the assumption of the
lease by English and Brown.
“They really turned it into a nice space
— pulled the carpet up, opened things up a
lot,” McVarish said. “Then after only two
months, I saw it was for rent again, so I just
called them out of curiosity. It turned out to
be pretty affordable and, well, I didn’t know
what else to say, so I said I was going to do
it!”
Continued on Page 15
COLIN MURPHEY PHOTOS
LEFT: A close-up reveals the level of detail in a painting by Jill McVarish.
BELOW: Jill McVarish in her Astoria gallery.