(Artist Hunter Thomas)
By Staff
After some 43 years as a nationally acclaimed folk art institution, the Nancy Thomas Gallery has rebranded as aht ARTS with a tagline “Blending Art and Life.”
“I have wanted to do it for a while but I just hadn’t had the nerve,” said Hunter Thomas, the daughter of Nancy Thomas and current owner and operator of the gallery now located at 814 45th Street in Norfolk. “My mom’s brand is very well established and I felt very protective of that, but I think it’s time to really let her retire.”
Hunter Thomas is a painter herself and credits her mom as an influence.
While Nancy no longer paints new works, the gallery will continue to sell prints and other merchandise of the early American-style artistic creations which made her a nationally-acclaimed artist based in her former Yorktown gallery.
Rebranded as aht Arts, Hunter plans to spread her creative wings by exhibiting painters of her own and those of up-and-coming artists. She also plans to host a variety of salon-style events at the gallery to engage fellow creatives in the community.