Local artists purchase Terry's Framing and Art Supplies

By Katie Hendrick
| 4:00 a.m. April 24, 2013

Longboat Key
Neighbors

When Terry Petesch died Nov. 27, Robbie Ball lost a friend and a mentor.

Petesch, who worked at the former Longboat Framing Gallerie in Whitney Beach Plaza for 15 years before opening Terry’s Framing & Art Supplies in the Centre Shops in 2000, framed much of Ball’s artwork and taught him the trade, as well.

“I grew up watching Terry work,” said Ball, whose family owns neighboring business, The Blue Dolphin Café. “With his instruction, I learned to build my own frames.”

Ball is putting that education to good use as the new owner of Petesch’s shop. Ball and his fiancée, Emily Shaw, purchased Terry’s Framing & Art Supplies April 9.

“I wanted to see his legacy carry on, and this seemed to dovetail well with my skills and interests,” said Ball, a 2010 alumnus of the Ringling College of Art and Design. Petesch left his mark on Longboat Key by framing bits and pieces of residents’ lives — including preschoolers’ drawings and newspaper articles — along with the usual requests for framed paintings and photographs.

Shaw echoed Ball’s reasoning.

“It just felt right,” Shaw said. “Robbie’s incredibly capable at building and selecting frames, and my background’s in the business end of art and design.”

After studying at Ringling College for two years, Shaw moved in 2010 to manage a gallery in New York City.

The couple also received a lot of encouragement from Ball’s father, Rob, and their friend, Kip O’Neill.

“It’s a perfect fit,” O’Neill said. “Terry would have loved this. I get the shivers just thinking about it.”

Ball and Shaw do have a few changes planned, though, to make the business “their own.” For starters, there will be a new name. At press time, “Shop Shop Gallery” and “Longboat Key Custom Framing Services” were their frontrunner choices. They also want to devote a portion of the shop as gallery space, with artwork changing monthly.

“We are going to hold opening shows, which will be fun for customers and a nice way to highlight local artists,” Shaw said.

Lastly, they will tackle the shop’s online presence.

“A Facebook page and website are definitely in the works,” Shaw said.

Right now, “we’re very, very busy organizing the shop and filling out paperwork,” Ball said.