A Fine Art Treasure in Seattle's Own Backyard

In promoting an artist who is well known to me, I recently had opportunity to go to Dunville Gallery in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />South Seattle, Washington. Here I found a kindly gentleman who quickly recognized and appreciated the talent of the great artist that I was representing. But here also was a guy who, for 34 years, has been restoring fine art in the back rooms of his Art Gallery, relatively unknown to the world.

Mel is a man still living in the 1970s digitally speaking. He has a telephone, and he answers it. But there is not a computer to be had in the entire 4000 plus square feet of his facility. Mr. Neville has had no online presence up until now, but what he has been doing is treating his customers like family for over three decades. In his entourage there must be a thousand loyal people from families that are almost all relatively local to his establishment.

The curious thing about Mel is that he is a highly accomplished fine art restoration expert, and virtually no one knows of his value or his presence. Without a presentation online, and with pretty much no advertising, he still keeps relatively busy doing incredible restoration projects with a precision and skill that makes you want to shout for joy and tear up at the same time in appreciation for the care that goes into the works that he painstakingly nurses back to pristine condition from the most extreme states of breakdown and degradation.

I went back to Mel’s Gallery the other day with my video camera and I surprised him into shooting a short video series. At first he felt a little shy, and it showed on the camera, but he just talked in his comfortable way about his 9 years in fine art school here in Seattle and how he started into the restoration work. He explained that he loves fine art restoration, and he promised to show us around his gallery.

After that first take, Mel warmed up. I followed him to one of the walls in his gallery where, up on the wall, he keeps photographs of some of his restoration projects. He’s attaches them to strips of paneling that are one picture in width, but that stack six or eight pictures high. When he picked up the first of those panels and began to speak, he was transformed.

Mel is what you would call a hidden treasure, right in our own back yard. His experience took him away in those moments when he was in the zone, talking about the things he obviously loves. His passion was like a cool breeze on a warm day. He spoke with a confidence and warmth that made me more than a bit jealous. His passion, his expertise, and his outstanding skill in restoring beauty were very fine things to see and hear. If we could all be so blessed to have that gravity and focus in our own lives, like Mel does.

I took six short videos of Mel Neville in his Gallery, and I put them up on the internet. You can see Mel's video's at www.dunvillegalleryandrestoration.com.I am going to do a website for him and make sure that his story gets out into the right circles. Mel is a man the deserves accolades, not only because in his respected craft he has to be one of the most accomplished alive, but because there are so many people who are throwing away their treasures, thinking that they are beyond repair, when in fact, Mel can resurrect even the most damaged of heirlooms.

Look for references to Mel Neville and Dunville Art Gallery to begin to appear on the internet. When you find him, squirrel away his contact info so that when you need him he will not be far away.