Five Years in Art
Reflecting on her first five years as owner of the Frame Gallery in downtown Sewanee, local businesswoman Harriet Runkle is most proud of the fact that her business is thriving.
“I’m proud I’ve hung in there,” Runkle said. “It’s not easy to have your own small business in Sewanee.”
Barely two years after opening her custom framing business in the old Jackson’s Garage Esso station in January of 2018, Runkle found herself faced with the devastating loss of her beloved friend and fellow “Frame Gal” Rea Ching Mingeva, a master framer and artist, in February of 2020. This loss was almost immediately followed by a mandatory two-week shutdown in March at the start of the Covid pandemic.
When the shutdown ended, Runkle had to adapt to a new normal. “People would leave their art outside the door and text or talk on the phone,” Runkle said, adding that during the first pandemic year Sewanee alum Matt Costello worked with the Sewanee Business Alliance to set up a general relief fund to help downtown businesses keep their lights on during the toughest times.
“The support from the community was amazing,” she said.
As the pandemic slowly stretched into its second year, she went to appointment only. An unexpected benefit from people being at home during this time was that they were doing projects that required framing, so sales began inching up.
In August of 2021, a man made disaster hit — the downtown road construction project, which limited access to the shop just as Covid restraints were lessening.
“I had orange barrels around my shop for a year,” Runkle said. “They finally finished last fall, and I’ve had a really great year.”
Runkle, who has a degree in art history with a concentration in museum studies and gallery management from UT-Knoxville as well as a Master of Arts in teaching, said an art appreciation class in high school and her mother’s love of the arts inspired her passion for the field.
“My mother was in the arts,” she noted, “That was something we just did — go to art shows and museum openings. Art history was like a balm for my soul.”
She met her husband, John, at UT, where he was studying architecture and then came with him to Sewanee for the first time in 1996, when he got the calling to attend seminary. Like many young spouses who accompany seminarians to the mountain, Runkle did whatever she could to contribute to the family finances: she worked at The Sewanee Mountain Messenger, tutored at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School, and even catered.
Through the years, she followed him to new each job posting: Roanoke, Va.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; and eventually Arlington, Va., where he worked as a conservator at the Washington National Cathedral. She taught kindergarten, worked in a frame shop, did art consulting, and served as a director of art gallery.
When budget cuts hit the National Cathedral, her husband returned to Sewanee in 2013 as the director of St. Mary’s Sewanee Retreat Center. Runkle finished out her teaching contract in Virginia and then joined him here. Unable to find a teaching job, she went to work for Marjorie Burnett at Mountain Outfitters.
“I learned so much from her about running a woman-owned business,” Runkle said. “She and Tabitha Stines, who runs a Sewanee hair salon, were two who I looked to for advice and encouragement.”
When a local frame shop, Corners, became available five years ago, Runkle was ready to make her move. “I really hit the ground running,” she said. “I bought it on a Monday and opened the next day. I made $27.42 that first day.”
Runkle set three goals for herself: to provide a place for custom framing, a gallery space for local artists, and a place for children to create art.
“Custom framing is my bread and butter, but I wanted to provide a space for artists to show their work,” Runkle said. She strives to support local artists and tries to build an audience of collectors for them. “It’s so fulfilling to show and then sell artists’ works.”
She kicked off her fifth-anniversary year with a digital-arts show in January followed by a collage and metal sculpture show featuring whimsical and thought-provoking art in February.
Upcoming events include an April exhibit by the Nature Journaling Group from the Sewanee Herbarium and the annual summer show featuring the works of students from Martha Keeble’s Sewanee Art Works studio.
The Frame Gallery is located at 12569 Sollace M. Freeman Highway in Sewanee. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.