Haen Gallery Adds New Dimension to its Big Reputation

Seven years after establishing The Haen Gallery on Biltmore Avenue in Asheville in 2006, owner/director Chris Foley opened a second gallery in Brevard’s hip Lumberyard neighborhood. Now, he’s relocated Haen Brevard once again — to a much larger space on Broad Street that accommodates the gallery’s growing needs and reputation.

The new gallery is directly across the street from The Transylvania County Library. “We love neighboring such a beautiful library and hope our presence will be an equal source of cultural enrichment for the community,” says Foley. “It’s important to us to create a space where the public can enjoy access to exceptional artwork regardless of their ability to purchase.”

Located in a building that dates to the 1940s, the new site features high ceilings and an abundance of natural light. Renovations included adding new windows, refinishing the floors, and other modifications. (John Witherspoon and architect Parker Platt, of conservation-minded real-estate firm Witherspoon Platt + Associates, the new owners of the building, “[played] an integral role in transforming the space.”)

Gallery manager Leslie Logemann notes the ample parking at the freestanding space. In fact, everything about the newly relocated Haen is bigger — crucial for a gallery that has distinguished itself by showing large-scale, indoor and outdoor contemporary sculpture.

Expect even more emphasis on that now. “We will take advantage of the increase in space,” declares Logemann. Though the gallery represents sculptors working in all sizes and formats, “we have many [artists] who make large — even monumental — exterior sculptures,” she says.

This focus responds to the decade’s trend of enhancing gardens, yards, porches, and patios with heirloom pieces; statement sculpture isn’t just for the living room anymore. “More and more [collectors] are looking to add art not only to the inside of their home, but also to their landscape,” she confirms. 

Logemann mentions J. Aaron Alderman, a Brevard-based sculptor who makes what she calls “12-foot giants,” his work installed all over the Southeast. (Haen’s sculptors also accept personalized commissions; Logemann says the gallery offers full installation services for all the art they sell, “from having the sculpture pad poured to coordinating the sculpture transport and install.”)

The Asheville and Brevard galleries boast a combined display space of nearly 10,000 square feet, representing more than 50 artists, local, regional, national, and international, including Foley himself, a Georgetown University graduate whose paintings are among the pieces on display at both venues. 

The owner/director believes that the distinctive styles of Haen’s established artists “set their work apart from ordinary and imitative efforts.” In fact, the gallery has become a reputation maker of sorts, many of it’s artists.

Mindful of the investment potential of these works, Foley underscores the gallery’s consultation services for home and business owners, including an electronic process that allows clients to browse photo renderings of artwork so they can evaluate how a piece will look in the intended setting.

The Haen Gallery in Asheville opened in 2006 with an exhibit featuring works by the internationally acclaimed Lynn Boggess — an oil painter known for his deeply textured Appalachian landscapes, painted on location —and  has continued with annual shows of his paintings ever since.

“To the casual viewer, there’s a fascination with the fact that [Boggess’ scenes] appear photographic at 15 feet away, while at two feet it’s a complex arrangement of large strokes of the trowel,” says Logemann. “To those who have an appreciation for the natural world, there’s a purity in the subject … it denies all references to human interference.”

The Haen Gallery in Brevard (thehaengallery.com) is located at 210 South Broad St. Gallery hours are 11am-6pm Wednesday through Saturday, 12-5pm on Sunday. To contact the gallery, call 828-882-3268 or email info@thehaengallery.com. New work is forthcoming from Larry Gray, Emily Wilson, J. Aaron Alderman, Angelita Surmon, Bethany Pierce, and Lynn Boggess. The 13th annual Lynn Boggess Exhibition in Asheville will open with a reception with the artist from 5:30–7:30pm on Saturday, Oct. 26, and will run through the end of November (lynnboggess.com). The artist’s works are also on display at Haen in Brevard.