Art Runs in the Family: Evalyn Dunn Gallery in Westfield Celebrates 65 Years

WESTFIELD, NJ — Evalyn Dunn Gallery, a family-owned fine art and framing shop on South Avenue, is celebrating 65 years in business.

Jacie Civins, daughter of Evalyn Dunn, owns the gallery now. Civins and her sister, Amy, grew up spending time at her parents’ shop, which is named for her mother.

“Art was my father’s hobby,” Civins said of Benjamin Dunn. “He loved art and he dabbled in painting. He just enjoyed it. One day, he came home and said to my mother, ‘You want to open a business?’ He saw a store for rent, and she said, ‘What do I know about framing?’ He said ‘You know what, I’ll learn, and I’ll teach you.’”

Their first shop specialized in original oil paintings.

“Originally it was called Evalyn Dunn’s Little Gallery because it was very small. And it was only open on the weekends,” Civins recalled. The shop was in Roselle, where her mother also worked as secretary for the borough.

Civins held up a clipping from the Newark Sunday News from Jan. 12, 1958. The article, about her mother, was titled “Mother Holds a Job, Runs Business, Too.”

“It was very unusual in those days for a mother to be working full time,” she said. Civins’ father also had a full-time job, selling advertising, outside of their shop.

Jacie and her older sister were at the gallery by default.

“On the weekends my parents would be working. We would have to hang out there,” recalled Civins.

Eventually, her parents moved to a bigger shop in Linden, where it would be open every day.

“It was closed from six to seven,” Civins said. “So we always had dinner as a family. It didn’t matter that it was not at home. It didn’t matter that it was in a diner or deli, we always ate together.”

In 1970, the Dunns opened a second shop, this time at 397 Cumberland St. in Westfield. Five years later, they closed the Linden shop. It was a much-needed break for the hard-working couple.

“My father never realized what it was, not to work every single evening,” Civins said. “They were finally able to spend some time together.”

Civins remembers the first work she did for her parents, hanging up the frame corners for them after they’d been taken down from the wall for customers.

“I used to go with my friend and we got paid a penny a corner to hang up the corners,” she remembered. Later, as an adult, she worked part time for her parents, helping around the shop.

“As my mother got older and my children got older, I could spend more time working, and I was able to build up the business through my connections.”

Evalyn Dunn Gallery moved to its current space, 549 South Ave., in 2000, in what used to be a gas station.

Although Benjamin Dunn died in 1993, Evalyn continued working in the gallery.

In 2004, Evalyn was behind the counter when her grandson, Michael Civins, asked her to lip sync to heavy metal band Pantera for a video. This video would go viral and give her the nickname “Grandma Pantera.”

Evalyn Dunn continued working at the shop until she was 87. She died in 2005. Over the years, Civins’ sister, Amy Walsh, has worked at the gallery, and Civins’ sons Michael and Peter have also helped out.

Civins relies on her husband, Arnie, for the financial part of the business, who advised her years ago that a retail business is only as good as its lease. Based on that advice, they bought their own building in October 1999. The building was enlarged in 2011, under Jacie’s supervision.

Once the building was expanded to about twice its original size, the gallery had more space to show off the works of art and gifts, with a framing workshop to the side.

Civins noted how the shop has evolved to cater to changing tastes and the availability of art on the internet.

“You really have to always be trying to do something else,” she said. “You always have to reinvent yourself. We always need to be different. What people need to say is, ‘Oh, wow, you have so many things we have never seen before.’”

Today, far beyond just oil paintings and framing, the shop also offers restoration services, prints, gift items for adults and children, Judaica, cards and jewelry. Nearly everything in Evalyn Dunn Gallery is handmade.

“We have good relationships with our artists,” Civins noted. “We have a lot of things here that are made by women. That’s important.”

One wall of the gallery is dedicated to local artist Ricardo Roig. Roig’s work was showcased for a time in a separate building, called the Evalyn Dunn Gallery Annex, but is now being transitioned to the main gallery.

Monthly mix-and-sips, once held at the Annex, are also being moved to the main gallery.

Above all, she said, “You have to remember the roots and where you came from.” And, of course, she couldn’t do it without her customers.

“It’s the kind of business that’s enjoyable,” she said. “You meet very nice people. After a while, they become friends. This business is about the relationships that you form.”

If you go:

Evalyn Dunn Gallery is located at 549 South Ave. West. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and Sundays and evenings by appointment. Visit their website at EvalynDunnGallery.com. Call them at 908-232-0412 and email them at info@EvalynDunnGallery.com.