Wheaton Conversations: Voices in the Gallery Space

Wheaton Conversations: Voices in the Gallery Space
with Julia Zagar, Tony Fisher, & Noele Alampi

Watch the Sept. 2023 recording above

Join us for a lively discussion about artists and artworks, stories behind objects, personal experiences, and aesthetics. Julia Zagar (Eye’s Gallery), Tony Fisher (Indigo Arts Gallery), and Noele Alampi (WheatonArts Gallery of Fine Craft) will share their many years of experiences and provide the gallery perspective on a wide range of topics. Discover what inspires their work and what motivates their choices; participate in the discussions about art and craft, relationships with the artists, collectors, museums, and cultural communities, and the variety of meanings associated with the artworks.

This event is part of “Wheaton Conversations,” a virtual series highlighting a diverse community of Artists!
To see the full schedule of conversations, Click Here. 

Wheaton Conversations is generously presented by PNC Arts Alive!, the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass,
and the United Nations International Year of Glass.

Image of Julia Zagar in front of a colorful background. Julia has short, wavy white hair, a colorful short sleeve shirt, and is holding a brown owl sculpture with white around the eyes, black feet, and blue and white extended wings that start at the owl's forehead.

Julia Zagar graduated from Mexico City College, now known as La Universidad de las Americas, with a BFA degree in Fine Art and Latin American Folk Art. Her appreciation for Latin American Folk and Traditional arts grew deeper after serving in the Peace Corps as a craft developer to the Aymara and Quechua people of the Andes and living for three years in Peru. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1968, Julia and her husband Isaiah established Eye’s Gallery on South Street, Philadelphia, PA.

Sparked by Zagar’s love for Latin American folk art, Eye’s Gallery expanded into three floors of unique handpicked artworks from various countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, India, Chile, Peru, Columbia, and Ecuador. In June 2022, after fifty-three years at 402 South Street, the building was consumed by a fire. Eye’s Gallery reopened in April 2023, across the street at 327 South Street. The Gallery continues to exhibit and sell the artworks of a diverse group of artists from different places, thus showcasing different creative techniques and media while interpreting each one in a cultural context.

Twenty-two years ago, Julia also initiated the “Art and Soul Tours.” As part of these tours, potential buyers visit artist homes/workplaces in addition to other places of interest. She also invites artists from different countries to the U.S. to demonstrate their art forms and to teach workshops and classes.

Image of Tony Fisher in front of a wooded background. Tony has short gray hair and is wearing round glasses, a dark unzipped jacket, a light gray sweater with a zipper, a blue button-up shirt, and a dark gray shirt underneath.

Tony Fisher is the owner and co-founder of Indigo Arts Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, and is on the Selection Committee for the International Folk Art Market. Founded in 1987, Indigo Arts is a gallery of international folk, ethnographic, and contemporary art. Like many galleries, Indigo Arts has evolved from a “storefront” location to a predominantly internet and “by appointment” business, exhibiting at some international art fairs, such as the Caribbean Art Fair and the Outsider Art Fair in New York.

Tony holds an MA in Architecture from UPenn and a BA in Architecture from Yale (with an unofficial minor in African Studies). Having lived and worked internationally, Tony has a strong personal interest in and knowledge of folk, tribal, and contemporary art. Living six years in Africa and traveling there, Latin America, and the Caribbean, he has written on traditional (folk/tribal) architecture in Africa and Haiti. He has also served for many years on the board of the Haitian Art Society, as well as the Old City Arts Association in Philadelphia, and for the last several years on the Selection and Standards committees of the International Folk Art Market.

Image of Noele Alampi in front of a black background. Noele has shoulder-length curly brown hair and is wearing rectangular glasses, a brown oval stone necklace that is dangling from a beaded cord, a red long sleeve shirt, and square gold dangling earrings.

Noele Alampi is the Manager of WheatonArts Gallery of Fine Craft. She holds a BA in Art History and a minor in Women’s Studies from McDaniel College in Maryland. In 1997, she joined the WheatonArts sales team and became Manager of the Author Gorham Paperweight Shop and the Gallery of Fine Craft a few years later. In her twenty-six years of service, she has developed relationships with collectors and artists alike. She is enthusiastic about meeting new artists and sharing her passion and knowledge of art glass and paperweights.