April 23, 2025

This is the latest in a series of features on some of Marblehead’s longest-running businesses. This interview is with Gene Arnould, owner of the Arnould Gallery & Framery, 111 Washington St., which is celebrating its 47th year in 2025.

Please describe your businesses’ story from foundation to today. 

Arnould: I had left Marblehead to do some graduate work and saw friends of mine who were getting their PhDs and going God knows where. I said no, I want to be in Marblehead. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but had always been interested in art and decided in 1978 to open the gallery.

I heard that a restaurant at 80 Washington St. was for sale. I talked to the owner renting and he said, ‘Yeah, but I told the family they could sell the restaurant as a restaurant.’ So I bought a restaurant, and then immediately liquidated the restaurant, sold off all the stools and sundae glasses, and started renovating. We were there for about 14 years. The art was a combination of nationally known artists, original prints were big at that time.

We moved here to this location in 1993 and we have the whole building — art and some of the framing down here, but upstairs we have a workspace; saws for cutting frames, joining the frames and cleaning glass. In the front upstairs we have a little gallery where we always have something showing.

So, our artists now really come mainly from New England. Most of the work we have in here is original work of one sort or another. And now we are selling art and framing for the grandchildren of people that we originally framed for back in 1978. So that’s kind of fun. 

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How has your work changed over the years?

Arnould: We’re still framing a lot of the same kind of things. We have documents that people have framed, college diplomas, high school diplomas in some cases. We’re still doing that. Wedding pictures, family pictures, which they fill a wall with those kinds of things. 

People still, thank goodness, love Marblehead and I always say we’re pretty idiosyncratic. We want to look at it inside our homes as well as outside, so we sell a lot of paintings of Marblehead. That’s why the artists who come here to paint sell so much of their work, because people love it. And it’s not the tourists who are buying them, it’s the people who love the town. 

How is your business unique, what values and culture do you stand by? 

Arnould: I always say that art’s a very important part of our lives, from ancient cave paintings to contemporary abstract art. People have always looked to art for a higher meaning and whether that’s a beautiful view from the harbor or whatever it is. People look to those kinds of things for meaning and support. 

There are pieces of art in your home or room that you look at every day and it influences maybe your mood or maybe the way you look at the world that particular day. So it’s important. I always say there’s a reason why they haven’t gone in and painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it has meaning. And it doesn’t need to be religious art, any art has meaning. 

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What’s your individual specialty/passion, favorite items or personal achievements? 

Arnould: Art and jazz. If you step into the back room, there are a few CDs in there. I did a series of jazz concerts at the Unitarian Church for about 30 years. Every summer we brought about six different groups; internationally known groups, Clark Terry and Gary Burton, some of the major jazz players in the world. We continue to do that now with the Marblehead Art Association with concerts, a little smaller scale, but still some great people coming.

What are some of the most interesting things you’ve worked on?

I’ve framed a lot of interesting things over the years. One of the most interesting was when someone who lived here in Marblehead, and worked in public relations for Northeastern University, contacted me to frame something to be in their engineering library. The astronaut was in the space shuttle Columbia and a graduate of Northeastern, they were renaming the library in his honor. On the lower side of this plaque, was a photograph of him in his astronaut spacesuit, on the right side was a photo of the space shuttle,and above this, we were going to place a flag that had been on the space shuttle when it blew up. A lot of people don’t realize, I didn’t realize until then, there was a lot of stuff recovered from the explosion. Including this flag that all folded up was like a piece of silk about the size of your fingernail. So we handled this piece of history. 

There have been others like autographed photographs of presidents and celebrities, a lot of interesting things from around the world. We framed for the Marblehead Museum a letter that was signed by George Washington. It was pretty cool, you’re touching this thing. 

How have your family, friends and community played a part in your story?

Arnould: It’s a big part. You don’t get very far without being a part of the community and doing what you can to help the community. You don’t necessarily do it because it’s gonna make business better, it just happens that way. It’s a natural thing to do. I’ve served on my share of committees and boards and that sort of thing, but it’s all good. I love the history of the town. And I love these buildings have been here for, you know, decades, centuries in some cases. I live around the corner. The house was built in 1721.

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What advice would you give aspiring business owners/entrepreneurs?

Arnould: Show up every day. Be honest with yourself and with your customers. Don’t expect to become a millionaire. Marblehead is not on the way to anything, you have to want to come to Marblehead to end up here, you’re not driving through it.

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How do you view success? What’s next?

Arnould: Coming in tomorrow. I have no immediate plans to retire. It’s out there somewhere, I suppose. But, as long as I still love what I’m doing, I’m going to keep doing it and hopefully people will continue loving what I’m doing. It’s been a good ride. And people come in to buy art and have their precious items framed. 

Jewel Farrin is a student at Endicott College studying journalism. Gene Arnould sits on the Current Board of Directors.

Arnould Gallery celebrates 47 years of preserving Marblehead’s memories