This year’s Big Summer Show, featuring more than 600 paintings from around 110 artists runs until June 15.
“I see the gallery as the Scottish equivalent of the Royal Academy of Arts in London – without the vast space and hanging committee, of course,” says Ken, smiling.
“At its heart, though, that is what we are trying to do – to make a broad mix of art, of real quality, accessible to as many people as possible.”
In 2000, the era of the dot com boom, Ken and Susan took a leap of faith into the online art world, driven by their own passion for and knowledge of the Scottish art scene.
“I have three degrees, none of them in art,” says Ken, smiling. “I was an accountant before I gave it up to run the gallery full time.
“My interest in art comes from my passion for reading about it and collecting it.”
He adds: “Neither Susan nor I could ever have imagined how it would take off, or that we’d still be doing this 25 years later.”
Having a gallery in their home happened “accidentally”, says Ken, with a laugh.
“We brought the artworks into the house to have them photographed for the website, but our friends, who were always popping in, would stop to admire and ask questions, and end up buying them,” he says.
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“For the first three years of the business we didn’t open to the public, we just sold through word of mouth. It was very organic, and it just kept growing.”
In 2003, the gallery opened four days a year, prompting the birth of its hugely successful summer and Christmas shows, and in 2010, the couple added an extension to their home to expand the space and allow for more solo and two- or three-person shows.
The couple’s daughter, Kate Fleming, has joined her parents in the running of the business – unsurprising, she laughs, considering how much it surrounded her growing up.
“My sister Kirsty and I were always yelling, ‘can you PLEASE move these paintings’ because they were everywhere when we were little – on the floor, on the sofa, and we just wanted to watch television,” says Kate, smiling.
“I didn’t appreciate art then, but I realise now how lucky we were to grow up in that world, and to be given such an understanding of it at a young age.”
Kate is mother to three-year-old Angus and one-year-old Anna, who make regular appearances at the shows to the delight of their proud grandparents, and the customers.
She adds: “I think Angus’s first words, honestly, were ‘grandpa’ and ‘painting’….It is lovely, to see them so excited. And I know I will always be very grateful to have had a gallery in my childhood home.”
The Scottish art scene is strong, says Ken, and it has changed considerably even in the years since The Lemond Gallery opened.
“I remember the Glasgow artist George Devlin saying to me that when he left art school ‘no gallery wants to look at students or graduates, they just want work by dead artists’,” he says.
“Today, I think art is more democratic, less elitist. It is more affordable, and accessible. We have watched that change, and I believe, have been part of it too.”
One of the joys of the last 25 years, says Ken, has been gently guiding customers as they grow their collections, filling their homes with beautiful artworks.
“We try to be the scaffolding around them, supporting them, pushing them out of their comfort zone when necessary,” he says, smiling.
“We have also loved spending time with artists, especially those coming out of art school where they don’t really teach you how to run a business.
“We cultivate and nurture them, helping them understand how to work with galleries, how to be realistic with pricing, for example, and that has been extremely rewarding too.”
The Big Summer Show, like its winter counterpart, is extensively researched and carefully curated, giving art-lovers both new and established the chance to see a broad cross-section of work.
Kate has been a great asset to the business already, says her father. “She presses me to look at new artists – we have seven in this year’s summer show, for example,” says Ken.
“It’s really important to keep opening up our reach.”
Those new artists, such as Glasgow School of Art graduate Euan McGregor, whose paintings and printworks have been celebrated across the UK, and urban landscape painter Cate Inglis, will exhibit alongside Lemond Gallery regulars such as Kathryn Arthur, Alison McWhirter, Stephen Mangan, Gordon Wilson and Jennifer Irvine.
As final preparations continue, it is all hands on deck, says Ken.
“It is really exciting for us – we are a bridge between the public and the artist,” he adds, smiling. “As all the paintings start to arrive, and we unpack and prepare to hang them, I’m like a child in a sweetie shop.”
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