Curtain Call

Curtain Call

By LIZ MITCHELL

(reprinted from the June, 2008 Territory Times)

“Balancing the arts, the tax structure, healthcare, scenery, people and weather, we’d always come back to this little town in northwest Illinois.”

MARSHA RINETTI, Co-owner, BRIO Gallery

You might say Marsha Rinetti has returned to her artistic roots. When she and husband Ed recently hosted the grand opening of the new BRIO Gallery space on Galena’s Main Street, she wove together many different threads of her life.

Marsha’s mother was an award-winning artist and art teacher. Marsha began her career as an English and theater teacher, but after a divorce, she went into finance to support her two sons.

This energetic, smart, engaging woman never does anything half-way. She earned her MBA, CPA and CMA degrees and several insurance designations. Along with her accounting and management work, she developed marketing, public relations and philanthropy skills. She met Ed, also in finance, while both worked at State Farm in Bloomington, IL, where they were active in the arts.

Ed is from California, and Marsha from Kansas; both of their fathers were military officers, so both moved around as youngsters. After they married, they traveled widely for work and pleasure, collecting art along the way.

“Everywhere we’d go, we thought: do we want to retire here?” she recalls. “Balancing the arts, the tax structure, health care, scenery, people and weather, we’d always come back to this little town in northwest Illinois.”

For a while before Ed retired, Marsha lived in a Territory Settlement Home, while Ed joined her on weekends. “I told her if I could find her a job, I could work my way down the corporate ladder and pay-scale,” he quips. At Clarke College, she directed the Leadership Education & Development (LEAD) Center and was an assistant professor of accounting.

FOCUSING ON WHAT MATTERS MOST

One weekend in Galena, Ed suffered a severe stroke at a local restaurant. Fortuitously, a medical student was at the next table, and an EMT was also dining there, so Ed got immediate medical assessment. “The Galena hospital really saved his life,” affirms Marsha, who once headed the capital campaign for a $22 million heart center. “Ed’s medical experience reinforced our positive impression that Galena offers access to great care.”

Though Ed’s stamina is now limited, he maintains a balanced schedule and continues physical, social and cognitive therapy. “Now we tend to frequent the same places, and people there protect us a lot,” Marsha offers. “Galena has a wonderful sense of community.”

GALENA DOWNTOWN ARTS FESTIVAL

Appointed chair of the first juried Galena Downtown Arts Festival, May 31-June 1, Marsha embraced the work with – well, brio – working hard to draw more than 50 artists, encourage local artists and arts groups to participate and set up an “artists in residence” program.

Ed and Marsha now reside in a custom Northgate home set on a cliff with wooded views that, seasonally, sweep down Marina Drive. They also work together in the new street-level BRIO space. Originally designed as a branch of Chicago’s Love Gallery, the three bright, open rooms are presided over by a stunning curved staircase and two live-in cats. “We have a variety of media, style and subject matter,” Marsha explains. “We keep half of our work under $500, because it’s important to offer really good affordable art. We also have a select group of work under $100, such as handmade jewelry and original pen and ink.”

Calling this life phase a “curtain call,” Ed says “We want BRIO to be an enjoyable, fun and comfortable experience for people.” He and Marsha represent artists across the U.S., including GTA members Beth Bird, Shirlee Methling and Marsha herself. “I’m not an expert, but I want to know a lot about each of our artists, their techniques and the stories behind their art so I’m knowledgeable enough to talk to visitors,” she points out. “Maybe it’s the old teacher in me!”

Liz Mitchell is a GTA Board member and art lover.