Another Cherry Creek North institution is closing. The postcard Tam O’Neill Fine Arts sent to clients and collectors reads, “We only have a sale every two decades. Don’t miss this one!”
O’Neill’s first and last sale will officially shutter her brick-and-mortar gallery on July 15, after 20 years at 311 Detroit St. The retirement sale will start June 3 at 9 a.m. with discounts on framed and unframed art, starting at 25 to 30 percent.
“There will be some great bargains,” O’Neill said. “I can’t take all this home.”
Retiring to enjoy more time for family and travel, O’Neill’s bittersweet sale will thin her bins of vintage and contemporary art on paper. The gallery offers prints of grizzly bears and butterflies, airy ferns and ripe fruits, mythical celestial constellations and historic maps.
Many of the works are Colorado-centric. A handsome print of an original 1874 survey details the geology, rivers and topography of Colorado from Aspen to Crested Butte. A Thomas Moran series of wood engravings depicts the state’s tourist attractions, such as Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, the Mount of the Holy Cross and Snowmass.
“Here in Colorado, where we treasure the connection to the outdoors, natural history subjects and old maps are a great way to bring the outdoors in,” O’Neill said.
Trained as a printmaker, she switched from creating art to selling it in the late 1980s. She opened her first gallery in San Francisco and achieved a national reputation as a dealer in the vintage works of John James Audubon. At her home, O’Neill displays Audubon’s barn swallows in their nest.
“I love the metaphor of the nest as home,” she said.
She also treasures her series of eight black-and-white Karl Blossfeldt photogravures.
“I advise people to buy things that have personal meaning to them,” O’Neill said. “The real value prints offer is that they are so democratic. Sometimes people think they can’t afford a real piece of art. Original prints include a huge range of price points.”
In the gallery, small fairy-flower prints cost $55 (before sale discounts), but Audubon prints can bring almost $200,000.
O’Neill comes by her entrepreneurial spirit and her interest in natural history honestly. A third-generation Coloradan who grew up in Arvada, her great-aunt had the first woman-owned car dealership in Salida. O’Haver Lake in Chaffee County is named after her grandfather.
One of O’Neill’s favorite transactions was selling an original Audubon copper engraving plate to the Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif.
“There are only about 75 plates left that escaped being melted down for scrap metal by Audubon’s widow, Lucy,” O’Neill said. “It was the first Audubon copper plate in a Western institution.”
Bob Barnett owns an eclectic collection of prints, ranging from elephant folio-sized Audubons to Japanese works on paper to George Catlin prints of American Indians — many purchased through O’Neill.
“You have to get a niche. You can’t just collect everything or it doesn’t make as much sense,” said Barnett, who has been actively involved at the Denver Art Museum for the past 30 years.
“I’ve known Tam since the ‘80s,” he said. “We met in San Francisco when she was just getting into the business. She’s very talented. She’s knowledgeable and has a wonderful personality.”
Melinda Couzens began collecting prints in college and worked with prints at the Art Institute of Chicago. Shortly after relocating to Denver, she found Tam O’Neill Fine Arts.
“I stumbled into Tam’s gallery. She has an amazing eye,” Couzens said. “Her gallery has been a phenomenal resource we’ve had in Denver.”
Couzens is drawn to natural history prints.
“Birds and fish,” she said. “I enjoy the beautiful hand-coloring — especially of the older prints — and the richness of texture in the paper.”
O’Neill touts fine art prints as unique, enduring and meaningful.
“It’s nice to think of a gift lasting a lifetime. A child can grow up with an animal print in their room — which might feel like a ‘Wind in the Willows’ character when they are young — and foster their appreciation for visual art as they grow up,” she said.
“The first wedding anniversary gift is traditionally paper, so prints are perfect. Graduations and weddings are other opportunities to give something that doesn’t come out of a catalog.”
O’Neill will continue to broker prints online and offer by-appointment appraisals and consultations. Adjacent to the gallery, her popular Cherry Creek Custom Framing will continue doing business in the building O’Neill owns. Print purchasers will receive discount coupons for framing in the shop.
“l’ll miss building relationships built on sharing art. I like to talk to people and watch their eyes light up,” she said. “I’ll also miss the community of local business folks in Cherry Creek.”
O’Neill said her retirement didn’t hinge on the herd of cranes towering over massive construction projects in Cherry Creek North, or the much maligned dearth of parking in the area. (The frame shop has free parking spaces in back.)
“This has been a great little spot for me,” she said. “I hope somebody else comes along and has a great run in the same spot.”
