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A hand sculpture by John Latham.
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A-Ibañez Museum is family owned and operated. Pictured left to right Delia Ibañez (daughter), Alvaro Ibañez (husband) and Denise DeVries (wife).
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The indoor gallery showcases a vast collection of paintings by owner Alvaro Ibañez.
The artistic vibe of the A-Ibañez Museum in Kilmarnock begins the moment you turn into the driveway.
Metal sculptures of hands arise out of tree stumps on either side as you approach the spacious adobe-colored building that houses the property’s B & B. Behind the house is a deck overlooking pear and crepe myrtle trees where deer are known to gather. Over past the blue bottle tree near the house is the A-Ibañez gallery and studio used to display the art of newcomers, with a spacious and shady deck behind it used for literary readings and musical performances. The newest space, a 1,000-square foot gallery, boasts three doors that look through the building to the woods and walking trails behind it and a hand-painted floor depicting the universe.
Alvaro Ibañez and Denise DeVries met at a Spanish poetry group in 1993 and were married in 1997. They opened a gallery on Kilmarnock’s Main Street in December of 1996, bringing artists and visitors from as far away as Cuba and Russia. After trying retirement in Arizona from 2017 through 2020 while their daughter attended college there, they realized they were nowhere near ready to retire. Missing their property in Kilmarnock, they returned in March just before the shutdown began.
Since then, they’ve converted their property into a bucolic artists’ retreat for painters, sculptors, writers, poets, musicians and dancers. The studio gallery is used for small group retreats and creative activities inspired by the beauty of nature that abounds on the 40-acre property and nearby Hughlett Point Natural Area Preserve.
Every month since June, they’ve hosted themed open houses the last weekend of the month as part of their mission to nuture up-and-coming talent and provide gallery shows for those who’ve never shown their art before. During the monthly events, the gallery is open from 2-5 on Saturday and Sunday.
“Our goal is to promote local artists and mentor visitors,” explains DeVries, herself a poet and writer with a focus on creative aging and intergenerational activities. “Off-season, we’ll be holding a series of writer retreats.
Visitors can be inspired by all the art we have on display here, where the only distractions are birds, red foxes and wild turkeys.”
Colombian-born Ibañez trained as an architect, working primarily in industrial and military design upon arrival in the U.S., until an interior design project led him to found a patent design business in 1985. An avid painter nearly all his life, the gallery is a testament to that, showcasing “Kalevala,” depicting the mythological beginnings of the cosmos. Many of his 38 “Surreal Arizona” paintings have been shown in galleries in Mesa, Carefree, Scottsdale and Cave Creek Arizona, but until they returned to Kilmarnock, the series had never been seen together so that the full story could be appreciated. The two-story B & B house also bursts with color thanks to his paintings which fill the abundant wall space and benefit from windows that allow natural light in. “It’s hard not to put too much art on the walls because we have so many beautiful pieces,” DeVries says with a laugh.
Ibañez bought the property in 1995 and the first house was finished in 1999. “Our dream started in 2000 when we moved to Kilmarnock permanently,” he says. “Since then, our purpose has been to pull the artistic community together.” They hope to coordinate another event similar to the Northumberland Library fundraiser “Arts Alive”—a driving tour that took ticket holders to the studios of local artists and artisans—in which the couple participated for two years.
The August open house honored the 39th anniversary of Ibañez’s arrival in the U.S. and featured a writing workshop with a focus on writing inspired by art. The open house on November 14 and 15 will include a tour of the new gallery building and DeVries will read from her historical novel “Sweet Tea and Vinegar Pie,” set in 1932 in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula.
Despite being 20 years into this project, Ibañez says his passion has never wavered for a moment. “You could say that this place is remote, but it’s a beautiful place to be,” Ibañez insists, gesturing at the paintings that surround him. “Every single piece has a story to tell. If I had a normal gallery in the center of a city, would people have time to talk with me about content? Here I can give in to the energy and keep doing this.”
A-Ibañez Museum · 199 Whittaker Lane, Kilmarnock, Virginia · a-ibanez.org · 804-577-0960
The gallery began a series in September called “Meet the Author Outdoors.” Writers of historical fiction are invited to talk about their work.
Look for updates on Facebook at facebook.com/AIMKilmarnock about October’s speaker, Sean Gates of King George County.