By Ed Carroll
Update: Pennello Gallery co-owners Jacquie Meyerson and Sue Cahn have announced the gallery’s doors will remain open through March 31 and that their retirement sale will continue through that date.
The end of an era is coming for Pennello Gallery. Following a retirement sale on Jan. 26, the gallery will close its brick-and-mortar storefront in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood.
Co-owners Howard Koverman, of South Euclid; Jacquie Meyerson, of Pepper Pike; and Sue Cahn, of Chagrin Falls, made the decision to shutter their shop in early January.
“We have been extremely fortunate to have had a wonderful landlord while operating Pennello Gallery in Little Italy,” Cahn said in an email to Canvas’ sister publication, the Cleveland Jewish News. “She is now in the process of selling the building. The new owner was interested in a long-term lease commitment from us that we felt unable to accommodate.”
All of the gallery’s American, Canadian and Israeli fine art and fine crafts will be on sale for purchase during the retirement sale, which runs from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. at the gallery, 12407 Mayfield Road. The date of the party was originally Jan. 19, but due to concerns over inclement weather on that date, it was pushed back to Jan. 26.
Cahn said leaving Pennello Gallery behind will be “very, very difficult.”
“We have made many friends: customers, artists, and local residents and merchants,” Cahn said in the email. “Our joy was to find new, talented artists whose work was not yet familiar to the Greater Cleveland community.”
She expects customers will miss the gallery’s oversized benches and whimsical papier-mâché sculptures made by Koverman, the gallery’s annual “Girls’ Night Out” art gatherings, and giving restaurant and art advice to out-of-towners visiting nearby hospitals in University Circle.
Cahn said she was unsure about what is next for her, Meyerson and Koverman.
“As of now, we are reviewing our options, although a new career in back-up singing is not out of the question,” she quipped. CV
Originally published in the Cleveland Jewish News on Jan. 18, 2019.
Lead image: Jacquie Meyerson and Sue Cahn. Submitted photo
