November 2004

An Eye on the Face of Framing

Dale Johnson and Watergate Gallery and Frame Design

By Jane Lingo

“Each piece is unique. The way you do a frame can kill or enhance the work,” says Dale Johnson of Watergate Gallery and Frame Design.

Johnson started working for the gallery’s owner shortly after receiving her art history degree at American University. While it wasn’t her first choice, it was an entree into art recalls Johnson, it’s a passion she has built on. “[My work experience was] mostly in photography,” explains Johnson. “I learned framing and liked it.”

In 1978 Johnson and a business partner purchased the shop on the lower level of the Watergate near the Safeway. Through her marriage and the birth of her two sons (Kazimir, 13 and Carl, 11) Johnson has served as sole proprietor since 1984. She attributes part of the long-standing success of the gallery to the loyalty and expertise of her assistant, Sarah Cutler, who has worked with her for a number of years.

“I’ve developed the gallery aspect of it, showing the works of local artists,“ Johnson continues. Neighborhood favorites Bill D’Italia and Kevin Adams will combine for a show this spring. Other local artists who have had shows in the gallery include Eva Jacobs and Linda Goldstein, Potomac Plaza residents; Lauren Rogers, a lighting technician for the Washington National Opera; Stephen Bates, a clarinetist in the Kennedy Center Orchestra; and Felix Osuchukwu, a Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Corcoran School of Art graduate who now teaches at a local charter school.

“People bring all kinds of paintings to be framed,” says Johnson, but she notes that often with those framing jobs come requests for advice with challenging placement problems. “The Watergate apartments do not have too much space. Still people like to have paintings hung, and there’s always a way to frame a picture.”

An engineer’s daughter, Johnson thinks there is a connection between the fields, and that upbringing gives her an edge. “You have to figure things out,” she explains.

Johnson has framed works for Supreme Court justices, senators, former senators and “all sorts of people.” She has even framed a Monet.

Johnson has done quite a bit of framing for Placido Domingo and the Washington National Opera. One day, while delivering a large painting in a Foggy Bottom apartment building, Johnson received an unexpected reward from the renowned tenor. The elevator door opened and there was Maestro Domingo. She said, “Thank you so much, I love the opera.” Then, she recalls, “Here was this firm handshake. He took my hand in both of his as he said, ‘Thank you.’ ”

Johnson feels the gallery is in a wonderful location with plenty of interesting people. Her nephew, Vincent, a high school student, comes once a week to work there and loves it because he meets such interesting people. “Anything you frame, an article, a print or a painting, you know should be done archivally. Do it one time well and then it’s there forever,” Johnson says.

Riding her bicycle to work on Sept. 11, she saw the smoke over the Pentagon and when she got to the gallery, she learned what had happened. She thought, “What am I doing here? Should I join the Red Cross or something?” Instead she remained at the gallery and worked, framing paintings for an upcoming D’Italia show. At the time, she had a show of Kevin Adams’s paintings, called “The Farmer’s Market.” In the days following, people kept coming in and looking at the paintings. “I felt then,” she explains, “that I have a purpose when people come to see the colorful paintings. My framing got busy. People were fixing up their nests, and they use art for comfort.”

The upcoming exhibition, “A Night at the Opera,” opens at the gallery Nov. 12. The show features the works of Alfredo Ratinkoff in conjunction with the Washington National Opera. The exhibition will run through Jan. 9. Currently on display at the gallery are works by Lauren Rogers — vibrant, colorful geometrics — through Nov. 6.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu