Mark Rengers Gallery in Sewickley preserves art and memories

In Mark Rengers Gallery, one of the shadow boxes on the wall contains memorabilia from Rengers’ late father, Edward F. Rengers, who served in World War II.

When someone looks at a framed image or collection of pieces behind the glass, it creates a feeling of what they are seeing, Rengers said.

Telling stories through the work he does at his gallery, a long-time business in Sewickley, is about connecting customers to what’s inside the frame.

“People will come in and start talking about the project that they were laying out in front of us,” Rengers said. “They become emotional talking about what they are having framed. I end up standing there crying with them.”

Rengers cried when he first saw the completed shadow box for his dad. He included photos of his dad from his childhood, with his sweetheart, who became his wife and Mark Rengers’ mother, and his later years. The fighting knife his dad was issued in 1943 is in the left-hand corner. It all surrounds his father’s U.S. Army green jacket with badges.

A quote from Edward F. Rengers, who died at age 93 in 2014, reads, “three years, three months, twenty-one days” is in the right-hand corner, representing his time in the service.

Rengers’ passion is to provide a personalized service to clients that they can’t get from buying frames online. He said he does less framing of diplomas and wedding and graduation photos, and more framing of art and memorabilia.

“There is something sentimental when I look at this shadow box,” said Rengers. “Art moves people. “One of the biggest surprises to me has been all the emotions involved.”

It was the elder Rengers who introduced his son to art. Edward F. Rengers worked at the Carnegie Museum in Oakland as an engineer for 35 years. His secondary job was to run the spotlights to highlight actors and points of interest on the stage and he also ran travel films.

“He took me to the museum and taught me everything about the museum, the history, the dinosaurs and what really intrigued me was the art,” said Rengers, who grew up in Swissvale and now lives close to the gallery. “There’s always that thread in our lives that we don’t even realize.”

That thread for Rengers began with being with his dad at the museum, where most Saturdays, the younger Rengers took the free art classes.

“Public funding can lead to career building and life building,” Rengers said.

Rengers studied education with a minor degree in art at California University of Pennsylvania. He was a teacher for a few years before moving into jobs for various architectural and engineering firms as a designer. Rengers purchased The Sewickley Frame Shop in 1999, renaming the business to the Sewickley Gallery and Frame Shop and changing it to its current name in 2022.

Rengers was working on his father’s shadow box when his father died and didn’t have time to finish it. Employee and custom framer Karen Feola completed it so Rengers could take it to the funeral.

“When my whole family saw it, they were all in tears,” said Rengers. “The intensity of that moment just hit us. That shadow box represented part of my dad’s story.”

He talked about a customer who wanted to honor her dad. She came in with her father’s library cards from places he had traveled. Rengers asked about her father’s favorite books.

“We scanned the spines of the books and made a library shelf of the books and placed the library cards on top,” Rengers said. “Our clients, we read them, and we talk with them. We try to portray the story. It’s not just putting things behind glass.”

Emotion is one of the biggest driving factors that people buy art, and art reaches people in many ways, Rengers said. In his gallery, he features 20 artists, mostly local, such as Patrick Lee, Kristin Divers, Mark Mentzer, Carlos Gamez de Francisco and Ron Thurston.

“I am extremely lucky that they allow me to come in and visit with them and hang out,” said Thurston, an award-winning watercolor artist who lives in Sewickley. “The gallery is on my walking route. Sewickley is extremely lucky to have a gallery like this in town.”

The gallery partners with First National Bank for exhibits, including a youth program where the two collaborate with Sweetwater Center for the Arts in Sewickley.

“Art can be themed around one moment, a moment you can’t recreate,” said Rengers, president of the Sewickley Valley Chamber of Commerce. “It is like sidewalk art. Artists spend hours creating masterpieces that are just then washed away. Live in that moment and then let it go.”

Art is also like music, Rengers said.

“You practice your whole life to make this perfect right sound,” Rengers said. “We can record it, but it’s not the same.”

Over the years he has owned the gallery, Rengers has met generations of families who have shared their stories. He has driven to come clients’ homes to pick up a piece of art or items for a shadow box.

“Many of our clients have become friends,” he said. “We know their style and we know what they like. We know their story. We help bring that story to life inside a frame.“

Mark Rengers Gallery is located at 549 Beaver St., Sewickley. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and open until 7 p.m. on Wednesday nights and for events throughout the year.

Details: 412-741-5858 or markrengersgallery.com