Loblolly Gallery Offers Local Art
Though she’s always been involved in the arts, Crystal Romanyszyn couldn’t have imagined that one day she’d be running an art gallery in South Carolina. She is the owner of Loblolly Art Gallery in Seneca.
A native of New England, Romanyszyn spent 25 years in Florida in a variety of arts-related positions—as the executive director of an art museum, as a personal chef and caterer, and with the Daytona Beach Symphony. She also worked for an art manufacturer, a job that involved not only attending trade shows but also pouring epoxy resins onto art prints. “Art in some way was always part of my past,” she said.
Each year, she rented the same house on Lake Keowee, so enchanted by the area that she and her husband eventually decided to move here. That led to a desire to invest in the community, so they purchased a building on Ramcat Alley with the intention to rent it out. But a visit to an art gallery in Georgia left Romanyszyn feeling so happy that she decided to open her own gallery here. “I reached out to artists I had worked with at the museum and through the business cards of art I had purchased,” she said. “That’s how I started. I renovated the space and moved in and opened three and a half weeks later. That tells me it was something I was meant to do.”
A year and a half later, Loblolly Art Gallery (named after the local pine trees) includes pieces from about 45 artists, most of whom live within a two-hour radius. The gallery is contemporary, with a sleek style, though she’s always looking for work that is unique and unusual. Her commission is 50 percent. Anyone interested in having their work in the gallery should contact her via the gallery’s website.
Three Anderson Artists Guild members represented in the gallery are very pleased. “Sales have been great,” said Diana Winuk. “Crystal is great to work with. Because of her, I've connected with one collector that resulted in five sales in two days!” said Debbie Bzydl. “The day after I brought in work, she sold a 40x48 inch painting,” said Lori Solymosi, who originally connected with Romanyszyn when her husband surprised her with one of Solymosi’s paintings.
Romanyszyn is an artist herself, creating steam-punk jewelry and miniature sculptures from the millions of parts she inherited from her grandfather’s workshop. “Using these pieces is special because they sat in storage for almost 40 years after he passed,” she said. “I have vivid memories of him at his workshop bench creating new watches from old broken ones.”
Loblolly Art Gallery is located at 124 Ram Cat Alley in Seneca. For more information, visit https://www.loblollyarts.com/.
