Gallery Z, Inc

Gallery Z started in 2001, in the same building as owner Bérge Zobian‘s photography studio, in the Olneyville section of Providence, RI. Encouraged by the positive reactions to his exhibitions, about two years and two dozen exhibitions later, in 2003 Bérge riskily moved his gallery to the city’s Historic Federal Hill district. Known for Italian food, music, and wine, art was a new offering there. Gallery Z became a forerunner in the historic neighborhood’s revitalization, paving the way for numerous other galleries that located along the street, endowing Federal Hill with a culture of art. Gallery Z instituted a public art window in November 2003, incorporating worthy community causes by monthly offering a different local non-profit organizations a fundraising venue and window on the popular street, relinquishing one of its own public exhibit spaces to elevate public awareness for the organization, in conjunction with providing a reception and exhibit table space during its monthly Art, Food & Wine Creating Awareness for a Cause, which it was able to continue for ten years. In 2011, Gallery Z celebrated the twin milestones of ten years in business and its 100th exhibition. In 2014, Gallery Z expanded into an additional gallery space, Studio Z, in the restored Butcher Block Mill in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood, which has been reconstituting itself as a new focal point for the arts as galleries and artists’ studios locate to the renovated mills in this former bustling industrial area. Studio Z has been able to utilize this larger exhibit space for the monthly high profile artist exhibitions owner Berge Zobian holds, while maintaining Gallery Z on Atwells Avenue. Gallery Z/Studio Z is a member of Gallery Night Providence, The Providence Warwick Convention Visitors Bureau, and The Federal Hill Commerce Association. For the third consecutive year, Gallery Z has been awarded the title “Best Gallery of Rhode Island” by Rhode Island Monthly magazine.