Taking in the Gaga Gallery

For 72 years, 459 Humphrey St., was Dick & Sons, where many Swampscott men got their hair cut. Since 2008, however, Gaga Gallery has transformed the location from a place of scissors and boys' regular haircuts to a center of fine arts. 

Owner Julie Brook just wants people to enjoy the art, regardless of whether they buy anything.

"If someone comes in, sees something that they really like, makes some kind of connection with the piece -- that makes me very happy," she said.

Richard Baldacci, retired Art Department head at , said Brooks serves the town well by bringing people and fine arts together. 

"A breath of fresh air," he calls her.

The latest gallery works on display are by glass artist Miriam Kaye and painter Carter Wentworth. Kaye's pieces include her intricately designed green glass table, displayed in the gallery's front window.

On shelves sits a bowl with a smiling photograph of President Obama, inlaid on the bottom and surrounded by blues and reds and silvers and small brass instruments, for $100; another bowl, for $200, has a translucent green plate set in it--looking through it is like looking underwater; a tray for $175 is inlaid with religious medals found at a Salvation Army, some well thumbed.

Wentworth's works complement Kaye's. They vary in size, but are abstract pictures based on patterns found in nature. They range in price from $42 to $4,000.

The exhibit ends Nov. 28. 

Brooks plans to have new exhibits every three weeks. Brooks, a trained architect, previously worked in construction management. 

Her knowledge came in handy after she bought the Humphrey Street building in 2007.

 She rehabbed it, taking down the ceiling, adding six dormers to bring in light, and exposing wooden beams that run across the ceiling.

 The economic downturn coincided with the completion of construction. In 2008, her job went the way of many in the building trades, and she was laid off.

When she loaned the building to the Swampscott Arts Festival in the spring of 2008 and they filled the room with their work, Brooks realized the space was perfectly suited to display art.

She turned her real estate investment into a gallery and held her first exhibit in summer 2008. 

For those who wonder about the gallery's name, Gaga, it's a family reference. No relation to pop star Lady Gaga.

Gaga Gallery's hours  are Wednesday through Sunday, from noon to 6 p.m.