Treasure Art Gallery has stood in the same location on SR 179 between Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek since 1961, but its longevity can be attributed to a passionate love affair as much as art. Hungarian painter Stephen Juharos opened the gallery – his first – when he moved to Sedona from New York City in 1961. “It was very humble, very bohemian,” says Stephen’s wife, Mary, who runs the gallery. “It was more like an artist’s studio. Stephen was the epitome of La Boheme.”
The gallery expanded to two rooms in 1972 and began representing other artists alongside Stephen’s traditional, realistic and impressionistic paintings. For a short time in the 1970s, the gallery became Sedona’s cultural hub, hosting live performances such as plays, poetry readings, concerts and dance exhibitions. The space could seat up to 90 people, and Mary says the shows were so popular the police department would be called to direct traffic. Mary managed the gallery and raised the couple’s children while Stephen focused on his art until he passed away in 2010 at the age of 97. Today, Treasure Art represents Stephen and his son, Sedona furniture maker Bill Juharos, along with painters John Lofgreen, Neil Davison and Carol Bailey. In the front room, paintings both large and small hang on rotating panels while the back room showcases the diversity of Stephen’s paintings. His subjects ranged from Parisian scenes and cowboys rustling cattle to the Grand Canyon and bouquets of flowers.
Mary says visiting Treasure Art Gallery is a bit like stepping back in time, but that doesn’t mean shoppers check their technological devices at the door. “There’s an emotional side to art that people don’t seem to get anymore,” she says. “You need to walk through a gallery slowly and absorb the work. Now people come in, and they are distracted by their iPhones. I can’t blame them – they are a product of the times. But people used to be moved to tears by the art.”
Smartphones aside, Mary refuses to shutter the gallery. “I love what I’m doing,” she says, her New York accent coming through when she gets excited. “I’m very energetic. And this is a way for me to be with my husband, through his art. I loved the man very deeply, and I can feel his energy in here.” – By Erika Ayn Finch. Photograph by Deb Weinkauff.
MORE SEDONA ART GALLERIES: Shows, exhibitions and happenings
