French connection: Petit Bebe takes Les Yeux spot
In Charlottesville’s recently roiled art world, one more change is on the horizon: posh gallery Les Yeux du Monde will vacate its corner space in the Terraces for posh baby-things shop, Petit Bébé.
“My lease runs out at the end of the summer, and the landlord needed the space,” says Les Yeux owner Lyn Warren. “It would have been ideal if I could have stayed to the end of the year because I have huge shows lined up for this fall– John Borden Evans, Shelby Fischer, Annie Harris Massie, and Clay Witt.”
Instead, Warren is looking for a temporary lease to house those shows, and the Ix Building, owned by her current landlord, Ludwig Kuttner, has been mentioned as an option.
Warren stresses that the gallery is moving, not closing. Her long-term plan is to build a studio and gallery designed by architect W.G. Clark at her home that she hopes will become a destination point. “I do see it as a positive,” she says. “I want to focus on collectors. This will allow me to go to art fairs. It all comes together.”
She adds, “With art, it’s hard to keep a retail space.”
Meanwhile, Petit Bébé will move for the second time and open July 1. “I think it’ll be fantastic,” says owner Kim Kuttner– landlord Ludwig Kuttner’s daughter-in-law– whose current York Place location recently was flooded. She plans to carry more modern kids furniture, strollers and car seats in the larger space, and still have high-end children’s clothes.
“It’ll be more boutiquey,” she says of her new location. “This isn’t a Toys-R-Us town.”
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