By John Tredrea, Special Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — The first thing that might intrigue a passerby about the Robin’s Egg Gallery on Bridge Street in Lambertville is how the place got its name.
Owner Judy Henn, an artist herself as well as a gallery owner for 25 years, explained it this way: “I’ve always liked birds and have always loved robins and the color, robin’s egg blue,” she said.
Here Ms. Henn paused briefly and added in a reflective tone: “I think ‘Robin’s Egg Gallery’ is a friendly name. I think art, or the idea of art, may intimidate some people. So I wanted a friendly name for this place — a name that could help put people at ease.”
Somehow seeming to be related to that viewpoint is an interesting numerical fact about Ms. Henn’s galleries in Lambertville. They’ve all had addresses with the number 24 in them. The Robin’s Egg Gallery is at 24 Bridge St. Before that, she had a gallery at 24 Church St. Before that, at 24 N. Union St.
All those places have been called the Robin’s Egg Gallery. “It’s been my business name for 25 years here in Lambertville,” Ms. Henn said. “I’ve been here on Bridge Street for six months now. It’s good, because I have a large enough space here to be able to show a lot of work. That’s important to me — I love art, love to paint and really love to promote artists as well.”
One of the many area artists whose work is regularly shown here is Ms. Henn herself. “About 50 percent of my own work is custom pet portraits,” she said.
Among the many other area artists whose work she shows is Carl Kerr, who also is Ms. Henn’s business partner. “Carl paints fish collages,” Ms. Henn said.
David Hahn is another artist from these parts whose work you’ll see here. “David paints landscapes, and is best known for his paintings of large, iconic figures,” Ms. Henn said. “Eric Kahn’s work can be seen here as well. He does classic Bucks County landscapes.”
Others are Patricia Giro, one of whose painting specialties is large, floating flowers, and Annelies Van Dommelen.
”Annelies does caustic paintings and uses a special wax technique,” Ms. Henn said. “She melts wax to use in her paintings and manipulates and dyes the wax.”
The images of dogs Ms. Henn has painted are available on a line of products one can buy at her gallery or website. The images are on tote bags, mugs, T-shirts, pajamas and other items. Her website is www.robinsegg.com.
On Dec. 7, the Robin’s Egg Gallery will hold a benefit for Lulu’s Dog Rescue, from 6-9 p.m.

