Custom Framing in Tyler, Texas

Tyler is a remark­ably beau­ti­ful place to live. It only makes sense that the inte­ri­ors of the homes and busi­ness­es of its res­i­dents be just as beau­ti­ful … this pur­suit is where Gold Leaf Gallery excels. Gold Leaf Gallery is a haven for the finest in cus­tom fram­ing, orig­i­nal paint­ings (the work of local, nation­al and inter­na­tion­al artists can be found year-round), lim­it­ed-edi­tion prints, sculp­ture and works by West­ern Mas­ters. They offer in-home or busi­ness design and con­sult­ing for art and fram­ing. Gold Leaf Gallery is known for their cus­tom TV frames, with con­ceal­ment options like mir­rors or motor­ized art. At Gold Leaf Gallery, Own­ers and sis­ters Deb­bie Shores and Traci Bre­vard care for every piece of art as if it were their own.

Shores has been a cus­tom framer since 1988. She attend­ed Arts Mag­net High School and Art Insti­tute of Dal­las where she real­ized her love and tal­ent in fram­ing pic­tures. After get­ting a job at MJ Designs Cor­po­rate Head­quar­ters, Michael James Dupey, of the epony­mous Michaels stores, saw Shores’ skill and trained her for more dif­fi­cult spe­cial­ty projects. Shores nev­er stopped fram­ing. In 2007, Shores walked into the Gold Leaf Gallery where Buster Bar­low, who found­ed the gallery in 1974, hired her on the spot. Bar­low was so impressed with her integri­ty and pas­sion for fram­ing, he told her he would one day like to sell her the shop. Two years lat­er, Bar­low sold the gallery to the sisters.

Bre­vard, also a respect­ed artist, was award­ed the Nor­dan Fine Arts Schol­ar­ship to Texas Chris­t­ian Uni­ver­si­ty in 1985, after grad­u­at­ing from Arts Mag­net High School in Dal­las. She has been in sales and man­age­ment since grad­u­at­ing with a BBA from the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas. Now at Gold Leaf Gallery, Bre­vard enjoys com­bin­ing her love for art and design with her love of sales.

“As artists our­selves, we take the time to explore fram­ing designs to cre­ate the best pos­si­ble fram­ing ensem­ble for each piece, while remain­ing sen­si­tive to each customer’s bud­get. As pic­ture framers, we look at art through our clients’ eyes to inter­pret, extend and enhance their trea­sured art forms.” Said Bre­vard. When Deb­bie and Traci bought the gallery in 2009, they decid­ed to attribute their mis­sion state­ment to their Grandmother’s favorite say­ing, ‘Do unto oth­ers as you would have them do unto you’ and their cus­tomers have become their friends.

“Deb­bie and I come from a fam­i­ly of artists. Our moth­er, Bar­bara Holmes, great­ly influ­enced us in design as an inte­ri­or dec­o­ra­tor in Dal­las for many years before mov­ing to Tyler. Our father, Worth Holmes, enjoys his retire­ment cre­at­ing beau­ti­ful wood turn­ings and musi­cal instru­ments. It runs in our blood,” says Bre­vard. “We thank God for our won­der­ful life here in Tyler. Peo­ple bring us cher­ished pieces of art and we get to make them even more beautiful!”