A MAN OF MANY PLACES: SITKA’S HOME ART GALLERY MOVES UP ON NEWBURY STREET

Sitka approaches us from the back of Sitka Home Art Gallery, his Boston shop that recently relocated to 160 Newbury Street between Dartmouth and Exeter Streets. He’s a bluff, smiling, virile presence who shakes my hand, heartily announcing: “I’m a monster!”

I look for reassurance towards Sitka’s wife and business manager, Helaine Gulergun, who hovers nearby smiling reassuringly and, then, to my own wife, Madeleine, who is always reassuring.

Reassured, somewhat, I take the seat that Sitka is bringing and accept the glass of water he offers. Trusting, but interrogating my new sense of security, I run though my understanding of the different senses of the word monster: something unnaturally marvelous — a prodigy — of great size and ferocity.

The last definition is somewhat unsettling, but on the other hand, my company is still smiling and, to boot, I’ve just scored a parking space only a few blocks from Newbury Street and I’m damned if I’m going to retreat without a fight — especially with ladies present!

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