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Margery Goldberg is an American artist and gallery purveyor. She is most known for founding and operating Zenith Gallery since 1978. In 2010, she received the Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in an [sic] Service to the Arts Category: Early life

Goldberg was born in 1950 in Rochester, NY She started sculpting in clay at the age of 10 and took classes at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery during Elementary and High School. Despite her aptitude for handywork, she pursued art training during high school Her father was a printer and advertiser, so Goldberg grew up around business operations. She operated her own checking account from 9th grade onward Category: Early career

Goldberg attended George Washington University from 1968 to 1972 and earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts. After graduation, from 1972 to 1977, she operated a workshop in a 100 years-old hayloft on K street. She built commissions and held shows there

Category: Founding of Zenith Gallery Goldberg’s K street studio burned down in 1977, and two friends – Michael Klein and Stuart Bloch – joined her in looking for a new studio. They found and bought a 50,000 feet space on 15th and Rhode Island: six townhouses, two large buildings, and carriage houses. Soon thereafter, Bloch suggested that Goldberg fix some of the houses and rent the rooms to artists. About half of Goldberg’s artist-tenants also worked in studios at Zenith. Other artists lived outside Zenith

In 1987, Goldberg opened a second location of Zenith Gallery on 7th street’s Gallery Row, which remained open until 2009.

In September of 1985, the city of Washington, D.C. told her that under zoning laws, the gallery was permissible, but the studios were not. She protested – the city reversed its decision – but she had to move anyway. She intended to keep both locations open, but lease agreements could not be worked out, and she was forced to close the gallery location at Rhode Island Avenue in December of 1987. She described this move as “. . . one of the major nightmares of my life.” Following this move, she changed her work business approach, away from commissions and towards creativity. According to Goldberg “How do you put creativity in a budget? I’d rather create the piece, and then if someone wants to come along and buy it, wonderful. . . Commissions pay the bills, but that’s about all they do.” Following this business approach and artistic shift, her work and Gallery remained financially successful.

Category: Later developments In the early 1990’s, Zenith faced financial struggle during the recession. Goldberg relayed that she remained open due to strong relationships with her artists and landlords. Some months she could not pay rent, but she helped her landlords when she could. By the late 1990’s, most of Goldberg’s artists still had shows and pieces in museums. In an interview in 2008, Goldberg estimated that she had by then completed between 300 and 400 wood sculptures.