Emily Giancarlo
Letha and Mike Drury, left, knew that their friend Meredith Willett, right, owner of M’s Canvashouse, would be the perfect person to take over South Hill Gallery when the couple retires in June. “It fits in like a glove with us,” Willet said.
When Mike and Letha Drury started seriously discussing selling South Hill Gallery, their custom picture framing and printing company with a more than four-decade lineage in Lexington, the couple had a very short list of who they’d entrust to take over the business.
Meredith Willett, owner of M’s Canvashouse Needlepoint Shop, and Mike Drury have been close friends since the early 1980s, when they were classmates at Woodford County High School. Both went on to start successful businesses, which have grown to become mainstays in the local community. And now that Mike and Letha were ready to retire, they knew that Willett was the perfect person to shepherd South Hill Gallery into the future.
“Mike called and said, ‘Letha and I are considering retiring, you were No. 1 on our list who it would fit with,’” Willett said. She was pleasantly surprised by the opportunity.
“It fits in like a glove with us,” said Willet, who has recommended South Hill Gallery for years to her customers wanting to have their needlework pieces framed.
South Hill Gallery maintains a large inventory of supplies so that all work is done on-site, including providing turnkey service for projects involving photography and custom framing. Careful thought goes into frame designs, as staff members “relate not to just traditional tastes but fresh and modern styles appealing to younger audiences,” Letha said.
In preparing to officially take over ownership June 1, Willet said she has been pleased with the smooth transition. “They’ve been so incredibly nice and so helpful,” she said of the Drurys. Willet’s daughter, Laura Laine Barnhill, has “a little bit of ownership too,” she said. “She’s a Realtor and she also works for me, which is the best blessing of my whole life.”
“The similarity of our business- es gives her a leg up, and of course she will have our talented and experienced staff on board to help usher South Hill Gallery into its next exciting chapter,” Mike Drury said.
“Mike and Letha did a great job. This company has a great reputation,” Willett said. “For sure I’m going to keep South Hill’s name.”
The frame shop was known as The Gallery when it was founded in 1977 by Jim Clemons. Mike Drury bought the business from Clemons in 1991, after selling his interest in a Versailles-based framing business he owned with his uncle, Fred Newton.
In 2005, he and Letha married, and she joined him as co-owner of The Gallery. Within a few years, the Drurys renamed it as South Hill Gallery, Ltd. and moved the shop from its spot on Bolivar and Broadway to Versailles Road. In 2010 they purchased Photo Therapy, a digital printing business, to add photo printing, archiving and restoration services to their picture framing business.
“He is a gifted woodworker and frame builder and has a very creative eye in the design of shadowboxes,” Letha Drury said of her husband. She has handled front-of-the-house duties and customer service at South Hill Gallery, while the production staff of six work in frame design, building and assembly, as well as woodworking and photography.
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Emily Giancarlo
South Hill Gallery offers a variety of custom framing and photography services.
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Emily Giancarlo
South Hill Gallery offers a variety of custom framing and photography services.
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Emily Giancarlo
South Hill Gallery offers a variety of custom framing and photography services.
Drury is a master-certified picture framer by the Professional Picture Framers Association, an uncommon distinction in Kentucky, and has served on the organization’s national board of directors.
“We have experienced phenomenal growth over the past 20 years, adding a large component of commercial and health care work to our established residential customer base,” Mike Drury said. “The local business community is a great space to be in Lexington. We enjoy being able to network with other local businesses, such as The Box Stop, LEXTRO [formerly Lexington Trophy], Scout, and Mulberry and Lime, to name a few.”
Willett’s journey as a small- business owner also involves strategic growth and capitalizing on opportunities.
Originally a partner in Designer Belts Unlimited, Willett bought out her two partners and moved her needlepoint shop from Clay Avenue to Kentucky Avenue, when she changed the name to M’s Canvashouse. In 2019, she relocated the business to a storefront on Red Mile Road that she bought. Today, Willett employs 14 people at M’s Canvashouse and another handful at her wholesale company, the Meredith Collection, which are both housed in the same building.
Emily Giancarlo
Meredith Willett, owner of M’s Canvashouse, recently acquired South Hill Gallery from owners Mike and Letha Drury.
Through the Meredith Collection, Willett and her staff create needlepoint patterns that are sold in stores across the country. Hers is one of the few wholesale companies that offers full-service finishing services. When a customer buys a needlepoint purse to stitch, for ex- ample, from any retail needlework store, and wants it lined with, say, silk dupioni or moiré, with a cell- phone pocket inside and a detach- able shoulder strap, the retailer will send the purse to Willett’s company in Lexington for finishing work. Last year when COVID hit, Willett thought her needlepoint business would take a hit, but business has picked up so much that she’s barely able to keep up with the demand.
“I’m super-duper blessed,” she said.
The Drurys are also grateful to their customers and friends over the years for many wonderful memories and know the business and those connections will be in good hands.
“Every piece of work tells a story,” said Mike Drury. “Ones that we loved to hear.”