Conservatory of Music

Interest in the Far East has long been a part of founder Ren Brown’s life. A third generation Japanophile, he lived in Tokyo as a child, and has made numerous trips ever since. His first exhibit of contemporary Japanese prints was held while a college student in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, in the mid 1960’s. In 1980 Ren established Anshin Art as a part-time business located in Berkeley and devoted exclusively to Japanese prints. When his former partner decided she no longer had time to devote to the project, Robert DeVee joined Ren Brown, and the idea of a full-time gallery along the Sonoma Coast began to gel. Since establishing this gallery Ren has given talks at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and offered instruction to various art and civic groups as well as college classes about the contemporary print movement in Japan. Many works in the current Reynolds Gallery show come from the Ren Brown Gallery.