When Mel Neville was 17 years old, he had already come to understand a lot about his life path. He knew he was detail oriented, and knew had the skills to create beautiful things. But when you are that age, some things are more important, so he completely rebuilt a car, doing all the work himself on the upholstery and interior, the paint and the chrome transforming it until it was truly a work of art. He confesses that it did impress the girls, but more than that, it was evidence that he was clearly headed in the right direction.

His business, the Dunville Gallery, a framing and restoration center at 9025 35th Ave s.w. for more than 37 years in West Seattle is set to close forever in September with a final auction of remaining inventory and other items coming up in October. Neviile, who is consistently ranked among the top twenty frame and painting restoration experts in the nation, somewhat reluctantly came to the decision it was time to retire as he approaches the age of 65.\

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Born in Omaha Nebraska, Neville came to West Seattle before he started the first grade, "so basically I've lived my whole life right here in Fauntleroy," he said of his boyhood home near the ferry dock. After high school he went on to Burnleigh Art School and has a nine year degree in Fine Arts. He's a certified commercial artist too.

But rather than pursue the somewhat uncertain life of an artist, he took his knowledge and grew his skills incrementally to become a preeminent framer and restoration expert. He has documented his many remarkably different projects over the years from paintings he has brought back from near total ruin to ceramics to frames, one so covered in debris and dirt he had to custom make his own glass tool to restore it.

To grow his knowledge he kept attending seminars on various restoration techniques and then took on projects to cement those techniques in his mind, often leveraging his own advanced art skills in the process. Restoring a broken ceramic piece he explained could take weeks of molding, matching color, casting and refinishing until the breaks were undetectable except by x-ray.

Paintings have required him to apply a new substrate, and literally match hundreds of colors as he restored the image to it's original glory. "When I complete a project the goal is that you can't discern my new repair from the 1800's last brushstroke that went on the painting."

Neville's work area is an array of tools, and compounds, bottles and jars of epoxy resin, brushes, paints and body filler, acrylics and adhesives. On benches are framing tools, molding and shaping devices, and in racks behind it all are matts and frame parts. It's astonishingly neat and tidy for such a busy place.

While he's grown to be a local treasure, Neville's work can be seen all over the nation. It's in New York City, in Las Vegas at the Elvis Presley Museum in the entryway (Neville said he did it for Elvis himself just before he passed away), in Hawaii, Calfornia, " everywhere," he said.

The largest frame restoration job he's done was for $5000 for a Microsoft millionaire. The painting for it (which he did not work on) was worth $150,000.

"I've loved every moment of this," he said of his long tenure, but his girlfriend of six years Beth Adkins helped him realize it was time for a change. It wasn't that easy a decision. "I was depressed for a couple of weeks, but now that I've got my head wrapped around it, it's better. We just bought and brought home one of the largest, newest, most drop dead gorgeous Class A motorhomes I've ever seen in my life. We set out and had our dinner in it with our candles and watched a movie. So we are really, really excited to begin traveling. We want to see this country from the west coast to the east and then see Canada from the west to the east. We have a lot of wonderful trips we're going to be doing. So, now that I've got this in process, I'm better with it, but it doesn't take away that this is the deepest love of my life."

News of his imminent departure has set off something of a frenzy amongst his most loyal customers some of who now stretch across three generations. He has 75 jobs he has to complete before he locks it up for the last time. Along the way and especially recently, the outpouring of love and affection for his phenomenal work has resulted in many letters, cards and gifts. "That's the thing I will miss the most. The magnificence of the friendships I have made and all the friends I have acquired. I've had five different ladies who have been customers of mine for over thirty five years and once they got the news that I was retiring I was moved and shocked that they were sobbing so hard in here. I had to embrace them, hold their heads, and calm them down. My gosh, I'm not dead. I'm just going to give this up and retire." This is intimate work since often frames are family heirlooms or surround paintings or photographs of deep meaning to people. It's hard for Neville to say goodbye. "With all my customers shedding so many tears, I haven't had time but I'm sure I will too when the time comes."

Much of what he feels is gratitude and pride. It's summed up on a board he displays over a bin of thank you letters.

It reads:

"It is with great pride that we display our hundreds of customer letters of appreciation and thank you cards! Words cannot express my deep gratitude to the many hundreds of customers and friends who've had the kindness to write us a personal "Thank you" for a "job well done." I have no way to display all the beautiful gifts you've given over 37 years! ie., Homemade dinners, cakes, cookies, wine flowers and much, much more!

My sincere thanks to each and every one of you."

As he prepares to close he revealed that you can take the artist away from the art but you can't take the art away from the artist.

Both he and Adkins are painters and he said there will be room in the motor home to carry canvases and easels. He even said that if he gets tired of traveling there's a pretty strong likelihood he will once again do some restoration work. But he would only do it part time. He's not letting go of that gear after all, but the frame making equipment, that's all due to be auctioned off, along with the rest of his inventory by J.G Murphy and company likely at the end of October. Until then however, the Dunville Gallery is still filled to the brim with some amazing art, and yes, he's selling it at 50 to 75% off.

That's not all he's selling. His custom restored home in McMicken Heights is up for sale too ($429,000) as well as a classic 1977 Buick Regal that's had a complete body off restoration done (call him for details on it). By the way he has shown cars in auto shows and won every one he ever entered.

Mel Neville is someone who doesn't own a computer or a cell phone (though he realizes he will have to get one before he travels) largely because he prefers to spend his time doing what he loves. His entire professional life has been about beauty and what it means to people, bringing back memories and making people happy.

Isn't that a beautiful way to live?

You can reach Neville at 206 935-7557 or 206-243-8767. The Dunville Gallery is located at 9025 35th Ave s.w.