26 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} services with his wife’s photography studio, the shop stayed in the family until 1955, when it was sold to the parents of its most recent owners, Carl and Janet Martin. They continued that tradition by entrusting it to daughterin-law Stephanie in January. Originally from Austria, Stephanie grew up surrounded by the arts. Her father was both a photographer and a painter—and she and her grandfather shared his shutterbug ways. “[My grandpa] would go to the Formula One races and take photos of Niki Lauda and all the big Formula One people. I would see these all framed in our hallway,” recalls Stephanie. After moving to San Francisco as an au pair, Stephanie met Carl and Janet’s son on a trip to the beach, and the two later married. After bookkeeping at the Martins’ gallery, Stephanie discovered a passion for the work. She continued taking on new responsibilities until assuming her role as gallery director. “When you get close, you can really see the intricacy of the work,” says Stephanie Martin, pointing out tiny hidden faces in the painting of a tiger at a solo exhibition dedicated to the ephemeral yet earthy works of Steven Spazuk. The Studio Shop Gallery’s new director crosses to another work with swooping swallows. “When the light hits it, like right now, it’s illuminated.” And truly, the gold leaf adorning the image does seem to glow. Stephanie is the latest in a long legacy of gallery directors who have overseen this 110-yearold institution. Both an art gallery and a picture-framing shop, it’s been around almost as long as Burlingame has. (It opened seven years after the city incorporated in 1908.) Founded by Dorothy and Ralph Crawford to unite Ralph’s art supply and picture-framing PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: ANNIE BARNETT ABOVE: Studio Shop Gallery’s team, including new gallery director Stephanie Martin (first row, second from right), seated next to her mother-in-law, former gallery director Janet Martin (at right).
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