Windsor Studio Art Since 1928

Helen Kagan was born Elena Valery Kagan in the cold Siberian winter of 1959, in what was then the USSR. She grew up to be a rebel looking for freedom in a communist State where oppression and control were a daily reality. It is telling of her talent and determination that she managed to obtain university degrees in Science and Psychology. – from Helen Kagan’s Bio

Helen Kagan is an artist. Pure and simple…or not so simple. She is everything a deep thinking emotional woman from Russia with multiple degrees and too much talent is.  She is complex and moody and very talented.

Helen is a healer-hands on.  She channels amazing energy that heals and aligns physical ailments.  She worked on me and on my husband and we are not novices at receiving healing energies.  We are both curious and experimental and we found that what Helen does feels real. It is physical and energetic and special.  Like she is.

I really like Helen’s work.  Let me know what you think.  Here is the link to HELEN’S site and her many vibrantly alive works of art that I find captivating. You can feel the passion in her work and in everything she does.

You may find her in New York City, Paris, in Sarasota trying to relax by the warm salt water or giving herself a sand loofah treatment, or in even another great cosmopolitan city cooking for friends- which she also does very well. Helen Kagan is a passionate, vibrant and unforgettable talent, healer, and friend. She’s full of fire and highly explosive as artists often are so you take it from there!

“The Journey”, 2005

It has been a few months since I last saw Helen’s work and as I was doing this post I couldn’t help but remember how much I enjoyed seeing many of her canvases in person. I really love all of them but I have gleefully posted several of my favorites. The last one is for all my dancing friends who follow my blogs. Isn’t that great! Enjoy the dramatic and bold work of Helen Kagan and please, go to her site and see it all.
Thank You!

“Dance To Life”

When it comes to Art in Scranton, Windsor Studio, on Spruce Street, is not your typical gallery. It’s true.

“There are many other fine art traditional galleries in Scranton, PA and we say that with pride. We are proud of Scranton; its talent, its history, and especially its culture.”
Richard Regni

It may also be true that you have to live in Scranton to really appreciate the depth and quality of the culture, the talent, and the people who make the Lackawanna Valley a very special place to call home.

As the voice of Windsor Studio on the road, and a long time Scranton resident whose heart is still connected to the comfort I found here, I know of what I speak.

Windsor Studio Art & Framing is a lot like Scranton itself. Windsor has strong ties to the past, is rather eclectic, has a way of doing things on Windsor time, and does an amazing job of making everything somehow better than you thought while keeping it original and notably high-quality.



In the Windsor Studio, you really never know what treasures you will find and they often come and go -before you know it- to those “alert” clients who are always on the lookout for “something special”. Here today and gone tomorrow, as they say, to the savvy collectors who also love a great find in the unique and the collectible.

Frank Regni, Richard Regni and Cheryl Regni, may even seem almost too nice to be so art wise (and descreet) but there is a wealth of information and knowledge between them that stunningly surfaces as needed.

Purchasing art is an art. Sometimes you may go back for several viewings before you are certain about how much you love an artists work. Don’t expect to bounce into a gallery and make an art selection after one viewing. Especially a larger work with prominent placement. That is the first part.

Then there is the second part. Believe it or not, it is as much an art to select the matting and framing style as well as then choose the wood for the molding so that years of pleasure are the certain result.

Whatever you may be looking for in Scranton Art, it’s a good bet that Windsor Art is the best place to start and remember to ASK for help because there is a lot you may not necessarily see amidst the apparent clutter of a landmark shop in downtown Scranton. This is the kind of shopping you want to slow down and invest some time in.

As the summers end approaches thoughts turn to the coming seasons.

Conveniently located in the heart of Scranton – when you are in the Electric City; tell them Alexandra sent you.

Windsor Art Studio at 408 Spruce Street in Scranton, PA. 18503 (570) 342-7415.

The best kept secret in Scranton Art is the Windsor Studio’s collection of fine art.

Owner Frank Regni and son Richard Regni have been collecting museum quality art for over forty years.� The father and son team have worked together side by side as fine art framers in their second floor frame shop in Scranton since Richie was old enough to “help” and it was inevitable that the pair would be lifelong business partners.� Two hard headed Italian Americans…need I say more? It’s okay to laugh out loud because these two men know more about framing than an entire store full of framers anywhere else in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area. On second thought, let me amend that to the entire northeast PA.� Art in Scranton wouldn’t be the same without Frank Regni and family.

On any given day the father son team frames everything from high end collectible oils on canvas, to signed sports jerseys from national league teams, to law degrees and newspaper articles.� You would never know it unless you knew them well.� Two humble and diligent men who come in early every morning and get the job done. Even just hanging out together as Frank builds a shadowbox for a composite of war medals and memorabilia; the stories are interesting and profound. It’s the kind of information writers hunger for.

Even so, they rarely see the satisfied looks of jubilant customers when they pick up the work previously left for framing.

Cheryl (Sherry) Regni is usually on the later shift waiting to help layout a framing job or assist in selecting a fine work of art for anyone who walks in the door after Frank and Rich have left for food, rest, and time with kids and grand-kids.� Sherry has become well known in the community downtown and she is a patient and kind lady to work with. Although the store has always been known for fine art and custom framing, there are some changes occurring slowly and of late there is a growing selection of antique lamps, tables, even some glassware and other small furnishings which is changing the feeling of the studio a bit and all for the better.

The Regni Clan is a hard working group of Scranton natives who built their professional reputation over sixty years of hard work starting in 1928 when Frank Regni opened his first Scranton frame shop with a partner who has long since passed on leaving the opening that Rich naturally stepped into as his father’s protege.� Richie himself is a fine and knowledgeable framer who says he can’t even begin to say how much he has learned in all the years of working side by side with Frank.

Recently, Frank told me about an oil painting in the store that is interestingly rare and unusual. The piece is by Haitian born artist Marcel Desir.

Marcel Desir’s Alberi Tropicali pre 1970’s

Desir was born in Port Au Prince in 1926 and was an accomplished and recognized international painter.� Although the Windsor Studio owns several letters from friends and family of Desir they are all in Creole and they can’t translate them.� The one painting owned by the studio is called Alberi Tropicali and has been with the Regni family since 1972 when it was purchased by Frank.

Desir’s work is in collections at Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Philadelphia Art Museum, various Swiss museums and numerous private collections in Haiti and Caracas, Venezuela. Desir painted and had work shown in Cuba, Mexico, and France at the French Institute and Bouchet Gallery in the early 50’s.� Windsor actually has a list of the private collection owners prior to 1972 among the handwritten communications.

In this age of green awareness and ecological consciousness the� Alberi Tropicali is a particularly interesting work of art.� Desir must have been well ahead of his time.� Come in and see it.

Windsor Studio Art, Framing, and Antiques at 408 Spruce Street, Scranton, PA 18503 570-342-7415

First Friday Featured Artist at Windsor Studio Art was none other than watercolor painter, Barbara Sowinski for October’s First Friday.

Scranton Art houses like Windsor Studio Art and Framing are fortunate to have many fine local artists to show and sell. One of those is the talented, lovely, and fit Barbara Sowinski. I say “fit” because the first time I met Barbara and shook her hand I realized what a strong and vibrant woman she is. Along with her passion for art she has a passion for tennis and the grip that goes with it. Look out Scranton Art fans!

All kidding aside, I have to say my favorite art selections from her recent showing at the Windsor Studio on Spruce Street in downtown Scranton are also strong, bold, and vibrantly alive. I find her use of color extremely exciting which impressed me because I always think of watercolor as the medium of palest pastels and diluted colors.

In the past I found myself more drawn to oils than any other medium but Barbara Sowinski’s work gave me pause to reconsider. Here, for example, is a selection of her work that I find vibrantly alive and yet soothing to meditate on. This is the kind of color I want to fall into and never leave -and it is one of several that affected me that way. That’s a good sign, would you agree?

Sowinski’s – Vineyard

Barbara is a well traveled artist who has studied and painted all over the world yet we have the honor of calling her a Scranton girl because she was born here and her Masters in Art came from Marywood University. Barbara lives in Bradford County just northwest of Scranton. Her work is in corporate collections in Japan and China as well as the U.S..

Throughout the evening of First Friday October 2008, Barbara held court as friends and newcomers met and spoke with her about her art and her inspiration. Friends from Afa stopped by to see her while sharing a laugh and a story or two amid glasses of wine and platters of cheese and crackers. From what I observed, a relaxing and lighthearted time was had by all.

Sowinski’s – In The Harbor

For more about Barbara please come into the Windsor Studio and see her show while it lasts. There is a large selection of framed and unframed watercolors available and many smaller as well as several larger paintings.

Barbara is beginning a new series of work this winter and I have it on the Q.T. she will be staying in PA through the season instead of taking off for the California sunshine as per her usual.

Get ready art lovers; the holidays are approaching and art is a lasting gift that brings peace and tranquility to the eyes of any beholder. For office or home we recommend an original work of art appropriately framed as a gift that truly gives for a lifetime. Barbara’s abstracts and landscapes appeal to a wide variety of art aficionados both male and female. She is our featured artist for October so come and take a look!

Stay tuned for more on Scranton Art in The Electric City!

Sowinski’s – Desert Sundown 1

Windsor Studio Art, Framing, Antiques, 408 Spruce Street, Scranton, PA 18503 (570) 342-7415