Picture Perfect Framing at Joan of Art in Marshall

Written by Lia Hobel | Photos by Callie Broaddus

For 30 years, Regina Hilleary has handled customers’ beloved artwork and memorabilia with precision and care at her custom framing shop, Joan of Art, on Main Street in Marshall. The circa 1870 house where frames are mantled and mats are cut also happens to be her home. “I work downstairs and live upstairs, which is really convenient, as you can imagine,” she says. 

Hilleary bought the house in 1999 after being at another location for five years. A lot of her customer base is from Middleburg, where her framing business began on West Federal Street in 2002.

“When somebody brings something to me, I really take great interest in it,” she says. “I make sure to do the best job possible on it. They have pieces that are either their grandmother’s or are their children’s, and then oftentimes, they have pieces that you can pass down through the family. So, it is valuable. It might not be actually valuable, but it’s valuable to them.” 

The fascinating stories of customers and their precious keepsakes is all part of the fun that her now 64-year-old hands have helped to meticulously preserve. “I had a lady come in and she had an original Walt Disney drawing of Mickey Mouse — it was signed and everything,” she recalls. “I mean, she knew it was valuable, but I don’t think she realized how valuable it was.”

Beyond art, Hilleary has framed or shadow-boxed objects of all shapes and sizes, including fossils, wedding dresses, and swords. The business has framed horse ribbons and Westminster Dog Show ribbons, and fulfilled the framing needs of Bunny Mellon, Sheila Johnson, and Janet Hitchen. 

“That was a big honor,” Hilleary says of the opportunity to frame the portrait of Johnson’s second husband, Arlington County Circuit Court Judge William T. Newman, which now hangs at the Arlington County courthouse. Additionally, Hilleary’s framing business had the pleasure of encasing all the prints within the guest rooms at the Salamander Resort & Spa. She and her staff have also custom framed jerseys for the Mystics, Wizards, and Capitals, all part-owned by Johnson and on display at the Salamander Washington DC.  

Hilleary’s reputation for excellence is well known by the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, and she was asked to frame many of the displays and photos for its latest exhibition, “The Final Resting Place of President John F. Kennedy: The Untold Story of a Lost Memorial.” In addition to helping with the framing, “There’s one of my photos in the exhibit that my grandfather took while my family was at JFK’s funeral. There’s a photo of that day with my sister, mother, and I,” she shares. 

Hilleary was 2 years old at the time of the photo. Her mother, Joan, is where the name and play on words for the business came about. She had always been a source of inspiration. “She was a real go-getter,” explains Hilleary, who notes that as a woman, having an education and standing on her own two feet was of utmost importance to her mom. She made sure that all seven of Hilleary’s siblings went to college. 

Strong women have been a source of motivation for Hilleary throughout her art framing career. It was a nun at her Catholic high school in Arlington who first encouraged her love of art. “She was just amazing,” Hilleary remembers. From there, she went on to earn a degree in art history at the University of Mary Washington and began framing part time. “I’m an artist as well, so I’ve always framed my own things, and then I went to work for a place called Artist Proof,” where she recalls cutting mats all day. “This is way before they had machines to do it. I did them all by hand. I really learned how to cut a mat properly.”

Other sources of inspiration have been women in the industry, like Shirley Damon of Damon Galleries, which has operated in Vienna, Virginia, for 40 years. She helped Hilleary get her certification in framing, which involved a two-hour test for different framing and hinging techniques. There was also Nina Fout, who had a shop in Middleburg for many years called Middleburg Gallery of Country Sport. “I figured if they could do it, maybe I could try… Those ladies were both inspiration to me as a framer,” she shares. 

The work takes a team. “Good framers are hard to find,” she says about her coworkers, Becky Cornwall and Alice Beach, who have been with her for more than half of the journey. “If it weren’t for those two, I wouldn’t still be in business.”  

Beach feels the same about Hilleary. “A lot of people don’t know what goes on behind the scenes here — how much blood, sweat, and tears goes into it. Everything is done by hand, and Gina is very good at what she does and puts 100% into it,” she says. “I’ve learned a lot from her, I enjoy putting the frames together, and there is perfection and pride in the job, because it has Gina’s name on it.” She concludes, “She’s been an inspiration and I’ve learned so much from her.” 

Though Joan of Art continues to be in demand, Hilleary’s ready to start her next chapter. Her hands have made the choice for her, as the intricate work involved in custom framing can be challenging for individuals who suffer from arthritis. Arthritis is a condition that causes inflammation and pain in the joints, making tasks that require fine motor skills and dexterity difficult. Additionally, her mother passed away last year, and Hilleary has plans to move into her home. She’s been trying to sell the business for the past year but laments, “Framing is a dying craft.” 

She hopes her employees will be able to stay on if someone does purchase the business. As for her future, she says, “It is going to be another chapter for me.” She looks forward to experiencing what “off the clock” truly means when work and home life don’t coincide. ML

Joan of Art
8387 W. Main Street
Marshall, VA 20115

Published in the June 2025 issue of Middleburg Life.