Menlo Park woman fulfills dream to open art gallery in San Francisco

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Samantha Bergeson

Special to The Almanac

After 20 years in medical start-up companies, including Intuitive Surgical and EndroGastric Solutions, Joan McLoughlin of Menlo Park is pursuing her dream to open an art gallery in San Francisco.

An opening night celebration is set for Saturday, Oct. 23, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the McLoughlin Gallery, 49 Geary St., Suite 200.

Opening in October is significant for her, since this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Ms. McLoughlin, who was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in 2008, plans to give 5 percent of her profits to Stanford Cancer Center, where she worked as a nurse, and San Francisco-based Glide Memorial Church, to fund children’s art programs.

“It has taken me this long to realize I need to follow my dream and open an art gallery,” she said. “It is a crazy idea in the midst of a depressed economy, but … it is what I am destined to do.”

A resident of Menlo Park for 19 years, she is driven by her self-described “entrepreneurial spirit” and love for challenges. She began collecting art in her early 20s.

The gallery will exhibit a variety of media, ranging from paintings to photography, primarily by established European artists, although works of San Francisco and Los Angeles artists will be sold as well, she said.

For the gallery’s premiere evening, all of the artists housed will be showcased, and at least two artists will be in attendance, she said.