Born 250 miles apart in small towns in Tennessee and Arkansas, Jim and Nancy Killett met in college and married right after graduation. With their dual physical education degrees—Jim coached football, Nancy gymnastics—they traveled to New Mexico, Florida, and Okinawa...That doesn't exactly sound like the biography of a couple running one of the most swank, successful galleries in America.  But nothing about the Killetts fits the art-gallery picture, from their lean, rawboned middle-American strength, to their relaxed confidence and good humor, to the way they casually point me to the glossy art pamphlets that other art dealers might shove in my face. And what's most surprising is that in a business sometimes derided as crass and hype-driven, Jim and Nancy Killett bring a true family feeling to their dealings with their artists, customers, staff, and the kids in their community.

*photo by Matthew Thayer