Peny’s dream began to form: Create a space rich with beauty to touch the heart and tend the soul. Make it opulent to dazzle the mind and stir the spirit. Make it safe to spark both the playful and magical imagination in each of us.
 

The dream first manifested as an exquisite gallery of the arts — visionary painting, hand-blown art glass, hand-crafted jewelry and sculpture, and hand-dyed and painted fabric in the form of art-to-wear. The gallery itself would be a work of art — moiré silk walls in rich gem tones, glistening copper ceilings, faux malachite counters and displays, lighted pedestals of marble and glass, and an interplay of color and light in hues of greens, blues, indigos, purples, and violets. Merlin’s Collection opened to the public on Sunnyside Drive in Mill Valley, California.

The response was inspiring, and the success was immediate. A national and then international clientele quickly grew. Many came for the art; some came just to “be in the space.” All felt a sense of renewing and nurturing something deep within them that often could not be named. Technically, nothing in the gallery could be called a necessity, but all that was offered spoke to that “something more” in each of us. In its way, Merlin’s Collection presented not the necessary but maybe the essential. …

Peny’s dream expanded as Merlin’s Collection became Isis Rising Gallery and moved to Larkspur Landing and then to The Village at Corte Madera, two exclusive shopping centers in Marin County, California. The management team of The Village considered Isis Rising Gallery to be the “jewel of the Village.”