• Courtesy Of Northern Daughters
• Sophie Pickens and Justine Jackson at Northern Daughters

The mamas were surprised when they learned Northern Daughters was closing. Pamela Smith said she was shocked. "I will say I cried when I found out," Anne Cady admitted. Even so, the women are proud of their daughters — Sophie Pickens and Justine Jackson, respectively — for their successful run as gallerists for more than seven years.

Later this month, Pickens, 38, and Jackson, 37, will shutter Northern Daughters on Main Street in Vergennes; their annex location at Village Wine & Coffee in Shelburne will become an art space curated in-house. This Saturday, December 9, at the gallery in Vergennes, Pickens and Jackson are hosting a closing party that doubles as a reception for the aptly titled group exhibit, "Last Call."

Smith and Cady will be there, as they have been from the beginning. Not only supportive mamas, the two are also distinctive artists whose work has been quintessential at Northern Daughters. Smith's folk-art portraiture and papier-mâché Madonna sculptures are sweetly captivating; Cady's stylized landscapes in vivid, luminous colors fairly leap from the wall. Both artists seem to channel some kind of enchantment.

But Smith and Cady appreciate the real-world business acumen involved in curating, exhibiting and selling artwork, as well as promoting artists' careers. Over the years their daughters have represented "about 16 or 17" artists from Vermont and beyond, according to Pickens. Among them are emerging artists who had their first solo shows at Northern Daughters.

During an interview at the gallery, Pickens and Jackson seemed wistful but resolved to move on. Why close now, after surviving the pandemic shutdown and selling out recent shows? "To create more space in our lives for other things," Pickens said simply. Jackson noted that the partners had been mulling this over for a year.

• Courtesy
• "Quiet in the Green" by Anne Cady

Some of those "other things" had already presented themselves. Both women have maintained outside jobs, including at the Vergennes-based nonprofit John Graham Housing & Services. And both now have daughters of their own — 5-year-old Constance and 2-year-old Ursula for Pickens; 5-year-old Estelle for Jackson. Shrieking with laughter, the children enlivened the otherwise serene gallery as their mothers reminisced about their shared history.

Pickens and Jackson grew up in houses just a stone's throw from each other in Bristol and were members of highly creative families. Jackson said she participated "from 2 weeks old" in the afterschool children's art classes that her mother taught for many years. "I think my ability to see and talk about art came from that," she said.

For her part, Pickens helped out in her parents' eclectic gift shop, Folkheart, absorbing retail savvy that later made her "badass at the nuts and bolts," as Jackson put it.

After college (Middlebury for Jackson, Vassar for Pickens) and spending a few years in Brooklyn, the friends "were brainstorming how to get back to Vermont," Jackson recalled. She'd already had experience running an art gallery, and Pickens had saved up money from a bartending gig. They agreed on a 50-50 partnership, came up with a name, and returned to Vermont in late 2015.

The building they settled on in Vergennes "was only the second place we looked at," Pickens said. With hardwood floors, white walls and tall storefront windows, it is clean, airy and welcoming. It's a space that, as their website states, "merges the aesthetic of blue chip galleries with the familiarity and authenticity of a Vermont general store."

In addition to their mothers, the young gallerists quickly acquired other artists, including Vermont painters Bonnie Baird and Hannah Sessions. "People started coming to us, too," Jackson said. Most of the artists they have exhibited are women.

Cady has long sold her paintings through her own studio, the Woodstock Gallery and other outlets, but when Northern Daughters opened in August 2016, she said, "I began putting more of my work there."

"I loved having my daughter and Sophie rep me for all these years," Cady said. "Pamela and I felt fortunate because they knew our work so well and knew how to talk about it."

"I had no idea the doors it would open," Smith said. "When you have work in a gallery, it gives you more legitimacy and exposure." Indeed. In recent years she's been selected for other Vermont exhibitions, including at the BCA Center in Burlington and the annual Art at the Kent show in Calais. The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore has collected her sculptures, and, in March, Smith will participate in a group show in Boston and the Outsider Art Fair in New York City.

"I thought they did a fantastic job," she added of Pickens and Jackson. "My understanding is that galleries don't last that long, so for them to last seven and a half years is remarkable."

• Courtesy
• "Held in Esteem" by Pamela Smith

The artworks Northern Daughters has presented over those seven years range from the dreamy impressionist landscapes of Julia Jensen to the architectonic color studies of Carla Weeks to the surreal mixed-media collages of Hannah Morris. But Pickens and Jackson said they've always largely agreed on an inexplicable quality they sum up as "energy."

"Aesthetically, they're on the same page," Cady observed. "They had to really like everything they brought in." She added that the gallerists have been "in sync" on every aspect of their enterprise, including its scope.

"We always wanted to keep it small," Pickens said. "We wanted to let [each artist] keep their own niche."

Visitors to the gallery this month can see works by 10 artists with individual visions and, yes, energies. The Northern Daughters website offers a "follow our artists" form for fans who'd like to keep up with their favorites.

Jackson and Pickens once again live a block apart in Bristol; their own daughters can grow up as friends. "It's been a wonderful experience to work with someone you really trust," Jackson said. "I think we're really fortunate that we've grown more together — even in deciding to be done."

"We're quitting while we're ahead," Pickens concluded.