Homewood couple builds a love story in art and marriage with Gallery Annette

by

People

It started with a summer job and a sharp pair of eyes.

Anna Little was a college student in Auburn when she picked up a job at Jos. A. Bank. She never expected the cute assistant manager — Duncan Chancellor — to become her future husband, let alone her business partner in a Homewood art gallery inspired by family legacy and creative passion.

“He was my boss — once,” Anna joked, thinking back to their first meeting.

But despite their meet-cute, romance took its time.

It would be years before they married and had a family. And it would be three children later before they launched their own art gallery in a whirlwind decision in late 2025, renaming it Gallery Annette.

Back to the love story.

Both were dating other people when they met. The connection simmered through chance run-ins, including a later one at Auburn’s Sky Bar, before finally taking hold two years later.

“Duncan always had this work ethic and maturity that set him apart,” Anna said. “He was wise beyond his years, and that was so attractive to me.”

Plus, she said, he looked great in a suit.

Duncan, for his part, remembers the moment clearly. There was immediate chemistry.

“She walked in and I noticed those big blue eyes,” he said with a smile.

He soon admired her focus and her drive, too.

Their romance grew from shared faith and friendship to marriage — and, eventually, a new venture rooted in another shared love: art.

Their 2011 wedding reception took place in an art museum, a hint of what would come.

Duncan had been exposed early to folk art and galleries through his stepmother in Montgomery, even attending an arts magnet high school. Anna, meanwhile, had spent childhood afternoons learning from her aunt Annette Sanderson, a local interior designer, and Annette’s husband Ott, a prolific and playful artist whose work colored Anna’s early world.

The family had no shortage of love stories. Ott sketched a portrait of Annette the night after their very first date in 1958. The drawing became a cherished family keepsake and was displayed at Annette’s funeral last year as a testament to their long-lasting love story.

For Duncan and Anna, art lived in the background as the couple built parallel careers — Anna in risk management and accounting, Duncan in medical sales — and raised three daughters, Maggie James, Cate and Annie.

But their family path would shift suddenly and dramatically in late 2025, when longtime neighbors Jim and Lori Smith decided to retire from their beloved neighborhood gallery, Art Alley, at Edgewood’s 109 Broadway Street.

“Jim was walking his dog and said he was closing the gallery,” Duncan said. “I just blurted out, ‘Why don’t you sell it?’”

The idea stuck, even as uncertainty crept in.

With a 6-month-old baby, Annie, at home and a full-time job, Anna hesitated. (And yes, Annie had been named for Annette.)

Then their oldest daughter, Maggie James, asked a question that tipped the scales a few weeks later.

“She asked if I still wanted it,” Anna says. “I said, ‘I very much do.’”

It was, the Chancellors said, “a God thing.”

They named the gallery in honor of Annette and Ott — an intentional tribute to the creative force and entrepreneurial spirit that had shaped so much of Anna’s life.

“We just wanted to honor them,” Anna said simply.

That respect for legacy now threads through every decision.

Duncan handles artist relations, while CPA Anna brings structure, finance and long-view planning to the business.

It helps, they both say, that they learned to work together young — folding ties, greeting customers and learning patience in a retail store that feels worlds away now.

“It’s not always perfect, but we own it together,” Anna said. “We’ve naturally fallen into our lanes.”

Duncan agreed.

“My biggest enjoyment has been Anna coming along for the proposed ride and saying yes — and then watching her evolve into ownership, bubbling up with excitement to say, ‘What do we need to get done this week?’” Duncan said.

Anna shares her admiration for her husband in sweet, loving social media posts, praising him for being a dreamer, for pushing her to grow and for his selfless love in their new entrepreneurial plunge.

Since taking over, the Chancellors have retained many of the gallery’s original artists while introducing new voices and media — pop art, sculpture and playful modern pieces that connect across generations. Their older girls stop in after school. All three daughters are part of the family rhythm that the gallery now reflects. Their children even inspired them to enlist an 8-year-old local artist, who quickly sold her first painting for $75.

“We want this to be approachable, not a highbrow place,” Duncan said. “Original art for every budget — and a place where anyone can connect.”

That vision includes more than walls and frames.

The couple hopes to expand with after-school art classes, “sip-and-paint” nights and community events that will make the gallery a true gathering space. They are already renting the space for private showers and dinners.

“Art brings joy; it brings memories; it connects people,” Anna said. “Every piece in our home tells part of our story — and now, this gallery does, too.”

The love that started between retail shifts has become something lasting and public — something painted into the fabric of Homewood’s creative scene. And like any great gallery, it tells a story — not just of what hangs on the walls but of who built the walls and why.