by Judson Brown

The sunny storefront in Florence center, with its polished wood floors and high white walls, had the makings of a gallery.

Thanks to an unusual collaboration, space on those walls at 139 Main St. is indeed devoted to displaying art for sale, while its proprietor runs an accounting business.

Business has reportedly been good for accountant Rick Kristek. For painter Donna Estabrooks, that's been good news. Rick Kristek's Tax and Business Services doubles as the Donna Estabrooks Gallery.

One hand here, as they say, washes the other.

Estabrooks has a showcase for her work not far from her studio, in a converted factory on nearby Maple Street.

Kristek gets a percentage of each piece that Estabrooks sells. He also get a pleasant and inviting "decor."

"I didn't want it to look like a sterile hospital waiting room or a modern insurance office," Kristek says.

Her patrons are potentially his customers, and the other way around. Also, each is the other's customer.

Kristek says he decided to invite Estabrooks to show her work in his office after buying a large painting from her as a present for his bride.

The piece was a semi-abstraction of a flower with a suggestion of running water. It bore a title that Kristek, a self-described eternal optimist, says he could not resist: "Winter Always Turns to Spring."

Estabrooks, meanwhile, has hired Kristek to help with her finances.

He specializes in individual tax preparation and business accounting. He relocated to Florence this summer from smaller quarters in the old Gazette building at 16 Armory St. downtown.

At first, everything in the gallery-office was by Estabrooks. She is, by her own description, "prolific."

For the holidays, she hung a show featuring works with angels or pieces with angelic themes done by her and by some of her students and colleagues. She is an accomplished painter who taught as an artist-in-residence at the University of Massachusetts from 1982 to 1991.

Estabrooks is now seeking submissions from artists for a show on the theme of love that will open at the end of January and stay up through Valentine's Day The show also will coincide, she notes with a grin, with Kristek's busy time. He already is busy preparing tax returns, and expects to get a lot busier.

Artists interested in having their work included in the show may call her at 586-3869.

Meanwhile, there is an additional level of entrepreneurial-artistic symbiosis going on in this building. A stack of brochures on a cabinet tell of a third business in the basement: "Freelance Cartooning Graphic Designing Studio" owned and operated by Kristek's son Matt, a Northampton High School sopho more, and his friend Eric Doyle.