We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lee Matney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Working with artists associated with the South and Athens, GA, has been an evolving series of projects since attending the University of Georgia in the 1980s. I found an art scene in Athens spearheaded by people like Jeremy Ayers, who inspired my art and photography. Jeremy was a Warhol Factory superstar. He mentored and inspired many people in Athens, including Michael Stipe, Brant Slay, and members of the B52s. My picture of Jeremy appeared in Grace Elizabeth Hale’s book Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture (2020 UNC Press). 17 years earlier, images of Jeremy appeared on exhibit in Athens. Jeremy also painted from my photographs featuring his muse, Ada Poole. These various projects and situations intersecting with my photography practice have magic but also some angst and determination to bring a greater practice into being. My interest expanded into curating exhibitions, and I worked in galleries in Virginia in the late 1990s but returned to Athens starting in 2003, where I found myself collaborating with artists such as Jill Carnes, Paul Thomas, and Vanessa Briscoe Hay. In 2009, I opened a gallery in Williamsburg, VA, originally featuring artists from Athens, GA, only, and we branched out to college professors associated with William & Mary and other universities. In 2013, I became more aware of Athens’ figurative painter, Art Rosenbaum, whom we have represented ever since. Rosenbaum mentored many. He was a Grammy award-winning musicologist and a professor at UGA. We found out he had been diagnosed with cancer in 2021, so we worked to curate a retrospective of his work in a museum setting. Courtney Gardner at Pearl Fincher Museum in Spring, Texas, with some assistance from Diana Blanchard Gross, started a conversation about an exhibition for Art Rosenbaum, which culminated with 2022’s Three Excellences of Culture, Art Rosenbaum and Friends, which featured paintings by Art Rosenbaum, photographs by his wife Margo as well as paintings from his colleagues and students. Also featured were works by some of the self-trained artists that Rosenbaum championed – namely Howard Finster and Dilmus Hall; this exhibit was a milestone for me and a validation of work going back to the 1980s, working with artists and creating art in Athens, GA, and in the spirit of Athens GA.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got into my industry by accident. I was an English major at the University of Georgia, and I became inspired by art after meeting Jeremy Ayers and others in Athens. It made me thirst for a stronger connection to the greater art world. Early on, my life was steeped in art via my best friend Glenn Shepard and his family, who were crucial patrons for Virginia artist Barclay Sheaks. Glenn is also an avid photographer and has become an anthropologist. His work in the Amazon exploring shamanism, ethnobotany, and photography has been an inspiration to my practice.
I started Linda Matney Gallery in 2010, which I named in tribute to my mother, who passed away from breast cancer in 2001.
I started in the gallery with a core group of artists from Athens, Georgia: Dana Jo Cooley, Rebecca Brantley, Charlotte Lee Paul Thomas, and me. I had been mentoring artists and facilitating some technical details for video art with Paul Thomas, which was a starting point for activities that launched the gallery,
The gallery is now known for many projects associated with college professors and students – primarily from William & Mary and Christopher Newport, SCAD, and the University of Georgia.
We have also branched out to artists associated with Texas. We provide consulting for investment art and art associated with museum collections. We also work as agents for artists wishing to interact more with prominent museums.
Those who know us know that the gallery’s mission is to magnify our artists’ stories and further align the contemporary gallery model with museums in Virginia and elsewhere. Artist Brian Freer recently recorded an interview with Steve Prince of the Muscarelle Museum and me, which has been a step toward an even stronger alignment and collaborative storytelling. I am proud of how we started with Athens, GA friends and branched out into many projects, including the Wiliam & Mary Seniors Capstone exhibit for the third year and collaborations with WM professors bringing art from London and elsewhere to Virginia. Projects with museums in Texas are in the works with Contemporary European artists, which are exciting to us and our patrons. We are open to experiments and taking risks some other galleries might be reluctant to take, and we allow artists wide latitude for experimentation while helping to mentor them and develop projects. We are loyal to our artists and have worked with them, developing their careers over many years. Conversations in private and public podcast-type programs have helped momentum toward new and fresh projects. Throughout many changes, we stay true to our vision to help artists achieve excellence in the long run via projects at the galley and behind-the-scenes coaching and consulting. Museum directors and art collectors value our research into projects and collections of artists who might have yet to be on their radar at first- Our efforts with Southern figurative art and photography have become more widely known in Virginia.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The story about how I reconnected with Athens Ga after a 9-year hiatus affirmed the authenticity of my experiences there. I certainly wasn’t feeling recognized for my work there in the mid-1990s, so I went elsewhere to seek validation and build my career after some advice from my friend Jeremy Ayers, who encouraged me to get out of town for a while. Going inward with a meditation on the next steps and meeting new mentors in Virginia was difficult at first but ultimately resulted in the success and development of my artistic vision in Virginia and back in Athens Ga where upon coming back in 2003, my work was featured in a full page article in the Athens Banner-Herald and the cover of Flagpole Magazine. It felt like something was driving me forward that reconnected me to Athens from a much stronger position than in the 90s, beyond the angst of quite a vast unknown when I left to an artistic practice that resonated with artists like Jeremy Ayers, surprisingly.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I have recently become interested in Rick Rubin’s podcasts on creativity. Studying Rubin’s work has helped me manage artists and build bridges with collectors., Early on, the meditative practice of Jack Kornfield was instrumental in my journey, especially as a photographer. These days, works by Rubin and others like him have helped me get out of my shell and express myself as a leader and advocate for contemporary art in the community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lindamatneygallery.com/
Image Credits
All photos by John Lee Matney