Openings at Laney Contemporary are always an event. It’s a place to see and be seen. Dressed to the nines, people sip wine and cocktails. Conversations bubble as patrons, artists, collectors and curators come together to bounce around new ideas and celebrate amazing artwork. Susan Laney, owner of Laney Contemporary, stands out in the crowd. If you’ve ever visited the gallery you’ve probably met her. She is extremely generous with her time – greeting and speaking with everyone who comes through the doors of her gallery. This year is Laney Contemporary’s fifth anniversary, but Susan has been a major part of the Savannah art scene for much longer. Beginning as an assistant to Jack Leigh – she’s now the executor of his estate. She’s opened multiple galleries, served on the board of art nonprofits, and created a home for a cadre of local and regional artists. Laney is and has been a beacon for the arts in Savannah.

Recently, she was kind enough to take some time out of her hectic schedule to sit down with IMPACT and talk shop.

Jon Witzky: This Curtis Patterson show was something very different for you, and a very impressive exhibition - can you tell me how that came about?

Susan Laney: When I went to visit Curtis [Patterson], I was just blown away by his studio, by all of the maquettes and photographs of these huge sculptures - huge commissions that he’s done all over the country. I kept looking around thinking, “What’s my entry point? How do I present this in a gallery?”

He’s never really been a gallery artist. He had a show at Nexus, which is now Atlanta Contemporary – filled with really large pieces – like the one downstairs, Water for Mandela, and also, Fire for Biko, from that same series. So I was concerned about what my entry point was going to be. We got back to this curved wall that was at the back of his studio, and he had these cardboard maquettes of these masks on the wall – I loved them.

I asked, “are you going to make these masks?” And he said, “Well, yea ...mm… I’m thinking about it.” So then we went and looked through the rest of his studio, and I was just trying to wrap my head around everything.

JW: Right

SL: So, six months passed after the first visit. And I get a random phone call from Curtis and he was like, “I made ‘em.” And I was like, “Wait, what?” So then I set up a studio visit with Melissa Messina and Sarah Higgins from Art Papers. Melissa immediately was like, “I want to curate this,” and I said, “Ok.” I would say from the first meeting that I had with him – it was like a year and a half to two years, from the first meeting to the show.

JW: It’s such a challenging body of work for the space and Curtis is really unique in your roster of artists.

SL: Curtis is one of those artists who’s so unusual, because so many artists come from the school of: You go to school, and if you want to be a fine artist, then you paint and you show your paintings, and then you paint some more and you show your paintings. And the venues may change, and the circumstances may change - maybe there’s a group of artists that does a show in the beginning, or maybe you’re showing your work in an unusual venue, and then you’re showing your work in a gallery, a different kind of gallery, or a gallery in a different city. But you know, so few people that I’ve ever met have just completely stayed true to being a working artist all the time, and taken a totally different path that did not include any of that. And that was him. You know, he taught for 30 years – and was not interested in being in a museum or gallery show. So for me to be able to talk him into that – it’s almost like I had to talk him into it.

JW: So if he wasn’t doing gallery or museum shows what was he up to?

SL: Yeah, he was making these works, and some smaller works, but the majority of his time after he retired from teaching was spent making these really big commissions.

SL: The Andrew Young Sculpture that’s downtown in Atlanta. The Jesse Owens monument, Celebration for a Champion in Columbus, Ohio. He would win these amazing commissions all over the country. He had two really substantial works in Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport. The way that he worked in his studio, and the gear that he had to wear – and it was so fun: We went to pick up a couple pieces and he was welding a piece together across the room, and I’m watching him work - it’s just like breathing for him. You know?

I think I was really naive about the amount of work that it was going to be, too. I knew it was going be a ton of work – I knew I had to be really considerate about how I was going to present it, how I was going to push out the information into the world. I ran into Thelma Golden in Venice later in the year and she said, “That Curtis Patterson show was really amazing!”

JW: Wow!

(laughter)

SL: I was like, “Oh my gosh, where am I? This is pretty cool.”

JW: Wild.

SL: It was wild. But that’s happening: the art world is getting smaller, and people are paying attention. We’ve got a really great roster of people that we believe in here, and we’ve kept it very small so that we can take care of our artists and do a good job for them, but we also want to pay attention to what’s happening in our community, because we want to see everything get better and everything be supported. We had somebody in here today, in the middle of the day, during five other things that were going on, and he was so articulate about how he wanted to be an artist and went to art school for a really long time. And he was like, “I know I’m asking about all of these pieces and I’m not really ready to buy yet –” and I was like, “No no no, you don’t ever have to say that to us. If you want something, you let us know, but other than that, just enjoy your time here and ask questions, or come to artist talks and enjoy your visit.”

JW: Exactly.

SL: People should always feel like they can just come and enjoy whatever we’re putting on, because the beauty of this is we are off the beaten path, and if they’re coming, they want to see artwork.

JW: That’s right. So you were a photographer. You got your degree at SCAD in Photography – I know you were doing some pretty amazing looking palladium prints, is that right?

SL: Platinum palladium prints, yeah. It’s a process where you’re making platinum and palladium light-sensitive. So instead of a silver gelatin print, where you’ve got your paper that’s made in a factory, and you’ve got your emulsion and light-sensitive material built into layers, in this case you’ve got watercolor paper that you’re coating a light-sensitive material on. So you can print in the sun, or you can print it in – what I like to call my “printing oven” – because it had a drawer that would open and I had layers of things to sandwich the negative to the paper that I had coated. I would do that, and then I would do gum bichromate layers over the top of that. So it was like multiple layers of a photograph. Sometimes pretty abstract, and sometimes you could read all of the components of it and know what you were looking at. I did that for a number of years and showed my work in Atlanta, Savannah, Charleston – but then I just decided that I would rather support artists, and I don’t feel like I can do what I’m doing now and also be an artist.

JW: It’s very difficult.

SJ: Impossible for me - with the way that I want to do things.

JW: Did you meet Jack Leigh in that way, because you were a photographer?

SL: No, actually a good friend of mine said that somebody had to take a leave of absence at Jack Leigh Gallery, so I went in for an interview. And he said, “Will you help us out for a while? We don’t need you for a long time,” and he knew I was working at SCAD, and I was working another job, and I was a full-time student. And I was like, “Sure!” Because I’m –

(Laugher)

JW: As you always have been?

SL: Apparently. And so I went in, and you know, it’s so interesting – I was really into Joel-Peter Witkin and some kind of darker work at that time period in my life – and I went in, and I had never really connected with his work, but when I met Jack and realized how authentic his work was and who he was and why he was making it, and then spent some time with the images – it was one of those learning experiences where things just open up for you. And we hit it off. When the person came back, the position was over – but Jack said, “You know, I really don’t have a position for you, but I really don’t want you to not be here anymore. How about you work every other Sunday, so you stay connected with the gallery? You’re busy anyway, but then that way we get to catch up.” And so we did that for a while, and then I went to work for SCAD as an Exhibition Designer for a few years, and that was a really great learning experience as well, because we were cataloging the permanent collection, which was amazing. It’s now even much more amazing than it was then. And we were also – there were quite a few more galleries at SCAD at the time, so we were doing all of the thesis shows and hanging all of that.

JW: Where are you from?

SL: I grew up in Jacksonville until I was 8, then moved to Atlanta, and then moved here for SCAD. So a little triangle. But so, after I worked for SCAD for a couple of years, I was getting ready to move to the West Coast – like plans were in process – and Jack called me and was like, “I’m ready for a full-time Director. Will you come back to work here? I will make this position for you, I want it to be not hourly, I just want it to be a salaried position, this is my expectation…” So I did that. And then I was there for a very long time after that. That I think was ‘98, and then he passed away in 2004. And then I kept the gallery open until the end of 2007.

JW: And after that, did you have another gallery?

SL: So Jack Leigh Gallery closed in 2007, and then June Stratton, an amazing painter, who is a friend of mine, had a gallery called the Whitney Gallery. And she said, “You know, I’ve been doing this for a very long time, and I’d really love your energy here. We could run the gallery; we could switch off days that we’re in the gallery, and you could bring your artists in.” It’s a very different thing when you come up with your own concept for how you move forward and what you want to present, how you want to present it, and what you want your stable to be – and so I think, inevitably, I really wanted to figure all of that out. So we did that for a while, maybe a year. After that I was an independent dealer – I curated Westobou a few times. I did six exhibitions for SCAD, including a retrospective for Jack Leigh in 2017. That was a big show with a lot of research – research that was such a joy for me to be able to do, because they sent us to UGA and we were able to look through letters and books.

It was just perfect timing, and also I was working with a co-curator that was super excited about working on it, so it was fun to collaborate with him and talk about concepts. It just told a slice of his story, but it was the slice that I knew, and it included works by other photographers that inspired him, like George Tice and Sally Mann. I discovered things about this Sally Mann print [a beautifully moody untitled photograph from 1996] that I was so excited to know, and ended up borrowing it from the High Museum. So I was in their archive and looking at everything. I asked Brett Abbott, who was the photography curator at the time: “Is that Wormsloe?” And he’s like, “I don’t know.” So I ask, “Are there any notes on this work?” Because it was made for Picturing the South, which is an initiative at the High Museum. And he says, “No, there’s nothing.” So I emailed Sally Mann, and she says, “I can’t tell you.” And I’m thinking, “Ok, weird.” Thirty minutes later I get another email from Sally, she says, “Well, I thought about this, and all the players are probably doctors and lawyers now, so…” Basically, she was driving by Wormsloe and the light was gorgeous, but the gates were locked. And she’s thinking, “I’ve gotta get in there.” Well, there were these kids riding by on their bikes, and she asked them, “Is there any way I can get in?” And they were like, “Hold on!” And they rode around inside and unlocked the gates and let her in.

JW: Cool (laughs) That’s a great story. I love it.

SL: Just kind of a fun discovery.

SL: So I did six shows for SCAD in different locations – around 2014.

JW: You were involved in Westobou?

SL: The first Westobou show was such an interesting learning curve. I mean, all of these things that you work on when you’re putting things together. I did the first Statts Benefit, the big one where we had three bands and over 125 works of art and a ton of people that had donated all kinds of things. It was really important to raise a bunch of money so I worked on that for a long time, and that in and of itself was just such a good learning curve for me. Just organizing people and ideas, you know?

JW: Yeah

SL: At the Jack Leigh Gallery, it was really about cultivating clientele and getting the work out there. And everything else has been much more layered in the responsibilities.

JW: So, did you kind of fall into this? Because, I mean you went to school for photography –

SL: Yeah, I totally fell into it. I had never really thought about running a gallery or working in a gallery. My mom had worked in a gallery – she was a painter. She had never talked about it in a positive or a negative way. It just didn’t seem that impactful in retrospect. It was in Jacksonville. You know, and after Jack and I were going to AIPAD – do you know AIPAD? The Association of International Photography Art Dealers. So it’s like the big photo show that would happen – pretty much the biggest in the world. And it would happen once a year in New York City. It used to be at the New York Hilton, and then it moved to the Park Avenue Armory. It was beautiful in the Armory because it was just like this boutique – and that’s where I learned about all of the galleries in the world. You know, you can look at Artforum all day, but when you’re there, seeing these specialized galleries that are the best photo galleries in the world, and the way they present in this little booth – You know, it’s a lot cooler to go to the actual gallery, but this is a pretty close second, because you’re seeing what they’re excited about presenting.

JW: Yes, very important.

SL: I started going to that fair in the 90’s, and I think the only year I ever missed was the year my daughter was born. And I just learned so much about things – and then that’s how I sort of branched out into thinking about art presentation outside of my own community. I got involved with AIPAD because I was working with an artist, and there was one last print of an edition of seven, it was the image that I had told her she should put on the cover of her book. And she did, and the book did really well, and that image was the fastest-selling image. So there was one left, and this LA gallery had it. I had never talked to this guy at the gallery before, I called him up and I was like, “I have a client to buy this last photo.” And so we had to negotiate, and he was giving me a hard time. But anyway, after we did that and we sold it, I called him back and I was like, “Do you need any help at AIPAD? I know you show there every year.” And he was like, “Huh?” Nobody does stuff like that! I mean this is 2007 – nobody had someone that they didn’t work with in their gallery come and help in a booth.

JW: No?

SL: Now everybody does it. But at the time, he was like, “Uh…” So I got up there and I got to be the book-schlepper. I was carrying the heavy boxes of Jeffrey Milstein’s new book and helping with the book signing, and just doing whatever I could to be helpful, but also seeing all of the really interesting conversations and getting to go to the events that the dealers were at after the fairs, so that I was able to just sort of experience the other side of things, you know? Instead of being a viewer, I got the insider perspective. And it was really interesting, but it also told me that we had been on the right path, you know?

JW: I’m thinking about when you first started Laney. Now this is your fifth year, right?

SL: Yes.

JW: You talked about the importance of the community in general. I think you’ve been very instrumental in keeping the arts scene fresh and alive here. What do you hope for Savannah as we move forward?

SL: So, when I was first living here – I mean, there have been so many great galleries. I don’t know if you know this, but Blanche Nettles Powers had the most gorgeous gallery. It was right across from where the Jack Leigh Gallery was, next to the fire station on Oglethorpe and Abercorn. There have been so many people with great vision that have started something really wonderful here. And my hope is that people will continue to do that, and find the kind of support that will allow them to continue so that we can grow. The reason that we started ARC Savannah [Artist Resource Collective] – I left to open the gallery, because I didn’t want to sit around the board table anymore, but – I mean, truly, the whole reason I was interested in that was to make Savannah known as more of an arts destination. Because we have so many talented artists here that don’t have enough exhibition opportunities, or really just enough around to support them. Savannah certainly is a great historic destination, but I think it’s just as interesting as an arts and cultural destination. I just want to see that recognition and growth and support, you know?

I feel like you see the same people come out over and over, and I’m working really hard right now because I continue to hear stories of people feeling intimidated or uncomfortable in galleries. I hear that, not necessarily about us, but just in general. And I want people to realize that they’re welcome, but also that it’s a learning experience, and hopefully that will lead to art appreciation. But not everything’s for everybody, and you don’t have to think it is. You don’t have to not go to an abstract show because you think you don’t like abstract art. Maybe you would gain something from hearing the artist speak about why they make this work. It can change everything. And it can also sort of change your experience in the world, and how you see it - how artists are communicating and how they’re presenting. Because the artists are the creators, they’re the thinkers, they’re the ones that are doing something outside of the norm, they’re the ones that are making the leap and taking the faith to be themselves and to present in such a way that we can all learn from. And sometimes they say something that’s completely off the wall and it takes us a while to figure it out, and maybe it takes them a while to figure it out too. That’s what’s so interesting. You know? So it’s not just a commodity, it’s also an experience. And I think some people may take issue with this, but – when you’re buying a piece of original art, you’re not just buying something to put on your wall, to live with. You get that amazing benefit, but you’re also supporting an artist and allowing them to be able to make Savannah their home. And the more that people are doing that, they’re helping shape the cultural fabric of our home, you know? I think that’s something that some people don’t think about, how important that part is.

JW: I love that. That’s very true, and a very exciting thing about supporting artists in general. Along the same lines, what do you look for in artists you choose for your gallery? I think that you’ve said to me a few times, maybe off-the-cuff statements about – especially about the show that’s up right now – and about Todd Schroeder, and about how… I can’t remember how you put it… something about what their work does to people… I thought that was very funny when you said it.

SL: No, that’s true though! Yeah, there’s definitely… I think we’ve shown our fair share of work that has sort of an experiential sort of nature. Even Namwon’s [Namwon Choi] show downstairs, you walk in and every single one of her pieces has an effect on the way you’re seeing it, because of the way that she’s using color and because of the way that she’s using the space. So it’s not about the super-detailed painting. It’s about her presentation and the way that she’s making the viewer experience it. So that’s super intentional for her, and also for Hasani [Sahlehe], who believes that being and painting are kind of the same thing, like the line isn’t there. And it’s very much an experience of his love of music. But our roster is fairly small, and it’s actually the reason that a few of the artists that we have taken on have wanted to be here. Like Amy Pleasant, she’s uber-talented, and Amy and her husband [The Fuel and Lumber Company] are curating the next show… did Emma tell you that?

JW: Yeah.

SL: I mean, their shows are so good. It’s really exciting.

JW: Yeah I remember, I mean I only moved here in 2018, and so –

SL: I remember when you were new here, yeah.

JW: It’s one of the first places I came to – I was so excited to find this gallery. You must’ve only been around for a little bit at that point.

SL: So, we worked out of a building – because Stella [Susan’s daughter] was at an age where she – not that it’s really changed much – but she couldn’t let me sit and do my work, she just was like this [pantomimes tapping].

JW: (laughs) Yeah.

SL: So Allison and I moved – we didn’t have this room yet, so we had our computers in the mirrored gallery. And it was just her and me, and yeah – I think that was maybe a year and a half, and we were working on the SCAD exhibitions and doing different stuff. And you know, people were asking, “What are you gonna do?” And I’m saying, “Well, eventually I’m going to open a gallery,” and I just had to pick the date. And I remember Katherine Sandoz saying, “You ready, you ready?” And I was like, “My back end is not done, I don’t have a business plan,” and she says, “Just open already.” Still, to this day I am a bit regretful that I didn’t get a few other things lined up before I jumped both feet in –

JW: Really?

SL: But she was right, also. You know?

JW: Yeah. I remember I came in – that must have been Marcus Kenney’s show here – I had no idea who Marcus was at the time, I was asking you questions about the work, and you’re like, “Oh, this is Marcus right here!” It was a very funny day.

SL: I mean that’s the thing that’s interesting – you know, when we had Betsy Cain’s show, she spent a lot of time here at the gallery during the whole show. And part of the reason for that is that there were all of these people that were coming to Savannah to see the exhibition. Like, super excited about it. So she would meet people here. People would say, “I’m gonna come see your show, I would love to talk to you about it,” and she was like, “Ok, I’ll bring sandwiches, we’ll have lunch, we can talk about the show.” And it was this really great gift to our community for an artist to be that accessible. You know, and it’s an unusual situation. You don’t go into a gallery in San Francisco and meet the artist half the time. But it is a wonderful part of what we are able to present here, it’s not always like that.

JW: Well when I think about, “What do I hope for Savannah?” You know, and being kind of an outsider, being new here, but being totally invested in being here, it’s like: I want more of this. I want more galleries. I think every time a gallery shuts down, it stabs me in the heart a little bit. So I really have a lot of respect for you and what you do here.

SL: Thank you. I mean a lot of people don’t realize how hard the gallery works, to raise the bar and to present things in a certain way. It’s been tough to see some of the galleries close, especially during Covid. And things have happened, but I agree. I think there needs to be more. And I think, on that note, when you have people like, “I really want you to review my work for your gallery,” you know? Our website says we’re not taking submissions, and part of the reason is that I can’t do my job well for the people who I already represent – there’s only so much time in a day. But I want to know what people are doing, I want to be a connector. But the more people that have that kind of attitude, the better. And the more connectivity there is for everybody, I think. But you know, it’s the same story too – because there was a woman that is very, very well-known in the photography world, and she helps photographers – fine art photographers, mostly – Mary Virginia Swanson - and she came to SCAD and taught a couple of branding classes, she would teach a class on how to present yourself and what to do – and I tell this story all the time about how I was going to have an exhibition at a very well-known Atlanta gallery, and this person came in and they loved my work. They were the new photography curator at that gallery – and my work was left there, it was on consignment, the show was being set up, and then I didn’t hear anything. And it was just this whole thing that happened, and I got the whole backstory from Jane Jackson, and it was a very disappointing thing. It wasn’t that my work wasn’t loved by them, but something went wrong internally, and it crushed me.

JW: Terrible

SL: And it’s like, you know, if you really want to be an artist, you can’t let any of that stuff bother you – like, yeah, it’ll give you a bad day, but you can’t let it do anything to you. Because if you can stand up to all of those things, then you can do anything.

JW: Very true.

SL: You just have to keep believing in your work, and you have to keep moving forward and not letting anybody make you feel bad about something that you feel good about. But, you know, I’d really like to be able to get back to every single person that sends us an email and is trying to show us their work, or wants to have a studio visit. Eventually we’ll be able to do that, but it’s not right now. And people take such offense at it, and it’s like: I still want to know what people are doing, but it’s probably going to be better served by, if you’re interested in this gallery, come to our events, so I can get to know you as a person, and then when you have a show, I’m gonna want to go to it.

JW: That’s such an important thing that I think especially young artists don’t understand. It’s like, just be present. Go to the gallery, you know. Sending your work blindly is just sending your work blindly.

SL: Yeah, it’s pointless. You don’t have a background, don’t know a person, can’t tell what it is on a sheet of paper or, you know – no longer on a CD, but, you know – on a website or whatever – it’s not the same.

JW: Yeah, my mom was an artist, and I remember she used to have these books of –

SL and JW: Slides!

JW: And like, how crazy that is.

SL: I had that!

JW: Wild.

SL: Yeah, I had it. I still have it, it’s in my darkroom somewhere – but it’s probably moldy or something.

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