Location/Address: 915 B Montgomery Street, Savannah, Georgia 31401
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday from 1pm-6pm, by appointment
Website: https://www.cleothegallery.com/
Founded by: Jeanette McCune
Operated by: Jeanette McCune (Director) and Elizabeth Sloas (Gallery Assistant)
Opened: 2020
Most Recent Exhibitions: Crisp Kitsch, on view until December 10, 2023, with work by Sara French, Theo Skeete, Ben Tollefson, Angelica Lorenzi, and Neal Hollinger / NADA Miami 2023 with work by Emily Llamazales* and Sam Newton, running from December 5-9, 2023.
Isabella Marie Garcia: One of the first things that caught my attention about the space was the four-letter namesake. Who is CLEO?
Jeanette McCune: I get this question all the time and honestly the answer always changes. Though at the root of it, I’ve always liked the name and being able to humanize the work that I do at the gallery. It is a complete extension of self so whenever someone calls me Cleo I answer regardless.
IMG: In your mission statement, you emphasize the importance of transparency when it comes to listing the allocation of funds tied to exhibitions, the established value of artist honorariums and shipping reimbursements for those coming in to showcase work from outside of Savannah, and the overall goal of shifting the power dichotomy between an art gallery and its artists. What became the motivating factor to center CLEO as an innovative model for financial honesty when it comes to the commercial art world, and what results—both positive and negative—have you witnessed in implementing this model?
JM: I’ve always wanted the Cleo model to join in the larger call for transparency that has gained so much traction in every industry over the last decade. We live in a time where proper compensation of labor is considered a privilege rather than a necessity. The arts generate so much for the economy and yet the majority of people in this industry never seem to see exactly what they are due. We love W.A.G.E. and have been using their budget calculator to make sure our next round of shows are financially in line with our values, it’s definitely been a great resource. Cleo’s total expense is tiny compared to the larger scope of galleries and institutions in the art world but we just want to make sure we are doing our best with what we have to propel the conversation of proper resource allocation. The response to our mission so far has been mostly positive. There are many people who have remained critical of our model’s ability to survive, including some artists who have worked in the industry, and they have every right. The truth is it takes an incredible amount of energy and time to produce even the little success we have seen, but I am wildly stubborn and poised to make this model sustainable. I am hoping eventually we can produce a roadmap for other small project spaces to work smarter from our mistakes as well as wins.
IMG: Tell me more about CLEO’s library. What made you wish to offer arts-based literature as a resource for the community to enjoy?
JM: My love of art books all started when I was working as a book binder for Anteism in Montreal. It is a small studio and publisher that is incredibly considerate of the craft and takes so much care in picking its catalog. Through their experience I was exposed to so many artists and titles that I gained a deep respect and appreciation for. From then on I formed an opinion of my own taste and later a small personal collection. Cleo has been a way to share that collection with the arts community of Savannah and expose others to artists who use print as an extension of their own bodies of work: artists who aren’t necessarily available to do shows at Cleo but are offering an intro to their work through a more accessible medium.
IMG: How do you hope CLEO enriches Savannah’s arts ecosystem and what do you have planned for the next year in exhibitions, programming, goals, etc.?
JM: We are becoming a non-profit project space in January 2024. It is such a big game changer in terms of what we will be able to show and the events we will be able to put on. Cleo will continue the mission of showcasing emerging artists and offering financial support for exhibiting but this transition will lead the way for even more experimentation without the constraints of an art market dictating rosters, mediums, and themes. This past year we have implemented weekly artist talks with local makers and those have been received extremely well. Hopefully through fundraising initiatives we will be able to offer those events ticketed according to sliding scale or donation in 2024. I am also aiming to host more Cleo dinners which include collectors, artists, industry professionals, and friends coming together to casually discuss the work on view while enjoying food made by local Savannah chefs. Caitlin McDonagh will be starting 2024 off with a custom mural in our space as she completes the first ever collaborative effort between Cleo the Gallery and Sulfur Studios to host an artist in residence at their space and a final exhibition at ours. Stay tuned!
*Emily Llamazales was the former Development and Program Coordinator at Burnaway from 2019-2023. Editorial decisions on coverage were made independently.
