DIDI DUNPHY: After a full decade of leading the Lyndon House Arts Center as program supervisor, Didi Dunphy has officially retired. In addition to supervising the center’s various programs—gallery exhibitions, educational classes, an artist in residence program and an open studio membership program—she served as a liaison to the Athens-Clarke County government, the nonprofit Lyndon House Arts Foundation, various artist groups and the community at large. During her time at the center, she championed the Athens arts scene by supporting diverse and thought-provoking exhibitions, engaging programming and opportunities for professional development.
“I am so proud of the exhibitions, education, the studio membership and all the creative programming we have accomplished,” said Dunphy in a newsletter, “all of which would be impossible without this community, a community who advocates for the arts and artists. I thank you for this. I am also so very proud to have been part of an amazing team, the Arts Division, my wondrous and talented staff. I thank you all for making my job rewarding and frankly fun.”
Dunphy’s retirement has already been busy with full-time studio work in preparation for “Trip The Light Fantastic | Over Under & Travel Plans,” her solo exhibition that opened at whitespace in Atlanta on Aug. 3. Interested in industry fabrication, time-based media and detailed handwork, her candy-colored artwork and sculptural furnishings are both playful and joyful.
In addition to her own creative practice, Dunphy has extensive curatorial experience and has organized exhibitions for the Gallery and GlassCube at Hotel Indigo, Albany Museum of Art, Georgia Museum of Art, Classic Galleries at the Classic Center and other regional spaces over the years. We can look forward to many more independent curatorial projects to come.
Dunphy’s final day at the LHAC was June 21. The application period for the position has closed, and a new program supervisor should be announced within the coming weeks.
KATIE GEHA: Katie Geha, who has served as director and chief curator of the galleries at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art since 2013, has accepted a new position as director of Tadem Press, a premier publisher of fine art prints at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education.
After earning her PhD in modern and contemporary art from the University of Texas, Austin, Geha began her role as director of the Dodd Galleries. In addition to hosting both established and emerging artists from across the region and beyond, she encouraged student- and faculty-curated programming. For over a decade, she worked towards promoting Athens as a cultural hub in the Southeast while also fostering an educational environment rich with interdisciplinary programming.
In 2021, Geha oversaw the founding of The Athenaeum, a 5,000-square-foot contemporary art gallery in downtown Athens. Here, in addition to curating a traveling exhibition by renowned artist Kara Walker in 2023, she organized solo presentations by contemporary artists including Trevor Paglen and Paul Pfeiffer, Lisa Tan, Kameelah Janan Rasheed and Fabienne Lasserre.
“I have loved working at the Lamar Dodd School of Art these past eleven years,” said Geha in a news release. “The expansive spirit of the school encouraged me to build a strong program that models experimental exhibition-making for students. The collaborations I have been lucky to foster with artists, students, faculty, and our board and donors helped me grow immensely as an arts professional. I will hold these relationships close as I embark on a new adventure at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.”
Geha’s tenure at UGA ended on July 26, and recruitment for the next director and chief curator of galleries is currently underway. The Lamar Dodd School of Art has appointed interim directors for both galleries in the meantime. Annelies Mondi, former Georgia Museum of Art Deputy Director, will oversee the Athenaeum, and Mo Costello, a curator and former UGA photography faculty member, will oversee the Dodd Galleries.
TIF SIGFRIDS: This past June, local gallerist and curator Tif Sigfrids announced that she would be closing her eponymous art space to relocate to New York with her family and join the staff of Canada, an artist-run gallery in Tribeca, as a partner.
“About 10 years ago I opened my gallery in Los Angeles with a show by Joe Sola called ‘Portraits: An Exhibition in Tif Sigfrids’ Ear,’” said Sigfrids in a statement. “Being able to do that show and exhibit the work by the late Danish artist Albert Mertz were the two main impetus for having my own gallery. In the time since, I’ve operated spaces in Athens, GA and New York City. Each location the gallery has inhabited has expanded the community of artists, writers, curators and collectors I feel so lucky to have worked with over the last decade.”
Sigfrids relocated her gallery to Athens in 2018, sharing a sunny second-story space with fellow contemporary art gallery Howards downtown at the corner of Jackson and Broad streets. After a stint in Comer Coffee Co.’s historic building during the pandemic, the gallery returned to Athens proper and nestled itself into its most recent location on Finley Street. Beginning in 2021, Sigfrids also operated a second location in New York.
From Los Angeles to Athens to New York City, the gallery has hosted solo and group exhibitions with internationally recognized artists like Art Rosenbaum, Thomas Dozol, Nora Riggs, Adrianne Rubenstein, Mimi Lauter, Becky Kolsrud and Gracie DeVito. In her new capacity as a partner at Canada, she’ll be responsible for helping to guide the gallery’s programming and intends to present artists she’s worked with before, such as Hasani Sahlehe, who will be featured in September.
“The art world I stepped into back in 2013 was built around a community of friends that just keeps growing,” she said. “In this spirit of expansiveness and collaboration I’m so excited for this next chapter.”
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