We usually think of art galleries as intimidating, white-walled spaces with a snooty attendant at a desk, but Jaime Bull’s new gallery, Foyer, is in her house. Named for its location in the front hallway of Bull’s home, a pink Victorian at 135 Park Avenue in the Boulevard neighborhood of Athens, Foyer hosts several solo exhibitions a year, with hours that are mostly by appointment.
Bull is an artist herself, who received her master of fine arts degree from the University of Georgia and has exhibited all over the Southeast. She also teaches art classes at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. Her work is fun, colorful and feminist, making use of found objects like wicker furniture and brightly colored swimsuits.
Bull had always collected and hung work by other artists in her home, and she wanted to give them a new kind of space in which to show their work to other people. Galleries based out of people’s homes aren’t a new thing, even in Athens. Katie Geha, who now directs the galleries and the Athenaeum at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, used to run one out of her home in Austin, Texas. In places where real estate is expensive, it makes a certain kind of sense to have a space do more than one job. And without the pressure of having to make sales, gallery directors can feel free to show things that they find personally interesting.
Check out Foyer’s Instagram page at Foyer_Athens to find out what’s coming up or how to get in touch.