Have a Piece of Sheet Cake

Lauren Kennedy’s new gallery is an artistic invitation.

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Lauren Kennedy wanted her own art gallery. Mind you, for a while she had all of Memphis as her gallery. But another dream was tugging at her sleeve.

Kennedy was executive director of the UrbanArt Commission (UAC) from 2015 until this September. In that role, she championed public art, working with neighborhoods, public and private clients, the City of Memphis, and scores of artists. The multidisciplinary results literally paint the town, inside and out, giving expression to the creative community and visualizing the region’s culture.

Her tenure realized an investment of $6 million in new public art projects, with more than 60 artists commissioned, work acquired from 100 artists for display in public spaces, neighborhood installations, libraries, and of course, Memphis International Airport.

The UAC’s most widely known project is the airport collection that was presented in 2022 in the newly opened Concourse B. Works by more than 60 Memphis-connected artists are on display. Artworks hang on the walls, from the ceiling, and are integrated into the terminal’s design.

It was a big idea and a big deal, but Kennedy felt that it was time to shift directions. “That program at the airport made me really realize how much I missed curating and getting to just trust my gut,” she says. So, with a new baby and a successful stint at presenting public art, she submitted her resignation from UAC.

Her new gallery — Sheet Cake — opens this month in the Edge District. But it’s not her first effort at her own exhibition space. In college, she interned at Ballet Memphis. When she graduated from Rhodes College, she moved to Dallas and worked with arts groups there. Kennedy returned to Memphis in 2012 to work as partnership manager at Ballet Memphis.

At the same time, she inaugurated Southfork, an alternative gallery in her own apartment. “It was really a way for me to keep one foot in the fine art world,” she says, “while I was working full-time in this other performing space.”

Southfork was not intended as a commercial endeavor but more of a way to connect people. “I’ve always found it gratifying to help get artists’ work in front of other people,” she says. Around the same time, the gallery Beige, run by Joel Parsons and Steven McMahon, was also operating. The two venues complemented each other with what Kennedy calls a “speakeasy vibe.”

She says, “It got to a point where people that I had never met or seen before were hearing about the openings, so people were coming that were totally new to me, and that was really cool. It felt like there was this community of people who were hungry to see art in that way, and to see things that they weren’t seeing at other galleries or museums in town.”

When she accepted the very public job at the UrbanArt Commission, she had to reclaim her home space.

The experience of having her own gallery on her own terms shaped what she’s doing with her new space. Sheet Cake is at 405 Monroe, and that’s right where Kennedy wanted it. The space used to be an auto body shop. The owner was fixing it up and had added front windows with an idea of having a gallery space. “He’s been good [about] letting me get into the mix and make decisions about finishes and details,” Kennedy says. “The space is bigger than I expected it to be, so I feel like I’m going to have to grow into it, but I feel really good about it.”

She’s creating two gallery spaces. One is a viewing area dedicated to work that’s not part of an exhibition. In the lobby, she’ll have a shop with limited-edition art objects as well as art books. “Outside of being committed to the artists I’m trying to support, I want it to be a place that makes people feel like collecting art is accessible — something that they can do. So I’m having everything from $50 to $10,000-plus — a wide variety of price points — and a payment plan option.”

Kennedy is fully aware of what it’s like going into a gallery and feeling unsure when it comes to asking about pricing. “I want it to feel warm and engaging and make people feel like they know how to navigate it,” she says. “And if they don’t, then they can ask.”

She is establishing her niche in the local art marketplace, which she’s studied for a long time.

“We don’t have a huge gallery scene here. From my time in Dallas, I got this sense for how it feels to have a lot of activity, and it’s something that I’ve missed about being there,” she says. “I love Memphis, and I’ve always wanted to help cultivate some of the vibe that I experienced in other places, in terms of [an] art scene [that feels] vibrant, supportive, and exciting. I think that there are definitely people in town who are collecting art and who are doing it thoughtfully and smartly, but I think that there’s a lot of people in town who aren’t — but have the potential to.”

Kennedy sees how a key segment of the market needs to be engaged a bit differently. “I’ve gotten to talk with David Lusk as well as Matt Ducklo from Tops Gallery, and they’ve been supportive about me doing this too,” she says. “There honestly feels like a rising tide floats all boats kind of dynamic, because the more we have people engaging with this kind of practice and experience, the more they’re going to seek it out in other places and ways. There’s a lot of great opportunity that I’m going to try to tap into.”

It’s through art that Kennedy expects to attain her goal of bringing people together. “In terms of the artists and the patrons that I would love to build up, I want people who are here and people who are coming in from outside,” she says. “I think that exchange of ideas and connections is really important. And I love the idea of going to an art fair in New York and having a ‘Sheet Cake, Memphis, Tennessee,’ sign and taking some people from here to collectors there. There’s a lot of value in that.”

Her time at the UAC contributed meaningfully to preparing her for an entrepreneurial role. “Certainly the nonprofit life teaches one to wear many hats and to juggle lots of things,” she acknowledges. “With the job at the UAC, there was always a healthy dose of fear for me in managing a budget of that size, working in other people’s spaces, and trying to help facilitate other people’s art. You don’t let it become a paralyzing fear, but it is a motivation.

“I’m certainly carrying that into what I’m doing with Sheet Cake,” she continues, “because it teaches you to be thoughtful and intentional. And there are so many relationships and knowledge of different players in the game that I’m able to leverage in this space as well. There are definitely learning curves for me, but I’ve long done things as trial by fire, so this no different.”

The name Sheet Cake came about as a perfectly natural expression of Kennedy’s desire to pull artists and art lovers together.

“It’s an invitation,” she says. “It’s for the artists and the folks coming into the space where art and hospitality overlap. I didn’t grow up in a family where we were seeking out art and art spaces or institutions, but it’s just something that I found myself gravitating towards. And my family lovingly and boldly went with me in this direction and have enjoyed all that we’ve gotten to do together.”

Kennedy recalls the unease she once felt entering galleries and feeling she lacked requisite but mysterious knowledge or background.

“That hospitality of the space is really coming from that experience and a born-and-bred Southern woman,” she says. “I will always remember two girlfriends meeting me at my grandmother’s house after school one day, and she just randomly got up and started making a box cake. And that’s probably where it comes from.”

Kennedy wanted a name that radiated warmth and welcome. “I was thinking, ‘I want you to come on in. I want you to have some of whatever you’re looking for.’ That kept playing out in my head. Sheet Cake just hit me randomly, standing at a concert of all places, and then it just kept going.”

Sheet Cake has some 14 artists lined up for exhibitions in coming months. Kennedy liked their work and felt they fit her notions of artistic quality, diversity, and a wide variety of approaches.

“One of the things that’s so great about this experience is that I get to work with somebody because I like their work,” Kennedy says. “And one of the freedoms for me is that I feel comfortable leaning in to say, ‘You know what? I like that.’”

Particular characteristics of artwork draw Kennedy in. “I love when I see humor, especially a sharp kind of intelligent humor in work,” she says. “And one of the painters has all of these lovely art-historical references in what she’s doing. There’s definitely a lot of work in there about representation in terms of queer folks, artists, people of color. That’s so incredibly important. At the end of the day, I’m looking for things that feel high-quality and that there’s a resonance with what I feel is the spirit of the space, and I think that everybody’s bringing something to the table.”

She says Sheet Cake will present a rich variety of media, including ceramic sculpture, paintings, enamel, and photography. “There’s going to be some weird stuff, and there’s going to be some more conventional stuff. I want people to get a great sampling of what is out there.”

Sheet Cake Gallery opened December 1, 2023, with a group exhibit featuringJoel Parsons, Clare Torina, Roger Allan Cleaves, Althea Murphy-Price, Brittney Boyd Bullock, Ariel Dannielle, Alexis Pye, Anthony Sonnenberg,Renata Cassiano Alvarez, Stephanie Howard, Khara Woods, Erin Harmon, Melissa Dunn, and Kong Wee Pang. The artists will exhibit with Sheet Cake between January 2024 and Spring 2025.