Push & pull: SOCO Gallery marks a decade of amplifying local talent — and attracting museum-quality artists to Charlotte.
by Cathy Martin
By square footage, SOCO Gallery, founded by Chandra Johnson in 2015, might be one of the smallest art galleries in town. Housed in a charming 1920s bungalow on Providence Road, SOCO shares space with menswear boutique Tabor and Not Just Coffee.
But don’t let its modest size fool you. Over the last decade, SOCO has become one of the region’s premier galleries, showing a highly curated mix of emerging and mid-career artists from across the country, and occasionally beyond. SOCO’s roster includes local artists — including sculptor Grace Stott, photographer Linda Foard Roberts and painter Scott Avett — and acclaimed national artists: Summer Wheat, The Haas Brothers and Clare Rojas, to name a few.
To celebrate its 10-year milestone, from May 29 – July 30 the gallery presents Layer Cake, an exhibition featuring new works by each of its 28 artists.
Loops, Spools, Pools, Halsey Hathaway, 2025
Like “a prism”
Started as a series of pop-ups, the gallery in its early days largely focused on photography. That quickly evolved, and today SOCO represents emerging and mid-career artists working in a variety of mediums. The mission of the gallery is twofold: to introduce new, high-quality artists to Charlotte collectors and to help top-tier local artists expand their reach beyond the Queen City.
“[Johnson] had the vision that she wanted to bring museum-quality artists that she was collecting and seeing at all these international art fairs to Charlotte,” says Hilary Burt, gallery director.
“She’s also called it a prism: bringing in outside ideas, but also pushing out the talent that is here. Because there are incredibly talented, museum-quality artists that are here that aren’t getting a national, international platform,” Burt says.
Doing that involves a ton of research, groundwork and relationship-building. Through studio visits, Zoom calls and visits to art shows, Burt and her staff often consult with an artist for one to three years before they show with the gallery.
For emerging artists, the goal is to help the artists reach the next level of exposure.
“We want to be a launching-off point for them, where, because of the exposure that we give them, then they can get picked up by a New York gallery or an LA gallery,” Burt says.
When searching for emerging or mid-career artists, the gallery looks for a diverse mix of not only mediums and techniques but also narrative voices. Price point and an easy working relationship are also key factors.
Expanding the reach
To further the gallery’s mission of lifting up artists, SOCO has published several books for artists and regularly attends international art fairs, including the Armory Show in New York, NADA Miami and the Dallas Art Fair.
“Those art fairs are an investment in our artists,” Burt says, expanding the artists’ geographic footprint with the ultimate goal of getting them placed in esteemed private collections.
With the gallery’s expansion into art fairs and publishing, its collector community has evolved, too, growing beyond its Southeastern roots.
Still, that hasn’t stopped SOCO from working hard to place works in the hands of local and regional collectors.
“We want to build those collections here,” Burt says. She calls it matchmaking.
“I lead with information: This is why this artist is important, this is what they’re doing. And then if someone loves it, I give more information. And then if that’s a good fit for them, fantastic.”
Mirage Fountain, Summer Wheat, 2024
Pushing boundaries
At SOCO, it’s not all about landing a big sale.
“Another goal is to make sure that we’re really presenting experimental work that’s of museum quality, and of artists who are doing alternative work that might not be so commercial, and push that as well,” Burt says.
Soil and Stars, a recent exhibition by Allison Janae Hamilton, is an example. The Kentucky-born artist’s vintage fencing masks, adorned with wooden flowers or rhinestone fringe, were inspired by an image of Black American WWII soldiers engaged in the sport. Intricately crafted and representing a disruption of social hierarchy, the masks might not share the universal appeal as the colorful geometric paintings by Halsey Hathaway, another gallery artist.
While the works at SOCO might exceed the price point of many casual art enthusiasts, the gallery’s shop sells books, small ceramics, candles and other giftable items. And SOCO’s bright, inviting location in the shared bungalow lends itself to browsing: grab a latte, peruse the art, leave inspired.
“Once [artists] come here, they love it,” Burt says. “I don’t have to convince them to show with us again.” SP
Layer Cake, a group exhibition of new works by 28 artists, is on view at SOCO Gallery through July 30.
Photographs courtesy the artists and SOCO Gallery. Featured image: Infinity by Linda Foard Roberts, 2018
