A Half-Century of Vision: Moody Gallery Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Donna Tennant·
HoustonVisual Art
·

After 50 years in business, Betty Moody continues to run her gallery with passion and enthusiasm. She is celebrating this landmark occasion with two shows featuring gallery artists: Part I runs from Sept. 13 to Oct. 25, and Part II from Nov. 8 to Dec. 23.

When I first visited Moody Gallery in the early 1980s, it was located in the River Oaks Shopping Center. I remember it being a warm, inviting, light-filled space. Betty’s desk was off to the right, flanked by two basket chairs with colorful pillows. Betty gave me a tour, and then we sat down and started talking. We’ve been talking ever since.

Betty is from Nashville and attended the University of Kentucky. She met her first husband, Tom Moody, in high school. Tom went to law school at Vanderbilt, and when they moved to Houston, Tom got a job with Baker Botts. Betty joined Dubose Gallery, working there from 1967 to 1973. The gallery represented artists such as Herb Mears and David Adickes and showcased pre-Columbian art, Oceanic art, and English country antiques.

After Betty left Dubose, she worked briefly for Ars Longa Galleries before opening her own gallery in 1975 with a handful of artists, including Lucas Johnson, Charles Pebworth, Arthur Turner, Lamar Briggs, and Fritz Scholder. She recalls that her initial lease was $900 per month, but in 1983, the owners not only raised the rent but also wanted a percentage of the profits. That was unacceptable.

By that time, Betty was married to the artist Bill Steffy. They lived in a small apartment building, with Steffy’s mother Kathryn, on Colquitt Street. When the property  next door became available, Betty and Steffy decided to buy it and build their own gallery.  Steffy, who studied architecture in college, designed the building and they moved into the current location in 1985. Later, when a parcel of neighboring property became available, they added another gallery and garden, along with a kitchen, studio and bathroom.

Betty’s first assistant was Victoria Adams, followed by Lisa Barkley, who was with her from 1980 to 1996. Lisa met Betty through Ron Gleason, then the director of the Tyler Museum of Art. At the time, Lisa was working for the Texas Fine Arts Association in Austin, and Ron knew Betty was looking for a new assistant. He told Lisa about the job, and eventually she moved to Houston to work for Betty.

“The first time I came to Houston was for Lucas’s opening in the fall of 1980,” Lisa told me recently. “I met you and Clint Willour, and you both assured me that I had made the right decision, saying that I would love working for Betty. And I did.”

As the years went by, Betty expanded her gallery to include more artists. Initially, there was Donald Roller Wilson, Jack Boynton, Bob Camblin, Roy Fridge, Bill Steffy and Don Shaw. Later, she added Terry Allen, Helen Altman, Liz Ward, Page Kempner,  Michael Kennaugh, Michael Bise, James Drake, Pat Colville, Joe Glasco, Luis Jiménez, Nancy Kienholz, Jim Love, MANUAL, Mary McCleary, Melissa Miller, Al Souza, Gael Stack, Randy Twaddle, and numerous others. Betty has always concentrated on artists who live and work in Texas or have a close connection to the state. “I have probably shown 300 people over the years,” she said.

“After Cronin Gallery closed in the early 1980’s and I asked Al Souza and MANUAL (Ed Hill & Suzanne Bloom) to join my gallery.”  Betty said, “I met Terry Allen at Lawndale when he gave a concert in 1982.  Marilyn Oshman introduced us. My first show in 1985 at the new Colquitt location was a performance by Jo Harvey Allen  and an installation by Terry Allen Youth In Asia.”

In 1996, the economy faced a downturn, and the gallery was having financial troubles, so Betty had to let Lisa go. Lisa briefly worked at the Contemporary Arts Museum and later at Sotheby’s. Today, she is an archival associate at the Menil Collection.

Betty is known for taking care of her artists. “In the early days, all her artists were friends,” Lisa said. “Betty understands the support they need, both before and after an exhibition. The most amazing thing about her, though, is that she still has the same passion and enthusiasm she had in the beginning.”

Few artists leave Moody Gallery once they join. “Ben Crump, whom I worked with at Moody Gallery, told me, ‘Pay your artists; they are the reason you are able to stay open,’” Betty said. She treats them with respect and understanding.

Betty and Steffy were together for many years before Steffy passed away in 2015. “I am so grateful to have had that relationship,” Betty said. “So few people have that kind of connection.” She still wears the first ring he ever made.

Betty continues to have a very loyal staff. Daughter Lee Steffy and associate Adrian Page have been with the gallery for years, and Serena Shannon joined the gallery 18 months ago.

Moody Gallery’s archives are currently housed in multiple locations. The University of Houston Library Archives holds the gallery’s records from 1975 to 2015. The Jim Love and Roy Fridge archives are part of the Menil collection. And the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is receiving the gallery’s posters, books, and photographs.

In 2019, Art League Houston awarded Betty a Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes her as one of the “visionary and artistic leaders in the community whose creative work has had a positive and long-lasting impact on contemporary visual art in Texas.”

—DONNA TENNANT

Donna Tennant

Donna Tennant is a Houston-based art historian who has been writing about art and artists for many years.