The Long Game: Erin Cluley Gallery Celebrates Ten Years of Insightful Programming

Kendall Morgan·
Dallas/Ft WorthVisual Art
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It’s no small feat for a Dallas art gallery to reach its tenth birthday. In an industry so reliant on global trends and collectors’ whims, the fact that Erin Cluley’s eponymous space is celebrating a full decade is worth popping the champagne.

But then again, such success was seemingly written in the stars. As the story goes, Cluley was told by a psychic in Salem, Massachusetts, that she’d be opening her own space. But perhaps not even that clairvoyant could intuit she’d become such an enduring member of the North Texas art scene.

For her anniversary, Cluley is launching a “greatest hits” show with a party on Aug. 24 from 6 to 8 pm. Running through Sept. 28 in both her main space and Cluley Projects, Erin Cluley: Ten Years will feature artists she has worked with for years, including Chul-Hyun Ahn, Chivas Clem, Riley Holloway, Anna Membrino, Nic Nicosia, Rene Trevino, and Zeke Williams, among others. For the gallerist, building and celebrating enduring relationships has always been her ethos.

“Dallas has always been collaborative, and I think that’s been an important factor in the life of the gallery,” says Cluley. “We’ll have a new work with artists we’ve worked with and might work with in the future, and we’ll have programming over the month, including partnering with (creative consultant) Marion Marshall, who helped me bring diversity in the collection in a thoughtful way.”

Cluley possessed a community-minded approach from her very early days as a graduate student at the Maryland Institute College of Art. A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, she was studying painting under abstract expressionist Grace Hartigan (then-director of the institution’s Hoffberger School) when she landed her first job at C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore.

“I thought I would be a professor, and I quickly learned I didn’t want to do that,” Cluely recalls. “Grace advocated for me to get a job at her gallery, and I quickly learned I liked it and was pretty good at it. My boss at the time was willing to let me bring some artists on board, and I think I continued down the path I did because of him. Seeing the way he worked with artists, he was very generous and supportive, and I definitely picked up on that.”

By 2009, she was ready to return to Texas. Hired at Dallas Contemporary when it was still on Swiss Avenue, she landed at an opportune moment. Within a few months, Cluley was handling programming, helping the institution move to its current location on Glass Street. She also leveled up her experience working alongside blue-chip names such as Richard Phillips and Shepard Fairey as the museum’s director of exhibitions.

“I got to go to the Venice Biennale and be in the studio of Julian Schnabel,” Cluley laughs. “I was single with no children (at the time) and was willing to do everything—go to donor dinners and help with fundraising. I attribute my approach to the artists and exhibition programming to my time at Dallas Contemporary. We always let artists think outside the box and do crazy things.”

By the end of her time at the museum, Cluley felt well-equipped to launch exhibitions “with my eyes closed.” While pondering opening her own space, she ran the idea by developer Butch McGregor, who responded enthusiastically, helping her find a building near Trinity Groves. The neighborhood was a no man’s land of industrial spaces and weed-filled lots at the time.

Cluley pioneered the Tin District but, after five years, was ready for a more sedate location. She moved into the Design District’s River Bend development in 2019. Her roster evolved as well, now showcasing primarily Texas-based talent with an Australian or Mexican artist in the mix.

Throughout the last decade, the gallerist has reveled in working with both established talent and up-and-comers, so much so that she launched her satellite Cluley Projects in 2021 to provide opportunities for artists from underrepresented communities or without current representation. This allows her to grow her stable at the main space while nurturing the next generation.

At whatever point an artist is in their career, Cluley always has her eye on the big picture. She introduces them to the industry’s best collectors and curators and facilitates museum acquisitions, such as Francisco Moreno’s Chapel (now owned by the Dallas Museum of Art). And, no matter how the art market evolves, she’ll do her best to provide a bright future for those she represents.

“We are playing the long game,” she explains. “When I’m bringing on a new artist, I’m always thinking about what I can provide for them long term, whether getting them into private collections or museum exposure. I can never predict exactly what will happen, but I like to pride myself and my gallery on having these good relationships.”

—KENDALL MORGAN

Kendall Morgan

Kendall Morgan is a Dallas-based writer and editor who keeps her finger on the pulse of art, design, fashion, film, literature, and pop culture.