We hosted a packed house and a rich - at times, spicy! - “In Good Company” conversation 2 weeks ago between Kennedi Carter and Mavis Gragg, facilitated by Gail Belvett. We learned about how Mavis & Kennedi’s collector-artist relationship began, how it has blossomed and changed, and did some soul-searching about artwork ownership and gatekeeping. We also talked about the joys of creative freedom, explored alternatives to collecting when it comes to providing direct artist support, and the photographers in the room shared some technical expertise re: editions, commissions, and framing.

This weekend, the brilliant Gail Belvett is back again for a 1-1 conversation with Teka Selman about collecting art.

About Collecting in Community:

Designed for novice and aspiring collectors, the series follows the journey from discovering and acquiring artwork to framing, installation, care, and collection management—all within the context of our region’s vibrant arts community. Participants will learn how to build meaningful collections locally.

About Gail & Teka:

Gail Belvett, DDS is a curator, arts administrator, healthcare leader, and practicing dentist. As founder of The Art Chose Me, she advances access to the visual arts and supports underrepresented artists. Her work spans arts, education, and healthcare leadership, including service with Duke University Health System, the Nasher Museum of Art, and community dental health programs. theartchoseme.com

Teka Selman is a Durham-based arts professional and the founder and principal of Selman Contemporary, an advisory firm that helps collectors and institutions build impactful, intentional art collections, with a focus on emerging and underrepresented artists. Over the past 25 years, her work as a consultant, gallerist, curator, and writer has led to collaborations with contemporary artists across the United States and internationally, including Mark Bradford, William Cordova, Heather Hart, Barkley L. Hendricks, Wangechi Mutu, and Amy Sherald. Teka holds a BA in Art History and Anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MA in Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths, University of London. selmancontemporary.com

This one is especially exciting for two reasons. 1) It is Gail Belvett and Teka Selman! 2) This is a kick-off for another series that will continue at Boardinghouse called “Collecting in Community.” Yes, two series: “In Good Company” (produced by Boardinghouse Arts) and “Collecting in Community” (produced by Gail Belvett) are converging this Sunday, and then each will continue on its own trajectory at Boardinghouse.

The “In Good Company” series will happen every 2 weeks during our inaugural exhibition, Art Lives Here, to share more information about the relationships between the artists and collectors in our current show. “Collecting in Community” will continue in 2027 for a total of 6 sessions, each offering a different focused conversation addressing a key milestone in building an art collection. This is Gail’s brainchild and she’s been stewing on it for a while. We’re honored she wants to host it at Boardinghouse and stoked to learn from her and the experts that she will bring.

This, like most of our events, is free and open to the public. Please come, and bring a friend!

PS — Hi! Laura here. If this is our first time in your inbox, welcome to Boardinghouse Arts’ Substack, No Vacancy. Shirlette and I will periodically post here about upcoming exhibits and events at Boardinghouse Arts and to share other stories, thoughts, and announcements related to our new venture. Thanks for being here. You can also find current events and info on our website and Instagram page or contact us at hello@boardinghousearts.org.

Current Listen: SYNONYMS by Meshell Ndegeocello (Blue Note Records)

(video courtesy of NS Media Group)

It’s been nearly a month since we opened the doors to Boardinghouse and welcomed our community in. Laura and I are still reeling from the outpouring of love and support we’ve received in these early days. Personally, I’m still adjusting to the learning curve that comes with running a small business. For comfort’s sake, I periodically remind myself that the bands of musicians I’ve assembled over several decades are a similar form of entrepreneurship with lessons that can inform this new chapter. I plan to share the lessons I learn here as they unfold, in case others might find them useful.

Before you know it, Boardinghouse Arts Recording Studio (BARS) will extend itself to audiophiles far and wide. If you have yet to visit, BARS is the sweet little hideout stashed behind the pink door in the building’s lower level. (The drudgery we went through to turn that subterrane into a people-friendly haunt is a substack for another time). As of now, BARS is a vacuous, echochamber outfitted only with a pair of slinky KEF speakers that knock like a pair of knuckles banging out “Grindin” on a lunch room table (shout out to Urian at Look & Listen Audio). Sometimes I switch on the amp out of sheer anticipation of what the space will become. I inch up the volume on those lonely tweeters and spin around the room, envision the walls decked out in custom acoustic panels and bass traps. The plan is to curate an audio experience that illuminates the musicmakers’ most defining, barely detectable idiosyncrasies – the phasered, hard-panned handclaps buried deep in the mix; the layers of ad libs achieved in multiple takes to the engineer’s nauseam. Artists (myself included) obsess over these details and I cherish rooms where listeners have access to those nuances.

As a musician who is now a parent, I notice the way my 5 month old’s curiosity is piqued by sounds I dismiss as background noise. She will stop what she’s doing to take in new tones, raise her head and look every which way, only satisfied when her ears locate the source of the novel sound. She reminds me that active listening inspires infinite fascination. It’s an act that can be so pleasurable that it stops you in your tracks. Listen, she instructs. Find awe in the fact that you will never hear it all.

It’ll take a couple months for BARS to totally come together. My band and I rehearsed in the space leading up to our show at Duke Arts in September. I considered it a test of the room’s character. I know it sounds weird, but over those weeks, the room articulated its needs and I listened. It gave me direction on how to make the space inviting to the artists who entered–dim the lights to create a cozy vibe, adjust the mic and monitors in advance of each guest artists’ arrival so they felt like as if they were settling into a newly constructed home.

We clamped moving blankets to the light pipes to create temporary soundproofing and went to work rehashing songs from my album “Language Barrier” in celebration of its 10th birthday. Our five weeks of rehearsal felt like a sacred christening of a secular dungeon. We hashed out basslines, guitar licks, keyboard riffs, drumbeats, and rhymes until they stuck like caulk in the crevices of the concrete. After the show, we stuffed the moving blankets in a plastic bin and disassembled the stands that held them up like a clothesline. Although the space is now stripped naked, that fusion we achieved lingers like a first step toward BARS defining its voice. It is a voice that speaks of fellowship, collaboration, and risk-taking. It is a voice that knows collective listening produces fresh and awesome sounds.

But, back to where things currently stand: we introduced limited gallery open hours last week and extended them this week. Come visit us Wednesday through Friday from 11am-5pm. Either Laura or I will be in the gallery to greet you and point you to the QR codes mounted around the space that offer details about our first exhibition entitled “Art Lives Here.” Most of the work is from our personal art collection (literally taken from the walls of our home) as well as a few pieces we borrowed from friends.

We’re also launching a new series this week called “In Good Company.” These are Laura-curated conversations between artists and the collectors who support their work. Join us for our first installment of “In Good Company” tonight, October 15th from 6-8pm in the gallery. Photographer Kennedi Carter will be in dialogue with Mavis Gragg who was an early collector of Kennedi’s work, which is now being featured all over the place –in major magazines and national galleries. The chat will be facilitated by Gail Belvett, founder of The Art Chose Me. It’ll be a conversation full of insight, engagement, and good humor, so come in and listen up!

Until next time,

— shirlette

Laura wrote the following on August 29, 2025, almost a year to the day from the publishing of this Indy article announcing Boardinghouse Arts to our community and beyond:

It’s August 29, 2025. 4 years and 100 days since we bought the building at 703 W Trinity Avenue.

It was our first year of marriage and the second year of the pandemic. Shirlette had left her salaried production job; no one was touring, venues were closed, and the music industry was reeling. The Carrack had shuttered in 2019, I had just finished graduate school in a very anticlimactic Zoom thesis defense, and my plans for a post-graduate exhibition about Durham art venues were moot. It left a lot of space for dreaming. The world-is-ending-anyways-so-fuck-it kind of dreaming.

There’s lots we’d like to say about building new things, finding optimism in the art we make despite the gray shades cast by what sometimes seems like a crumbling world. But for now, we want to welcome you to Boardinghouse Arts, Durham’s newest home for creating and visioning and collaborating across mediums and bounds. We’ll open all of our doors on September 19, from 4-7pm for anyone who wants to come see and celebrate the future we’re envisioning. We’ll have treats and Mykki Blanco will DJ on the deck out back.

(photo credit: Morgan Haynes)

More from Laura, August 2025:

By way of America’s wildly unjust economic system, in which white men on both sides of my family built significant generational wealth in the Jim Crow South, and, by way of generations of activism, the power of love, and the blessings of our chosen and given families that made our union possible - Shirlette and I have the opportunity to build the thing. Here. In Durham, for Durham. Our home.

Thank you all for extending such a warm welcome to Boardinghouse Arts.

– shirlette

www.boardinghousearts.org

shirlette@boardinghousearts.org

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