We are Charlotte’s longest-running gallery + consulting firm.

For forty years, Hodges Taylor has enjoyed a reputation as a successful and respected contemporary art gallery and consulting firm. I am honored to continue that legacy by building upon relationships with our artist partners, clientele, and community. Growing up in Charlotte, I always admired Hodges Taylor and developed a strong respect for the women at its helm, Dot Hodges + Christie Taylor.

Today, Hodges Taylor remains a contemporary gallery, with a focus on promoting Southeastern artists in a range of mediums, as well as an art consulting firm providing services to both corporate and individual collectors. Whether you join us for an opening night, swing by the gallery, we collaborate on a project, or cross paths in the community, please say hello. It is an honor to talk art with you.

– LAUREN HARKEY, Owner/Director

LAUREN HARKEY

OWNER / DIRECTOR

Lauren Harkey, a Charlotte native, earned a B.A. with distinction in Art History and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lauren earned her Masters of Letters in Modern and Contemporary Art with distinction from the University of Glasgow in association with Christie’s Education in London, England. She graduated cum laude from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2014 and is licensed to practice law in North Carolina. Lauren is actively involved in the local arts community and currently serves as Chair of the Craft, Design, & Fashion Collections Board, and on the Board of Trustees of the Mint Museum and as Chair of the City of Charlotte’s Public Art Commission. Lauren also serves as Chair of Center City Partners’ South End Board Committee and was a member of the Board of Directors for the YWCA of the Central Carolinas from 2019-2023.

SUSAN JEDRZEJEWSKI

ASSOCIATE

Collaborating with artists and businesses for more than a decade, Susan brings a passion for the arts and a strong commitment to engaging others in its process to Hodges Taylor. She has spent her career working in the arts sector where she connected art and artists with the community through various roles, most recently as Co-Director of Goodyear Arts. As Director of the Innovation Institute and New Initiatives at McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Susan operationalized multiple streams of revenue, developed new lines of business, and worked collaboratively with artists and partners to launch new programs. She has managed educational and outreach programs for Waterworks Visual Arts Center, as well as the Art of Recycling program, a joint venture between Mecklenburg County and the Arts & Science Council. In 2018, Susan co-founded Riff Ideas, a creativity training program for groups, teams, and organizations interested in leveraging their full creative potential. Grounded in arts-based learning, Riff Ideas uses the artist’s creative process as a way to practice and develop creative thinking. Susan earned her MBA in Leadership from Queens University of Charlotte in 2017 and her BA in studio art from UNC Charlotte in 2006.

“The creativity that comes with the artwork has a power to it. Whether you can verbalize it or it’s an emotional feeling, I think you gain an insight to a basic integrity that the artist was honoring. We use the word soul to describe it.”

—DOT HODGES, Co-Founder

OUR HISTORY

Hodges Taylor, Charlotte’s longest-running commercial art business, began as Hodges Taylor Gallery in 1980 as a partnership between Dot Hodges and Christie Taylor. Hodges Taylor started with a phone call; Christie had managed a Charlotte gallery and admired Dot as a member of the community who avidly supported regional artists, so Christie called Dot to pitch the idea of teaming up to promote selected Southeastern artists. Each brought a group of artists to the partnership, and Hodges Taylor was born. For over thirty years, Hodges Taylor served as a successful and respected contemporary art gallery and consulting firm in its uptown Charlotte location. Dot retired in 2011, and around this time Hodges Taylor moved to its current home in South End. Then, in 2016, Lauren Harkey joined Christie as a partner. Lauren’s background and passion for contemporary art made her a perfect fit for Hodges Taylor. Though Christie retired in 2018, she and Dot both still serve as advisors to the firm.

Above: Dot Hodges (left) + Christie Taylor (right). Image by Michael Blevins.