Camille's Story - tiny ATH gallery
After serving on the Board of ATHICA when I moved back to my hometown in 2017, I saw there was an untapped space in the Athens art community: a gallery that showcased local artists in solo exhibitions. So that is what I created in my newly rented studio space. A gallery exhibiting local artists. I signed my lease on AthFest weekend in 2019, and what started as a spark grew. That saying, “it’s all in who you know,” is true. However, when I started tiny ATH gallery back in 2019, I wanted to do it on my own. It was a challenge, but I wanted to prove to myself I could create, brand and market a new idea in Athens without all of my friends and family knowing and supporting the project just due to our connection.
After being around for a year, I would have acquaintances tell me, “oh wow, that’s you?!?” and I knew I’d accomplished what I aimed to do. I always enjoyed sitting at Hi-Lo before an exhibition and hearing people discussing over their fried oyster mushrooms and reubens whether their friends were “going to the opening at tiny ATH gallery tonight too.” A big shoutout is deserved by Flagpole Magazine and Jess Smith, who wrote four cover stories about exhibitions at tiny ATH gallery, along with countless Calendar Picks. Trust me, I will be keeping those Flagpole issues forever! Another big shoutout goes to Third Thursday and Michael Lachowski for their support from day one in bringing in tint ATH gallery to their promotions of creative spaces in Athens.
Hundreds of proposals came in once I created and launched the tiny ATH gallery brand and website proving the need was there. I was thrilled to be able to open with a solo exhibition by Will Eskridge on September 6th, 2019. More than 100 people came to the opening and the tiny space seemed to grow to fit all of the visitors. We celebrated on the porch with cake and good friends! I had the 2019/2020 Season entirely booked within a week with many artists including Peter Loose, Tex Crawford, James Greer, a group exhibition of Athens music photographers, Females of Fabric February Exhibition, Jacob Wenzka, Broderick Flanigan, Eli Saragoussi, LIsa Freeman, Tim Root, Penny Noah and more.
In 2020, Covid had other plans. I worked hard to reschedule all of the planned exhibitions and would host two exhibitions each month once we were allowed to distance safely. Patrons formed a line in the parking lot, standing 6 feet apart on taped markers. One in-one out, with the large space in back catering to distanced beer drinking and catching up with friends. I hosted Instagram Live Artist Talks, masked in the gallery with the artists exhibiting their works. Jamie Calkin’s Artist Talk was one for the books, as he walked viewers through how he painted his silks. He had us all laughing!
Two events from Covid-time stand out in my memory the most. Broderick Flanigan, who grew up down Cleveland Ave. and remembers coming to Cantrall Grocery to buy candy, opened his exhibition “Threads of Connection.” The weekend it opened was during Athens’ first BLM rally downtown where many of our local Mutual Aid members were tear gassed. Several of them came to the opening and we all sat, distanced, on the front porch while they discussed the magnitude of what they felt in those moments when their good will was attacked. It was a somber day with intense conversations, but knowing the gallery I created was a safe space for them brought joy. Another Covid exhibition that brought immense joy was Will Eskridge’s “Dogs of Athens.” Will put out a call across his social media channels for Athens residents to submit photos of their dogs for him to paint for the exhibition, which was also a fundraiser for the Athens Area Humane Society. Seeing the adoring faces of all of the dogs’ parents as they saw their painted furry friends hanging on the gallery walls was a wonderful sight. Everyone stayed a long time and shared stories on the back lawn about their companions, who had kept them company through the lockdown.
Everyone always asked me if I was going to have a solo exhibition at tiny ATH gallery, so in February 2024, I finally did! It was 10 years after my first solo exhibition, entitled "Rhythm Infused,” at Chase Park Warehouse in the first location of Veronica’s Sweet Spot which featured live paintings I had created in and around Athens and Atlanta at music venues inspired by the wonderful music scene. For my February exhibition, I created a whole new body of work, with my abstract colorful instrument-based paintings, which I entitled “B-Sides.”
Another project I enjoyed doing at tiny ATH gallery was figuring out how to host a holiday market. With the limited gallery space, I had to get creative. That’s when the Holi-LADDER-Day Market was born, with participating artists exhibiting and selling their works off of ladders. Many got extra creative and adorned their ladders as if they were Christmas trees and their artworks were the ornaments. I met some wonderful people through this event, many becoming lifelong friends who later had solo exhibitions in the space.
I had James Greer paint my front window to get in the Halloween spirit and hosted music for the first ever PorchFest, and have been hosting each year since. Rachel and Grant Evans hosted four performances through Hooker Vision for PorchFest 2026. They are my PorchFest champions, hosting for the past 3 years, the first of which was during their own exhibition. I love being able to bring together musicians and artists at the gallery.
Speaking of champions and bringing music to tiny ATH gallery, Linda Macbeth has been doing just that. Back in the summer of 2024, I was making plans to pursue my lifelong dream of living and working in Europe. In the span of what can be only described as the “happy hour of destiny,” I walked down to the Hidden Gem and ran into a group of artist friends who asked me how the gallery was going. I told them that I was needing to close shop and told them to spread the word if anyone was looking to rent a studio space. And then, in walked Linda Macbeth, who asked me the same thing. I told her my plans and that I just couldn’t keep the gallery going, and just like the artistic angel that she is, she said she’d love to help me and that we couldn’t let tiny ATH gallery go. She began helping me with opening and closing events and took over programming starting in 2025. She brought her musician friends in, and hosted many jam sessions featuring the tiny BAND, as she called it, made up of local musicians Susan Staley, Dale Weschler and Dan Horowitz . She has brought wonderful programming, workshops, and Artist Talks to tiny ATH gallery. While she needed to be traveling, she had the help of Tex Crawford and Rae Haight to keep things running smoothly. It has been a labor of love for me since 2019, and I couldn’t have done it without Linda stepping in and making things amazing in the space the last couple of years.
While I was in Stockholm on a tourist visa the first half of 2026, I had the opportunity to buy an existing art gallery in nearby Västerås, a city roughly the same size as Athens (when students are here.) Being able to bring art and art education to people in my new town is extremely exciting. I look forward to building community there, as I have with tiny ATH gallery here. What started as a passion project grew into something more, and made me realize that making art the central focus of my life is my future. I was always working a demanding 9-5 and running my own design business, Camille Hayes Design, alongside the gallery. I look forward to making Galleri SoHo Sweden my career for the rest of my life. The space is about four times the size of tiny ATH, so I can’t wait to bring workshops to residents of all ages and create collaborative events in Västerås.
That doesn’t mean I will be forgetting my hometown of Athens, Georgia. Quite the contrary, as the October exhibition at tiny ATH gallery features a group exhibition of artists whose work I will be taking with me to Sweden. Included in the group show, entitled “A to V” (Athens to Västerås), will be myself, Cameron Bliss, Will Eskridge, Jason Matherly, Marisa Leilani Mustard, Keith P. Rein, Faatimah Stevens, Valley StipeMaas, Manda McKay and Amanda Jane Burk. The opening happened on Third Thursday on October 15th.
On October 29th, we will celebrate 7 (and a half) wonderful years of tiny ATH gallery. This will be a farewell party for the physical gallery space, a decision Linda and I have wrestled with making this year. We hope you come and join us at the gallery on Thursday, October 29th from 6-9 to celebrate the art, artists and community that tiny ATH gallery has lifted up in Athens since its beginning. To everyone in Athens: keep supporting your local artists and creative spaces. Athens isn’t Athens without our creative community! Thank you to everyone who has supported tiny ATH gallery over these past 7.5 years!