Kudzo was founded in Nashville in 2021 as both a consultancy and a 501(c)(3). We argue for Southern artists — through the rooms we curate, the collections we build, and the workshops we run. Two halves of a single practice, climbing in the same direction.
We named the practice for the vine that defines every overgrown fence row from Tennessee to the Gulf — a plant that arrived as a solution, was rebranded as a curse, and is now the most reliable green thing for hundreds of miles.
That is also how we think about Southern art. Slow, undervalued, stubborn, and quietly covering everything. Our job is to help collectors, institutions, and audiences see it the way we do — and to fund the artists making it.
We take on a small number of projects at a time. Every engagement starts with a letter, a long conversation, and a studio visit if we can manage one. We don't pitch; we listen, and then propose.
Our consultancy fees underwrite The Vine — our non-profit half. Every paid hour buys an unpaid one in service of the artists we believe in. That arithmetic is the whole business plan.
Curator, advisor, and writer. Previously at [previous role]; lives between Nashville and the Black Belt.
Runs the non-profit programming — workshops, residencies, and public art. Bring a coffee.
Leads the design studio. Identities, books, and spaces — formerly at [studio]. From Charleston.