Acknowledgment: Samantha Beirne
The Matney Gallery warmly acknowledges Samantha Beirne for her thoughtful and lasting contributions to our curatorial and editorial initiatives during a pivotal time of strategic growth.
As a student of Art History and Anthropology at William & Mary, Samantha brought a rich interdisciplinary perspective and deep curiosity to her work with us. Her insights were instrumental not only in shaping the interpretive materials for Art Rosenbaum: Narrative Painting, but also in supporting the gallery’s shift toward long-term strategies aimed at museum partnerships and institutional exhibitions.
During her time at the gallery, Samantha also contributed to the preservation and promotion of the legacy of Art Rosenbaum. Notably, the painting Stone Mountain Wobblers was acquired by Paul Light Jr. during her tenure—an important placement that reflected both the strength of Rosenbaum’s narrative vision and the gallery’s growing institutional reach. That same work was recently featured in a major exhibition in Athens, Georgia, reaffirming Rosenbaum’s enduring influence. Samantha’s clarity and care in communicating the cultural weight of Rosenbaum’s work helped lay the groundwork for such recognition and institutional interest.
Each painting is a portrait of one artist by the other, symbolizing their mutual respect. Art Rosenbaum’s vivid 2006 oil Howard Finster, Man of Visions (in Hugh Ruppersburg’s collection) shows Finster at his Paradise Garden compound, richly detailed with iconography from the elder artist’s world. Howard Finster’s c.1979–80 painting Art Rosenbum is the Best Painter I Have Ever Seen Paint depicts Rosenbaum amid folk-art motifs and even contains Finster’s own inscription praising Rosenbaum’s work.
Samantha’s contributions also coincided with the gallery’s presentation of Three Excellences of Culture: Painting, Poetry, and Music—a major traveling exhibition held in partnership with the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. This show, which featured Art Rosenbaum and celebrated the intersection of Southern visual, literary, and musical traditions, was a significant step in the gallery’s institutional outreach. Samantha was an asset to us during this important moment, helping us stay organized and responsive while managing both local programming and national attention. Her steady professionalism and thoughtful input ensured the gallery could represent Rosenbaum’s legacy at a high level while continuing to serve our immediate community with care.
In this intimate black-and-white portrait, Margo Newmark Rosenbaum captures the gentle, visionary spirit of Howard Finster – the self-taught preacher-artist who transformed his rural Georgia yard into the famed “Paradise Garden,” a folk-art sanctuary of over 46,000 found-objects,
Lee Matney’s photographic portrait of Jeremy Ayers offers a contemplative study of the late artist, writer, and cultural figure whose work traversed the intersections of queer identity, Southern history, and conceptual poetics. Paired with Ayers’ own still life—an intimate composition of symbolic objects—the presentation functions as a dialogic encounter between sitter and maker, rendering visible the layered interiority of both the portrayed and the portrayal. Together, the works evoke a reciprocal meditation on presence, authorship, and the aesthetics of remembrance.
In addition to her work with painting and sculpture, Samantha contributed meaningfully to the gallery’s engagement with photography and new media. She assisted in organizing and contextualizing photographic works by Lee Matney, Sidney Rouse, and Margo Rosenbaum, helping to articulate the visual and documentary strengths of each artist’s practice. Her attention to visual nuance and narrative cohesion was especially valuable as we prepared these works for both exhibition and archival use. Samantha also played a key role in curating and refining the presentation of video works by Brittainy Lauback, offering insight on pacing, tone, and viewer experience. Her contributions supported our efforts to expand the gallery’s programming across media, allowing us to present a more layered and dynamic vision of contemporary artistic practice.
Samantha Beirne installing photographs by Lee Matney and Sidney Rouse alongside paintings by Scott Belville during a Matney Gallery exhibition exploring intimacy, portraiture, and layered memory. The featured work by Matney includes his portrait of Jeremy Ayers, a deeply personal photograph that captures the late artist and activist with poetic directness—both tender and unflinching, the image stands as part tribute, part documentation of Southern creative circles shaped by resistance and reflection. Beirne’s thoughtful care in staging these works reflects her quiet influence on how the gallery presents emotional and historical nuance.
Please Enjoy by Brittainy Lauback
Her contributions extended across artists such as Laura Frazure, whose installations examined the boundaries of the body and form; Olga Tobreluts and Ivan Plusch, whose practices reflect the intersections of historical image and contemporary conflict; and Elizabeth Mead, whose sculptural works embody philosophical inquiry and quiet material presence. Samantha helped us communicate these artists’ voices clearly and powerfully through well-researched texts and carefully edited public materials.
During Laura Frazure: Bodily Rhetoric exhibition, a show that explored form, gesture, and material vulnerability through sculpture and drawing. She was not only an active and generous presence during the public reception—welcoming guests and fostering meaningful conversations—but also played a behind-the-scenes role in developing materials that elevated the show’s visual identity. Her work helped magnify the catalog’s clarity and impact, ensuring the exhibition’s tone and intention resonated with a wider audience. Samantha’s design instincts and editorial care helped translate the complexity of Frazure’s practice into a compelling viewer experience.From crafting brochure language to refining layout and tone, Samantha brought both precision and a deep care for the artists’ work. Her ability to balance scholarly insight with accessibility helped us reach collectors, curators, and museum professionals with greater clarity and confidence.
Bodily Rhetoric was also a landmark exhibition for the gallery, representing our first collaborative presentation with the Andrews Gallery at William & Mary. Installed across both venues, the exhibition created a shared visual dialogue between academic and community audiences, reinforcing the gallery’s commitment to fostering partnerships that expand the reach and depth of contemporary art in Virginia.
Samantha also played an important role in shaping how we presented the work of two of our key international artists: Ivan Plusch and Olga Tobreluts. With sensitivity to their historical and conceptual frameworks, she helped clarify the complex narratives behind their practices—Plusch’s evocative, deconstructed figures and psychological spaces, and Tobreluts’s postmodern layering of classical and digital iconography
Samantha’s work behind the scenes supported a major evolution in the gallery’s programming and direction. Her professionalism, intelligence, and dedication left a lasting imprint, and we are proud to have worked alongside her during such a formative moment in her own emerging career.
