“Atlanta was really growing then … a lot of the people who helped build Atlanta, like Tom Cousins and the Curry family, a lot of those young couples got Blanche to either design the interiors of their houses, or worked with architects that she knew,” said McCuiston, 62, of Marietta.

Eventually, though, Reeves’ passion for fine crafts surpassed her interest in interior design. She transformed her design business into a curated gallery of functional art pieces including pottery, tapestries and woodworks. Reeves shopped local artisan markets, was a juror for craft shows and had a knack for finding talent. The Signature Shop became the place where Reeves could bring her network of architects, designers and homebuyers to find the finest crafts in Atlanta.

“A lot of people, like Ann and Tom Cousins, have built a really significant craft collection — multiple collections — because they started so early in Blanche’s shop,” said McCuiston. “She taught them what she thought was going to be important.”

Reeves never married, but when her brother, an artist and teacher at Atlanta College of Art, died young, she stepped up to help raise her seven nieces and nephews.

The kids spent a lot of time at the gallery, and when McCuiston befriended Reeves’ niece in the fifth grade, so did she.

Credit: Carr McCuiston, Signature Gallery

Credit: Carr McCuiston, Signature Gallery

In high school, McCuiston got a job wrapping Christmas presents at the gallery and came back to work several holiday seasons. In college, McCuiston began to think about becoming Reeves’ successor, although at that time the women often clashed.

“She was pretty set in her ways at that point. I mean, this gallery was her baby and it was really her life. She didn’t have kids and she didn’t get married. It was everything to her,” McCuiston said.

Blunt in her communications and constantly smoking, Reeves could often be found in the gallery with her feet up on the desk, sometimes drinking a bourbon.

“But I loved her...” said MCuiston. “She had a huge heart. On the one hand, she would tell an artist, ‘I don’t like what you’re making now. I don’t want that in here,’ if that’s how she felt. But on the other hand, if an artist came and said, ‘Blanche, I really need some money,’ she would just buy everything they had and put it in the gallery. She really helped support artists.”

Elevating the art of craft

Reeves was ahead-of-her time when it came to seeing craftspeople as true artists. She was inducted into the American Craft Council’s College of Fellows in 1990 as an honorary fellow and helped shift public perception, said McCuiston.

“When she started showing craft in her gallery in the ‘60s, she was one of very few business people in the U.S. who had started giving craftspeople a gallery atmosphere in which to sell their work instead of just doing street fairs,” McCuiston said. “Before that, if you were a potter, you were just doing craft shows … you had to travel around and haul your stuff. It was a huge change in the way that that type of art was sold … it gave it a little more importance.”

One artist who benefited from Reeves’ approach was Ed Moulthrop. When Reeves met him, he was an architect and professor with a side hobby turning wood bowls he sold at the Atlanta Arts Festival in Piedmont Park. Reeves saw his work and offered to represent him.

“This turned out to be a launching point for our family,” Matt Moulthrop, Ed’s grandson, wrote in an email. “My grandfather was a pioneer in the artistic woodturning movement and Signature seemed to be a perfect fit for him. The gallery was a pioneer in not only bringing the modern craft movement to Atlanta, but for being the first gallery to take a chance in representing my grandfather, at that time an unknown.”

Now Ed Moulthrop is widely acclaimed as the “father of modern wood turning,” having invented a new method that allowed wood turners to work with wet wood in large formats. He elevated the craft from a simple hobby to a genuine art form.

Moulthrop’s vessels — gorgeous, glossy spheres showcasing the beauty inherent in the natural swirls of wood grain — have been collected by the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Chicago Art Institute, Smithsonian Institution and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, among others. One of his pieces was shown in the White House Collection of American Crafts.

Moulthrop’s son and grandson, Philip and Matt, respectively, followed in his footsteps. Now three generations of Moulthrops have made their mark on the art world.

Other notable artists Signature helped promote include Jack Lenor Larsen, an internationally known name in textile design, and Arline Fisch, a jeweler that utilized textile processes like knitting, plaiting and weaving to create one-of-a-kind wearables.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

McCuiston carries on the legacy

McCuiston aspired to carry forward the gallery’s mission. When she was an undergrad student in graphic design, she learned Reeves was struggling with health issues and offered to buy the gallery. The family didn’t bite; at least not at first. A couple years later, when McCuiston was in grad school studying art education, the family annonunced they would be closing the gallery unless McCuiston was still interested. In 1997 McCuiston bought Signature Gallery.

McCuiston did indeed carry on the original Signature spirit by representing a wide range of artists, usually more than 100 at a time. In 2020, she moved the gallery from its original location on Roswell Road to its current location on Miami Circle where she hoped to reach a younger audience and gain more foot traffic.

Kirsten Stingle, an Alpharetta sculptor who makes narrative sculptures, has been selling her artwork at Signature for 15 years. Her intricate, fantastical sculptures of expressive people and animals seem to tell stories through their layers of porcelain, fabric, beads, bones and found objects.

“Carr and the Signature Shop was one of the first galleries that represented me and really gave me a big leg-up in becoming a professional artist,” Stingle said.

When McCuiston first met Stingle, she was making her work on a shared kiln at a community center. She didn’t yet see herself as a legitimate professional artist. Carr changed that.

“When you are recognized by somebody that you really look up to in the field, it means the world,” said Stingle.

In addition to having an “exquisite eye,” McCuiston was daring, said Stingle. She recalled a show they co-curated eight years ago called “Taboo Sexuality and Ceramics.”

“It was super cutting edge,” Stingle said. “(McCuiston) was always up for those (pieces) that push the envelope a little bit. That’s sometimes not what you find in galleries because they are a business.”

Credit: Danielle Charbonneau

Credit: Danielle Charbonneau

Collector Nancy Lowe Turner, formerly of Buckhead, discovered Stingle’s work at Signature. She has several Stingles in her collection, and visited the gallery last month from her home in Florida specifically to see one of Stingle’s unsold pieces before the gallery closes.

“We travel a lot and buy stuff from all over the world,” said Turner. “But we always come back to Carr because she has always had different stuff that none of the other galleries have.”

Beyond her work in the gallery, McCuiston also helped artists reach wider audiences by partnering with cultural institutions like the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Miami Art Week, the High Museum and Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Because of his representation by Signature Gallery, Rich Brown, a potter from Macon County, said his work was chosen to be featured in the retail shop of the High Museum of Art.

“That was really special,” he said.Like Stingle, Brown said McCuiston validated the worthiness of his art.

“It was a privilege to be in there with all of these amazing artists,” he said.

While many artists like Brown have found new ways to sell their work in online spaces, they said the physical gallery is essential to experiencing their work.

“(Signature) was a place that my work could be seen and touched, because that’s so important with clay,” Brown said.

Stingle agreed. “I think there’s something so compelling about seeing these works in person and having someone who is so knowledgeable explain where the artist is coming from. You really can’t get an idea of what I’m doing and all the details of my work unless you see it,” she said.

When Signature closes on Dec. 21, artists like Brown, Stingle and hundreds more will feel the void.

“There’s no gallery in the Atlanta area that really focuses and believes in fine craft as much as she does. What she brought — there’s definitely a voice in the choir that’s going to be missing,” said Stingle.

“Carr did a really good job of supporting artists that had a very wide range of styles,” said potter Karen Crisler, of Wisconsin, who was in town recently picking up her pieces from the shop before it closes. “It’s hard to know where to go now to find that wide of a range of options.”

“I’m so sad that it’s going...” said Brown. “Losing institutions like this is heartbreaking.”

Nevertheless, Carr said the timing was right for her to make her exit. Her lease at the gallery was ending. With age, the physical exertion necessary to run a gallery was getting more difficult. Keeping up with technology, which was constantly changing the landscape and business model, was challenging. Her mother, for whom she was a longtime caregiver, died last year, and she and her husband have built a new home in South Carolina where they plan to relocate.

For now McCuiston will keep the Signature website live for online purchases. As for next moves, she’s taking things “one step at a time,” but she is open to passing the torch if the right opportunity arises.

“Our artists have filled our space and my life with beauty and friendship,” she said. “I am so grateful.”

IF YOU GO

The Signature Contemporary Craft Gallery. Closes Dec. 21. 690 Miami Circle NE, Unit 125, Atlanta. thesignatureshop.com.