The Art of Buying Black Art

Walter and Cathy Shannon, owners of the world-renown E&S Art Gallery share their combined 50+ years of experience in buying and collecting African American art to assist you in making wise and fulfilling art purchases.

Cathy Smith Shannon

Cathy Smith Shannon oversees marketing and promotions for E&G Gallery, Inc. (E&S) one of the country’s largest African American-owned and operated art and custom framing galleries. Shannon is a graduate of the University of Louisville and holds a Master of Arts in Art History and Critical and Curatorial Studies and a BA in Advertising & Public Relations, as well as a certificate in Corporate Community Relations from Boston College, Boston, MA.

Cathy Shannon serves on Louisville’s Commission on Public Art and in 2018 was appointed by Louisville mayor Greg Fischer to serve on the Public Art & Monuments Advisory Committee; in 2020 Shannon was elected to the Board of Governor for the Speed Museum; is a graduate of Focus Louisville and Leadership Louisville programs; helped establish the West Broadway Business Association and served as its first president. Shannon is a member of The Girl Friends, Inc., The Louisville Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and St. Stephen Church. Shannon is a native of Louisville, KY, where she and Walter continue to live and run their gallery.

Walter Shannon

Walter Shannon was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and moved to Southern California in the early 1970s. He studied design at Los Angeles City College in the early 1970s and began working in the furniture industry and was quickly promoted to sales manager for a major furniture chain. After being promoted to a buyer for the organization and bearing the responsibility of selecting inventory for more than 120 furniture stores across the western US. Shannon utilized his training in design to create stunning vignettes for the showrooms.

As a buyer in the furniture industry, Shannon discovered a lack of art that appealed to African American customers. Shannon ultimately gravitated to the art industry and produced one of the first African American art mail-order catalogs, and then designed and opened several art and custom framing galleries in Southern and Northern California.

In 1988 Shannon, faced with aging parents, Shannon moved back to the east coast to be closer to them. He opened the first location for E&S Gallery in Louisville, KY in 1989. The first E&S location was a 2,500 square foot space in an upscale suburban strip mall. In 1998 Shannon moved E&S from the suburbs to a 5,000 square foot location in the art of downtown Louisville and his wife Cathy joined him in the business.

Five years later they purchased and renovated a nearby 120-year-old building and in 2004 opened one of the country’s largest African American owned and operated art & custom framing galleries and design centers. E&S is now housed in an 11,000 s/f facility and has been named one of the country’s top 25 Gallery’s, and the top gallery in Kentucky from 2015 through 2021. Walter is a respected gallery owner, artist agent, designer, auctioneer, and businessman who remains committed to providing clients with quality fine art & custom framing.