A Savannah couple turned an ordinary midcentury ranch home into a vibrant, livable gallery filled with an extensive art collection.
Written by Mary Cornetta
Photography by Melissa Nowell Photography
Bradford Moody and Andrew Smith didn’t set out to become art collectors. In fact, before the couple met, Moody was creating his own art. “I always wanted to be a painter,” he says. “But my degrees are in architecture, and the old man wouldn’t send me to college to get a painting degree.”
During the 2008 recession, Moody moved back to Houston, Texas, (where he had attended college years earlier) and took a job at Red Bud Gallery while also pursuing his own artistic endeavors. It was at the gallery where he learned not only how to sell other artists’ work but how to hang it, a skill that would eventually shape the walls of the home he shares with Smith today.
The couple met in Savannah, and in 2022, they purchased their midcentury colonial ranch in Abercorn Heights. It was surrounded by charming trees and a unique Quonset hut in the backyard, and it had plenty of potential, but Moody and Smith felt that the interior was too closed off from the exterior. With the help of Mena Alvaro of Mena Home Services, they opened up the rooms, added windows, and created an indoor-outdoor living space. “You can exit from pretty much every room,” says Smith.
While the bones of the house were being transformed, Moody and Smith had their own plan for the interior walls. Nearly every room is painted a stark white, chosen so the walls could serve as a blank canvas. Once the couple officially moved in on Halloween 2022, they began turning the house into their own personal gallery.
Several of Moody’s pieces are displayed in the home, but most of the work comes from artists they’ve discovered online, at galleries, or while traveling. The hunt is an ongoing ritual for them. Before any trip, they research which galleries they want to visit and usually make those their first stops upon arrival.
Purchasing art is rarely impulsive, however. Much of it happens after thorough research and mutual discussion, even when one of them is planning to give art to the other. They also never sell their artwork. “We get excited about every new piece we own, and there’s typically a story behind each,” Smith says. “So, I wouldn’t get rid of anything.” New art arrives roughly every three to four months, and their newest addition will be a wool rug they picked up on a recent trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is currently being framed.
Moody explains that the type of art they collect has evolved over time. “Collectors usually go through phases, and ours started when we were collecting reasonably priced folk art,” he says. “After our run of that, now we’re bumping up to the next phase, which translates to collecting bigger names, which means a higher price tag. The rug is the first example of that.” Moody is one of the top-producing agents at Seabolt Real Estate, and Smith left a career in hospitality to go to work for him three years ago. They attribute their real estate success to Moody’s New York hustle (he lived and worked in Manhattan for 14 years) and Smith’s Southern charm (he was born and raised in Savannah’s Southside). “So as long as we keep on selling high-end real estate, we’ll be buying art!” says Moody.
Once acquired, art isn’t simply hung; it’s placed with precision. Moody’s time spent in a gallery gave him a sense of professional hanging standards, including consistent heights. “Bradford can just stand there and mark where something needs to be hung,” says Smith of the process. “I need to take out a piece of paper and a pencil and map it out because how it gets hung is so specific. Every piece is on the same line throughout the entire house.” The method matters so much that he jokes, “Bradford will come up behind me and fix it if it’s not right.”
The arrangement of the art shifts over time, especially when something new enters the rotation. “Part of it is intuitive, and the other part is how you hang gallery art,” Moody explains. “When we get new pieces, we tweak things, but it all comes back to the art.” For example, an expansive red painting by his friend — Houston-based artist Randall Mosman — in the living room “wants to be there,” Moody says. “It anchors the room; it draws your eyes; it’s a spectacular setting for that particular painting.” Some works are placed front and center, not just for aesthetic reasons but also for amusement. “We can see everyone’s reactions, and if they get it, we know they’re cool, and if they don’t, we know they’re a bore, and we’re probably not having them back for dinner,” Moody jokes.
Roaming the house feels like touring a well-curated exhibit. Folk and Americana art is especially well represented, as the couple shares an affinity for creators who worked without formal training or traditional resources, such as the Native American artist Mamie Deschille. Other pieces convey powerful messages and social commentary or serve as a testament to the relationships they’ve built.
The red painting by Mosman is one of the home’s most talked-about pieces. Some of the couple’s real estate clients have called Mosman to commission work after seeing it in person. “Randall is infinitely more talented than I am,” says Moody, pointing out that the piece was constructed simply of house paint and paper that the artist learned to make himself in Vietnam. “I just thought it was so fabulous!”
Their collection also nods to the creative community here in Savannah. In the living room, there is a striking piece by local artist Jerome Meadows and a table turned artwork by Patrick McKinnon, a Savannah College of Art and Design professor. The kitchen has a delightfully colorful painting by Jimmy Butcher, owner of The Butcher tattoo shop on Bull Street. There are two pieces by Savannah-based Marcus Kenney — one in the entry and another in a hallway — and one by Tybee Island-based Benjamin Jones can be found in the guest bedroom. One hallway features a self-portrait by SCAD grad Julianna Pelossi. “We’ve tried moving her four or five times when new art comes in, and she ends up right back in the same spot,” says Smith. “So we don’t even touch her anymore!”
Not every piece in the home is a conventional painting. In a corner of the living room sits a cardboard “wiggle” chair by Frank Gehry, an architect whom Moody admired for decades. When you step into the entryway, you’re greeted by an oversized vase filled with Pepsodent toothpaste boxes, the couple’s take on Pop Art master Andy Warhol’s tomato soup cans. Nearby hangs a portrait of an unidentified man; the sepia-toned photo was discovered in the home’s attic. It stands out among the other pieces, and Moody refers to it as “a spirit to go with the house.” Displayed high on the partition wall between the entry and kitchen is a voodoo doll they purchased from an artist in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It lives here after one of their three dogs, Stonewall Jackson Jr., got hold of it. According to Moody, “I had to reglue the whole thing, which made it more twisted than it was before!”
Whether the works are by well-known names or self-taught creatives, each is framed locally by Kendall Bowles du Toit of Bowles Fine Art. And while he could technically produce more work himself, Moody prefers the hunt. “I really get excited about finding new, undiscovered artists or starting to collect the old Southern folk art masters,” he says.
For a couple who sells high-end homes for a living, their own house doesn’t feel overly staged. Although the way they display their prized possessions is deliberate, the space still feels lived-in, the way an artist’s home often does. Collecting art is less a strategy for them than it is a shared passion and hobby. As Moody says, “We’re both like kids in a candy store when we’re in a gallery.”
Details
- Neighborhood: Abercorn Heights
- Year built: 1952
- Year purchased: 2022
- Timeline of renovation/construction: Nearly three years between the main house, ADU (Quonset Hut), and yard
- Number of bedrooms: 4
- Number of bathrooms: 3½
- Square footage: 2,900
- Architect: Bradford Moody, Scally Design & Construct
- Interior designer: Bradford Moody, Andrew Smith
- Builder/contractor: Scally Design & Construct, Mena Alvaro/Mena Home Services, Patrick McKinnon
- Landscape: Wells Landscape Solutions, Bradford Moody
- Kitchen appliances: Samsung, ordered through Lowe’s
- Kitchen design: Bradford Moody, Emrich Kitchens
- Bathroom design: Bradford Moody
- Furniture: Eames, Kartell, Frank Gehry, Herman Miller, BluDot, Phillipe Starck, Thuma
- Paint: Behr Premium Plus Interior Gloss Enamel
- Tile/flooring: Flooring, minus bathrooms, is original to home. Hardwoods have a thin white wash with lacquer.
- Lighting: Lumens, Alcon Lighting
- Accessories: Phillipe Starck, Zaha Hadid, Michael Graves Braun
- Art: Extensive collection including b.moody art, Randall Mosman, Ronald Cooper, Jimmy Butcher, Patrick McKinnon, Mytrice West, Rudolf Valentino Bostic, Mose Toliver, Marcus Kenny, Jerome Meadows, Jake McCord, Panhandle Slim, R.A. Miller
- Galleries: Peyote People (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico), Red Bud (Houston), Marcia Weber (Wetumpka, Alaska), San Angel Folk Art (San Antonio, Texas), The Rainbow Man (Santa Fe), Shiprock Gallery (Santa Fe).
- Framing: Kendall Bowles du Toit/Bowles Fine Art
