Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Nashville Visual Arts Events September 2010

It’s like 2005 revisited. Is it too soon for nostalgia? With Kristina Arnold, Amanda Dillingham, and Jason Driskill all showing in the Arcade, it’s a return to a happier time, long ago, when… OK, I’ll snap out of it. Kristina’s last show at Twist was really good, and I wish I’d had time to take my notes on that and turn them into a longer piece of writing. And representing the good new days, TSU and Watkins have faculty art shows. I have not kept track with comings and goings at TSU, but it looks like there are several names new to me—given what’s been coming out of that department, it will worth finding out more.

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September 1

Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, Tyler Hicks. Photographs of the conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq take over the entire course of the Long War.


September 2

Zeitgeist, James Perrin. A distinctive younger painter, the latest paintings I’ve seen have overlaid new elements on the abstract grammar he’s been working with.

Cumberland, Margaret Ellis. One-night show of jewelry.

Vanderbilt Space 204, Vesna Pavlovic and Amelia Winger- Bearskin.


September 3

Midtown Care, Manuel Zeitlin and Todd McDaniel. A good pairing, Manuel and Todd share an architectural style—an off-growth of Manuel’s work as an architect, and of Todd’s ongoing creation of abstract forms. Opening reception from 4-6

Watkins, Faculty Exhibit. Listed on their website as Friday but the 4th of September, my guess is the Friday part is right—that’s usually when they have their openings.

Sewanee University Art Gallery, Pradip Malde Two groups of platinum-palladium prints that play off each other—one of the artist’s wife and son, the other of Greek statues. Artist’s talk at 4:30.


September 4

Blend, Amanda Dillingham and Jason Driskill Jason and Amanda were part of a great small collective, which started as the Secret Show series when they were at Watkins and then was known by the space on Chestnut St. Jason has since moved to San Francisco but the members of the group have been staying in touch. Amanda and Jason are calling this show Splintered Self in reference to questions of identity and the body, which has been a shared interest for them for some time. Since this is Blend, there is a community/public aspect of the show—in this case they are inviting the public tosubmit jpg images by email of their faces for a collaborative video piece to be featured” in the show. Those submissions should be directed to splinteredselfartshow@gmail.com

Twist, Kristina Arnold and Matthew Carver. Kristina has moved to Kentucky, and extended her long-standing interest in health and the body to environmental health, and has started to reflect on the social and material landscape of the semi-rural, semi-suburban places that fill in the space outside the major cities of our region. These experiences factored into her last installation at Twist and from her artist’s statement I expect another foray into that realm.

The Arts Company, John Welles Bartlett and Julianna Swaney Bartlett is a printmaker, Swaney is an illustrator, from opposite sides of the country. A curator, Brian Downey brought these two artists together and asked them to do a piece in the other’s style.

Rymer, Charles Clary. Clary builds wall-based sculptures out of overlapping loops of material that look like topographic maps in 3D. If I’m remembering previous works right, this round stretches the color palette more.

Estel, Beth Keitt Brubaker

Tinney, Todd Alexander Show continues

Downtown Presbyterian Church, Children’s Art Show. Every summer our church does an art project with the kids in and affiliated with DPC, and the children always surprise us with the unexpected and acute ideas that come through. This may mean more to those of us who know these children, but it seems pretty remarkable. This year it sounds like they’ve taken it to a new level, turning the smaller chapel into one big installation representing the human body and a kind of spiritual journey through it. That’s the short version—there’s more going on then I can quite fill in here. The show’s title will give you some idea: “Consuming Catastrophe: The Comedy of the Heart; A Play in Ate Parts.” At the opening there will be art activities for kids.


September 9

TSU Faculty Biennial. The participants this year include Herman Beasley, Samuel Dunson, Cynthia Gadsden, Xingkui Guo, Jodi Hays, Jennifer Leach, Micheal McBride, Jane Allen McKinney, Scott McRoberts, Kaleena Tucker, and Paul Zeppelin. The reception runs 2-5.


September 16

Open Lot, Session #5. The latest in Open Lot’s combination of music and art events, this one featuring the Black Swans.


September 17

Billups, Untitled Fall show


September 18

LeQuire, Figurative Art show. Figurative art is LeQuire’s raison d’ĂȘtre, which they celebrate every year in a show dedicated to the human figure. The artists featured this year are Joshua Bronaugh, Greg Decker, and Andrew Woolbright.