Nashville’s heART and beyond

Just when you think another month is winding down and there’s not much to do other than gear up for the firs weekends of the next month for more art and fun times to be had, you remember why April is indeed the bestest month of the entire year! With the school year ending for many, many find this time as a blessing for beginnings.

Speaking of blessings, before I get into the Nashville scene, I’d like to share with you something very special from a distant relative of mine that is involved with a unique opportunity with art and humanities on the other side of the globe. Her name is Ellie Johnston and she is an inspiration to all young adults trying to do amazing things for others in need. In her latest project, she is working with the Sattya Media Arts Collective (www.sattya.org), a creative hub and resource network for artists and the community of Kathmandu. Similar to the art scene in Nashville, it is a location filled with incredibly passionate, creative, and welcoming locals that just want to create a sustainable and noticeable network of art. Unlike most of Nashville’s art scene, there isn’t a lot of support outside of the arts to help cultivate and captivate the local artists. I’m writing this today because Ellieand her friends are launching a new project on arts and sustainable design called Hariyo Chowk (green courtyard). It is aimed to turn small plots of unused land into a community green space which will be FREE and OPEN to the public so that everyone wanting to can share art and knowledge about sustainable living (or just a beautiful space to get away from the chaos of the city). You know, like so many places and opportunities that we Nashvillians have and shouldn’t take for granted. Basically, I just want to share with you a unique opportunity to help art and the environment where a friend of mine is living at the moment. See www.kickstarter.com/projects/sattya/hariyo-chowk.

Now, coming back locally from the global scene virtually and physically, enter the Nashville art scene this week. This Thursday, April 26th, Watkins College is presenting their annual Graphic Design senior exhibition titled Batch No. 5 over at Houston Station (434 Houston Street). From 5-8pm, the Watkins Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design degree candidates of Adam Jeremy Agee, BooMarie, Sarah Klearman, Matt Pickett and Tiffany B. Poulouse will be on hand to in turn present their portfolio showcases for one-night only. FREE and OPEN to the public as usual, there will be a variety of work projects on view ranging from advertising, package design, branding, illustration, and multimedia. For more specific information, see www.Batch5show.com or www.Watkins.edu.

Then, fast-forwarding to Saturday, April 28th, there is a big happening happening outside on the MontgomeryBell Academy(4001 Harding Road)from 11am-4pm. The so-called happening happening is the Endada Music & Arts Festival. Admission is COMPLETELY FREE for you to see the showcase of a wide array of high school and professional bands, artists, food vendors, spoken word, theatre, and film for all-ages. Some of the bands present will be King Arthur, Honey Locust, Boy Named Banjo, Lovedrums, and The Bellet Family Band. Some of the artists on site will be THE Myles Maillie, Danielle McDaniel and the Clay Lady Co-Op, Elizabeth Foster, and over 30+ more professional and student artists. And some of the food vendors on location to suffice your creative hunger will be THE Mas Tacos, Grilled Cheeserie, Moovers & Shakers and more. Did I mention there was also going to be tons of spoken word, theatre and film as well? Yes, I did and there will be. Feel FREE to come on out and support all of this local talent to be loved and appreciated.

And mark your calendars because Saturday/Sunday is the last time that you can catch “Scratchy Spaces” by Elizabeth Ferrill over at the COOP Gallery in The Arcade, Space 75. It has been showing the entire month of April, but you have one more chance this weekend to drop by and see the printed, painted, and sculptural works of surprising surface and material combinations that will surprise you beyond the surfaces you see and feel.

Also on Sunday that is very much noteworthy and back to Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film yet again, YOU are invited by Watkins and Handmade & Bound Nashville to Dinner & Bikes on Sunday, April 29th, from 7-9pm. You’ll be able to buy Zines, eat a FREE vegan meal prepared by the vegan chef, Joshua Ploeg, and talk about biking with Joe and Elly of Microcosm. You can check their tour of the south at www.dinnerandbikes.com, but you need to RSVP beforehand to let everyone know how to split up the FREE vegan food and Turnip Truck donated produce as well.

And to mark your calendars again, YOU should go ahead and prepare yourself for a highlight worthy of sharing a week early, in Jon Morgan’s ONE NIGHT show for his fresh and groundbreaking photography. NEXT Saturday, May 5th, from 6-10pm, at 328 Hill Avenue, Jon Morgan’s “American Dreaming” show will surely put your eyes and heart further into focus within your local world than ever before. I will remind you next week about this, along with other major opening receptions going down, but I thought this would be worth you planning just a tad bit earlier than usual.

Until then, be well and be nice to others and yourself. Thanks for dropping by and sharing with all of your friends on and off Facebook.

much love,

chUck

Playing out of the trees

Sometimes you don’t have to know what things mean or make sense.  I don’t know if it is the wacky weather or something astrological that I don’t know how to see at the moment, but does anyone else feel like some major stuff has passed by recently and some more goodness that is even better is just around the corner or is that just another month in your world?  Either way, I’ll stick to talking about art and Nashville since you decided to visit me here again and try not to break stride.

Before jumping into Nashville, I’d like to drop a little knowledge about a few things happening outside of my local world.  A little Arkansas birdie told me all about the Thea Foundation’s first annual Thea Arts Festival taking place in the Argenta Arts District of Main Street in North Little Rock, AR on April 28th around the bend.  I’m letting you know a little ahead of normal here because if you want to go on a roadtrip for some great live music, food, and Art, there will be no better place to find the best of what the people around Little Rock call local.

Again, before jumping into Nashville, I’d like to share some news about a little bit of Nashville hitting the road close by.  One of Nashville’s zeitgeist gallery’s artists, Greg Pond, will feature a magical musical installation on the Walnut Street Bridge Amphitheater in Chattanooga Wednesday, April 18th!  Called Artifacts, the installation is an extraordinary work of art comprised of strings that are strung and hung from a bridge into a giant harp-like thing that will play music via a remote control.  Chattanooga, from April 13-22, is making their city a vibrant, working studio of art throughout the streets with a 10-block footprint of other ‘artifacts’ found citywide.  If you are in the area, look up MakeWork, 10×10, and a lot of celebration for public art.  You won’t miss it if you don’t miss out.

Then, on Thursday, April 19th, Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film is going to pull a grandiose 3 for 1 of sorts without even knowing it themselves.  First of two things they did plan, Amanda Sledge is curating Nashville: Three Lenses with photography by Courtney Greenlee, Brandon Daniel Greer, and Sledge over at The Parthenon.  The show will run through June 2nd in the main entrance gallery, but there will be an opening reception set to throw down FREE and for the public from 5:30-7:30pm on the 19th.  After you leave that exhibition, you might want to go to The Building (1008-C Woodland Street) in East Nashville to catch Jessica Beard, Matthew Boone, and Mollie Row co-curating The Show at The Building (captain obvious typing this right here).  The Show will include photography, interactive experiences, installation, and performance art.  And the 3rd Watkins coincidence on Thursday is only because I was lucky enough to see this artist speak live in person at Watkins in the not too too far past.  That’s right, Thursday marks the premiere screening of the documentary “Beauty is Embarrassing” at the Nashville Film Festivalat the Green Hills Theater.  This documentary is all about TN local art legend Wayne White and his illustrious career up to his current paintings and sculptures.  You will want to get out and see it either that night or at the second showing on Sunday.

Also, for a night cap on Thursday, you might want to go to the next RAW artists event.  The event, Menagerie, is at 8pm at Mercy Lounge.  With $10 presale or $15 at the door, the event is a 21+ year old event that is filled with the best live music, art, and fun around town at that given time.

And if you are still hungry for more art for the weekend, here is your zeitgeist sandwich of sorts.  Friday, April 20th might sent you back over to Chattanooga to check out zeitgeist and COOP cooperating and collaborating together via Patrick DeGuira, Greg Pond, and Lain York with there installations at a pop-up space (301 Martin Luther King Boulevard) from11am-10pm.  Chattanooga’s HATCH festival will also feature Nashville’s COOP and installations from nine other artists.

If you plan on sticking around Nashville though, you might want to head over to the Frist Center (again, I say this a lot because it is that good!).  FREE and first come, first seated, after you visit the current Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination for the 1st or 100th time respectively, you can fill in the Auditorium at 7pm this Friday to see theFrist’s “Unexpected Tales” Film Series.  Specifically, after a fun filled Twisted Tales session at 6pm and “Night Hunter”showing, Beauty and the Beast will be on the big screen for you to enjoy.  Now, don’t go singing any Disney tunes just yet.  This is Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast from 1946.  It is also a classic and worth bringing the family out for some fun together for FREE!

Wait did I mention zeitgeist yet?  Am I talking in 3’s a lot? This Friday, also from 6-8:30pm, New York art world wiz Bill Carroll is going to be at zeitgeist gallery as part ofNashvilleCultural Arts Project’s spring 2012 Insight? Outta Site! participatory potluck forum that ignites creative discussion about contemporary art.  Note- this is a potluck event.  Don’t be a vulture that stinks up the place, sits in the middle of the crowd, and doesn’t bring any food or quality comments to benefit the collective group.  The eating will take place at 6 and the talking will commence at 6:30.  Thank you ahead of time from everyone.

So if we’ve learned anything from this post, please remember that beauty is embarrassing and it’s not really good to be a party vulture.

That is all.  Have a great day and week ahead.

much love,

chUck

April is the bestest month of the year!

Wow! After a tremendous week and weekend of art and friends around Nashville, the spring time creativity doesn’t look to be ending any time in the near future. Yet again we have a fun-filled week of events to look forward to through the weekend. I’ll begin.

This Thursday, April 12th, marks the next in line of Senior Thesis Exhibitions from Watkins College of Art, Design & Film. On Thursday, from 5-8pm, photography major Kevin Free is staging his exhibition titled “Transition” at Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary School (1625 Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Blvd.). As always, the exhibition and reception are both FREE and open to the public (that means you, your mama, your mama’s mama, and her mama’s mama’s cousin can come too!).  Also this Thursday, April 12^th, from 6-8pm, you are ALL invited to Zeitgeist gallery (1819 21^st Avenue South) for the presentation of their second performance of the Spring Series of Indeterminacies.   Indeterminacies welcomes music theorist and laptop composer/improviser Michael Gardiner presenting new work with sax player Derek Bekvold.  An audience conversation about the work will be moderated by musician, critical thinker, and curator/executor of Nashville’s Downtown Sound Crawl, Kyle Baker.

Such a party on Thursday will gear you up perfectly for the big time events still to come. First, you will need to come to the Frist Center both Friday and Saturday. You need to come on Friday, April 13th, at 6:30pm first of all to hear Australian artist Patricia Piccinini lecture about the various themes she used as a contributor to Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination. Her work titled “The Long Awaited” is probably the most fascinating sculpture that I’ve ever seen in person to tell you the truth. If you haven’t seen the full exhibition currently at the Frist, here is a prime chance to see all of the wonders and talk to the person who made some of it! This lecture in the Frist Center’s Auditorium is FREE and open to the public. Second, on Saturday, April 14th, at 11am, Piccinini will be in attendance yet again to engage in a lively gallery conversation with the exhibition’s curator, Mark Scala, in the Frist Center’s Upper-Level Galleries. Attendance to this gallery talk is included with the price of admission (visitors age 18 and younger are admitted FREE!). YOU don’t want to miss this!

Then, after you leave the Frist with a smile on your face, and  before you stroll on over Shelby Bridge in order to spend the night on the East  Side of town, you should turn the car in the direction of Watkins to fully engage in their open house and YART  sale from 1-4pm.  During that time this Saturday, there will be  more than enough FREE hands-on activities and demonstrations by faculty  instructors in clay, book making, cartooning, watercolor painting and more to  provide a preview to Watkin’s “Summer of the Arts” 2012  session.  There will be original art for sale as well at yard sale  prices.  More than 60 community education classes and workshops will be  offered from June-August for youth, teens, and adults in drawing and painting,  metal and outdoor environmental sculpture, ceramics, film production, creative  writing, papermaking, website design, glass fusing, batiks  (taught by a beautiful  artist I know very well), and much much more!  So after you  leave the Frist and before you head on over to the East Side of  town for the night, drop on by Watkins!

Saturday night, the Second Saturday at 5 Points to be specific, there will be a pARTy like no other. First, you should go to Bryant Gallery at 6pm to see “One Country, Two Perspectives: Photographs from Guatemala.” From 6-9:30pm, both Stacey Irvin and Bill Brimm, who traveled separately to Guatemala last year and documented their adventures, will be on location and more than happy to share their pictures and conversation to all who come in the door. Irvin’s photography focuses on the native people and communities wherever she goes while Brimm’s work draws more on color and textures of again architecture around Antigua. Both are amazing artists and people in their own rights, and together the experience will at the very least make you a happier and better person before you walked into their art worlds. The exhibition will run through May 6th.

And after you depart from the Irvin/Brimm art world, you should look both ways and cross the street to see the latest exhibition at Art & Invention! Coinciding with the same art crawl, Bret and Meg warmly welcome new works by painter Elizabeth Foster. Always a favorite at Art & Invention, local painter Foster focuses her work around a narrative terranium/woodland theme. The opening reception is from 6:30-9:30pm and the show will also run through May 6th. Question: Have you ever had a bad time at Art & Invention? Answer/Fact: No!

So when the night fades into another day, instead of resting or waiting around all day at home for the next episodes of The Killing and Mad Men, why not record those shows and check out the latest of one of our favorite local artists, Jeff Bertrand, and his friend Aaron Kraten presenting “Urban Renewal.” This Sunday, April 15th, from 8-10pm, at Kustom Thrills Octane! Gallery (1000 Main Street, East Nashville), Bertrand and Kraten will be on hand to present a collaboration art show featuring their individual artwork as well as pieces they have worked on together. The exhibition will run through May 13th, but this will be a wonderful opportunity for you to see the art, buy the art, talk to the artists who made the art you just bought, and get to know the stories behind the art that you just fell in love with before it goes to your walls. This exhibition will have a total of 21 collaborative pieces and countless (you could count them probably if you are there for awhile and really want to get a number) other solo pieces featuring such themes as women and men, monsters and cityscapes, and dreams and nightmares that are sure to blow your mind like an Easter sermon.

Anyways, I hope the above helps you focus your near-future plans and gets you where you want to get going. Thanks as always for dropping by and feel free to share with others who might want to go to these parties too.

As you were, busy but happy,

much love,

chUck

It is hot in here?

Or is it just Nashville ’s art scene right now? I know … I know, but it’s the truth. Am I really the only one that wakes up, walks outside, and hears that classic 80’s song, “Cruel Summer” in my head over and over before I wake up and realize it’s not summer yet? Not only have we seemed to have skipped over the ordinary spring heat (I would say spring weather but this darn pollen still seems to show up out of the blue and pester a few unlucky sneezing souls … bless you too) right into what appears to be all of us standing directly on the summer sun, but I kinda feel like everyone in and around the area has already kicked off their shoes, put on their swim shorts, rolled up their sleeves, and have jumped right into the creative pool.

 

I’d like to dive right into this week’s post by letting you in again on a very good deal that you should take advantage of before it goes away. Specifically, Living Social and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts have combined forces to promote a deal that allows for anyone to purchase a “Friend-level”membership for only $45 (normally valued at $100). It will allow you to get FREE admission to exhibition galleries and Martin ArtQuest gallery, FREE single-visit guest passes, FREE admission to Frist Friday concert series, FREE audio guides for select exhibitions, 10% discount at the Gift Shop, and many more opportunities that go a step beyond being a regular Frist Center Member. This deal may seem too good to be true, but it isn’t … it is true and it’s up to YOU to take advantage of it before this special deal ends on a very special day … TOMORROW, Thursday, April 5th! So click the following link, pay for the deal for yourself, and then pay it forward by sharing it with others NOW! The deal link is http://www.livingsocial.com/cities/28-nashville/deals/280388-one-year-membership-to-the-frist-center.

 

Also taking place tomorrow, Thursday, April 5th, among other things special, will be the next Hillsboro Village Art Walk (an Earth Day Event actually). As always with the Hillsboro Village Art Walk every first Thursday of every month, the event is FREE to all public from 5-8pm with artists and art in nearly every store, nook, and cranny. And as always with every Hillsboro Village Art Walk, I highly recommend that you don’t pass up the chance to see the latest at Zeitgeist ( 1819 21st Avenue South ). This Thursday, April, 5th, from 6-8pm, you are invited to the opening reception for Megan Lightell: new paintings. Lightell’s latest is a collection of large scale landscapes inspired by a recent cross-country trip she took with her family that center around our universal complex and mysterious relationship to the environment.

 

Then, after you are finished celebrating the 5th of April for whatever reason you decide on, Friday, April 6 will be no slouch either. Watkins College of Art, Design & Film presents their second BFA Thesis Exhibition. From 6-9pm, everyone is invited to a FREE exhibition and reception showcasing photography major Sam Angel and fine arts majors Claudia O’Steen and Lisa Talbott. And if you plan your night accordingly, you might be able to hit up both Watkins and still make it to your reservation over at the Collectors Art Night on 5th Avenue of the Arts, Downtown Nashville (that’s right, you still need to make a reservation for this event at 5thAvenueoftheArts@gmail.com. Friday, from 5:30-8pm, 5thAvenue of the Arts presents a progressive event highlighted by intriguing art talks 6pm at The Arts Company (photographer Christine Patterson), 6:45pm at Rymer Gallery (painter Gabriel Mark), and 7:15pm at Tinney Contemporary (artist Jason Lascu). You do need to RSVP, but it is FREE if you do. With registration, you will get free valet parking in front of Puckett’s, complimentary appetizers by Sambuca, desserts by The Cupcake Collection, and wine provided by the galleries… yet another reason to celebrate the passing of April 5th indeed.

 

Then, Saturday, April 7th, marks the first Saturday of the month which in turn means an explosion of a plethora of new art all around The Arcade and Downtown. Similar to Hillsboro and Zeitgeist, when it comes to Downtown Saturday art crawls at the beginning of every month, I suggest that you hit the stairs in The Arcade and get lost. There is no twist to that riddle but there is a Twist Art Gallery and twist etc. eager to greet you in the mix. And just beside that same twist, you will find the always welcoming Blend Studio. This Saturday, there will be a solo show opening at Blend for Amanda Dillingham and her “And Worms Will Never Charm Me.” Consisting of a variety of pen and ink drawings and other things that explore the theme of regeneration relating to earthworms, tape worms, starfish, and humans all alike, the exhibition coincides with the rest of the Downtown Crawl from 6-9pm, running through April 28th.

 

And to end your weekend, or begin the next depending on when you sleep or how you lay out your schedule, Sunday, April 8th, marks another birthday this week. Yep, the Frist Center sandwich of this post completes the full circle without crust by letting you in on the party. This Sunday the Frist Center is celebrating their 11th birthday by inviting everyone to visit the Frist Center FREE all that day long! On top of letting any and everyone in that day, they will also be distributing a limited number of disposable cameras to those who would like to participate in a community-wide project photo-documenting and titled Cameras and Community in Action. So come on down to the Frist on that day or their website now to find out more about the fun to be had. Plus, on top of the tremendous art and architecture at the Frist, I know for a fact that they have a stellar air-conditioner unit or ten to keep you cool if this April summer persists.

Now stay cool out there, stay cool forever, and thanks for dropping by to read and share with others per usual.

 

much love,

chUck