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Celebrating 50 Years of Contemporary Art Opens March 17

By Krishna Adams, Director of Visual Arts, Craft, Media and Design –

Lesley Patterson-Marx (b.1975 Louisville, KY),
Root Mother Almanac, 2007
Mixed media, 36 ¾ x 29 ¼ x 1 inches

In celebration of the Tennessee Arts Commission 50th anniversary, Three Grand Divisions: Celebrating Contemporary Art from the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Collection will be exhibited from March 17–May 12, 2017.

Often contemporary art serves as a way for artists to express how they view current culture and issues shared personally as well as globally. Over the past 50 years, the Commission collected contemporary art produced by twenty-first-century artists who were living and working in Tennessee. This exhibition highlights a variety of content represented through abstract (Andrew Saftel’s Shake the Tree) imagery to more recognizable (Vitus Shell’s Beautiful Sunday Magnolias) representations. Artists in this exhibition often engaged and helped educate future artists by sharing their talent through teaching at art centers and instructing as university faculty throughout Tennessee. From paintings and mixed media to prints and sculpture, this exhibition explores, documents and preserves contemporary art created across the three grand divisions that comprise the great state of Tennessee.

view the online gallery