Veda Reed

(b.1934) lives in Memphis
November 22, 1967 (detail)
oil on canvas, 40 x 50.25 inches, 90.36.3

In 1956, Reed graduated from the Memphis College of Art having had Burton Callicott as a professor. In 1957, right after graduating, Reed had her first show in New York. Craving her environment in Memphis, she returned in 1962 as a professor at the Memphis College of Art, teaching until 1995. After retiring, in 1996 Reed not only created the Tennessee Governor’s Art Award but she also received it as an awardee. Reed has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the David Lusk Gallery, Nashville and at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

My paintings are very real. Total abstraction doesn’t mean anything for me personally. I’m just trying to simplify enough to get to the essence of the thing. – Reed