Coop Gallery
Address: 507 Hagan Street, Nashville, TN 37203
Dates: project specific - see below
Hours: project specific - see below
Website: coopgallery.org
Projects and exhibitions by Sarah Saturday, Michael Mucker and TC, and Beth Reitmeyer will take place at Coop Gallery between January - March in response to the theme of RE-PAIR by María Magdalena Campos-Pons.
Voyage: A Live Visual Album by Gardening, Not Architecture (Sarah Saturday)
Saturday, January 28, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Voyage is the latest multimedia project from Nashville-based artist Gardening, Not Architecture, featuring a mix of live performance with innovative short films and vibrant original songs. This live visual album explores the shifting relationship we have with our complex and layered identities – those parts of ourselves, both positive and negative, that are always trying to protect us, sometimes to our detriment. This inner journey is a reflection of the outer journey that our world is currently struggling through. In order to become whole, we must face and reckon with our demons and do the work to bring these fragmented parts together as one.
Sarah Saturday is an interdisciplinary musician, producer, writer, and performance artist known by her stage name, Gardening, Not Architecture. She has released several albums, singles, remixes, videos, films, and multimedia performances since 2007, and played over 200 shows in the U.S. and Canada since 2009. She has scored music for film and TV, including creating the original score for the feature film Superpowerless. Since relocating to Nashville in 2012, Sarah has made a name for herself in the Nashville performance art community with her deeply vulnerable, complex, visually stunning performances.
Back to the South Side (Pick Up the Pieces) feat. Michael Mucker and TC
February 4 - 25
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 4, 1:00 - 9:00pm
Feb. Hours: Saturday, February 4 1:00 - 9:00pm and by appointment. Please contact info@coopgallery.org to book.
Back to the South Side (Pick Up the Pieces) creates space for dialogue between two Southern artists working at the intersection of fine art and human scale design.
TC says, “I go back in time to the present, when many black people have returned to the South from the North after realizing that they receive the same treatment everywhere. As we take in our surroundings, we realize that perhaps it is time to examine our own communities and address some of the issues that exist there. Community is where it all begins.
Communities have a story of their existence. Some stories have been lost in travel, while others were taken away through atrocities of suffrage. Generations of history have been passed through the story telling of the griot, the oral historian. These stories illustrate the greatness of human resilience, our will to thrive through the suffering towards our greatness. Through these stories and historical documentation, we pick up those lost pieces until our story is complete.”
Back to the South Side (Pick Up the Pieces) is a response to the Tennessee Triennial prompt of RE-PAIR, drawing inspiration from Jacob Lawrence's The Migration Series, a body of work that centers on the Great Migration, during which around six million Black Americans moved from the American South to the Northern, Midwestern, and Western states between the 1910s and the 1970s.
Michael Mucker (he/him/his): Michael “Ol Skool” Mucker knew from an early age that he wanted to create. Growing up during the Golden Age of Hip Hop, grafitti provided an outlet for creative freedom. At age 17, Ol Skool leveraged his prowess with a spray can to begin making work in airbrush. Completely self-taught, Ol Skool continued honing his craft and eventually founded several airbrush shops. After completing an overseas tour of duty, Ol Skool relocated from Kentucky to Tennessee in 1995 and continued to diversify his experience in mediums including graphic design, animation, automotive painting, murals, works on canvas, and, most recently, tattooing. Ol Skool’s work has been shown in galleries, museums, and cultural centers throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. As fiercely dedicated to teaching others as he is to making work himself, Ol Skool has taught in numerous art programs. He has been the resident airbrush instructor at Plaza Artist Materials for nineteen years. Most days, Ol Skool can be found in his studio or at One Drop Ink Tattoo Studio and Gallery.
TC (they/them/theirs): Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, TC has valued and created art since childhood. When a high school art teacher introduced TC to the work of Romare Bearden, Kara Walker, and Jacob Lawrence the die was cast and TC became hyper-focused on their practices, using collage to explore their experiences as a black, queer adolescent in the South. TC says, “You don't really see or hear about people having dreams where I'm from. Many people just simply forget about their dreams because they have families to support. Growing up, I knew that I was different. I didn’t know what different meant at the time, but I was aware that I didn't want to mirror the people around me.” An innovator, fashion designer, artist, and lifelong learner, TC works to create space for all kinds of people. TC’s garments and collages are modes that illustrate the typical lives of African Americans in the South, giving equal attention to both the highs and lows.
Repair by Beth Reitmeyer
Saturday, March 4, 1:00pm - 9:00pm
Repair invites our neighbors to bring their objects that need repair and air to COOP. COOP's member artists will lend their skills to stitching, patching, and rejuvenating those well-worn things that are some of favorite things. Artist patches will be available for clothing and fabric. Led by Beth Reitmeyer and COOP's member artists.
