EVENTS
Past Events
Tri-Star Arts: Artist Talk
An artist talk will take place on Saturday, May 6, 2023 from 2:00- 3:00pm at Tri-Star Arts, Candoro Marble Building. Kenturah Davis and Rubens Ghenov will share about their work and interview one another in a dialogue not to be missed!
Tri-Star Arts is pleased to present Tennessee Triennial: RE-PAIR in their main gallery at the historic Candoro Marble Building. A two-person show, Tennessee Triennial: RE-PAIR - part of the Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art, is composed of mixed media works by Kenturah Davis (Los Angeles, CA, USA / Accra, Ghana) and Rubens Ghenov (Knoxville, TN, USA). It opened on Friday, January 27, runs through Sunday, May 7. A closing reception will be held the prior evening on Friday, May 5, 2023 from 5:00- 8:00 pm (with both artists in attendance).
Tri-Star Arts: Film Screening
The evening reception at Tri-Star Arts on Friday, May 5 will feature a screening of Ingrid y el mar, a film by 2021 Current Art Fund grantee Johana Moscoso (Memphis, TN, USA), in the carriage house of the Candoro Marble Building.
Tri-Star Arts: Closing Reception
Tri-Star Arts is pleased to present Tennessee Triennial: RE-PAIR in their main gallery at the historic Candoro Marble Building. A two-person show, Tennessee Triennial: RE-PAIR - part of the Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art, is composed of mixed media works by Kenturah Davis (Los Angeles, CA, USA / Accra, Ghana) and Rubens Ghenov (Knoxville, TN, USA). It opened on Friday, January 27, runs through Sunday, May 7.
A closing reception will be held on Friday, May 5, 2023 from 5:00- 8:00 pm (both artists in attendance). Additionally, there will be an artist talk on Saturday, May 6, 2023 from 2:00- 3:00pm.
A1LabArts: Opening Reception
A1LabArts presents Re-Pair/Re-Connect features dozens of artists who invite viewers to experience a variety of interpretations of the theme "Re-Pair/Re-Connect", including but not limited to: ongoing post-pandemic renewal of public interaction and community events; renewed interpersonal relationships and communication; individual renewal of sense of self, values, creative vision, and role in society; and the roles and functioning of organizations and institutions. The variety of interpretations will be emphasized by a variety of media employed.
Knoxville Museum of Art: Willie Cole Lecture
This year’s Kramer Lecture speaker is a recent addition to the KMA Collection and a featured artist in the Tennessee Triennial. New Jersey based artist, Willie Cole is a contemporary sculptor, printmaker, and conceptual artist known for his innovative and unorthodox arrangements of disparate elements inspired by African and African-American histories and traditions. Cole is a nationally recognized artist whose work has exhibited in many museums including the Museum of Modern Art, NY, Bronx Museum of Art, and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University; he is represented by Alexander and Bonin Gallery (NYC), Maus Contemporary Gallery (Alabama), Gavlak Gallery (Los Angeles/Florida), and Kavi Gupta Gallery (Chicago). Free and open to the public!
Tone: Community Meal
There is an African Proverb, “A united family eats from the same plate.” On April 29th, from 6-9 p.m., we are hosting a community meal that will allow us to fellowship with one another through food. Sitting down together and sharing a meal has oftentimes been the glue that keeps us together as we can laugh together and cry together: we can remember and restore.
Current Art Fund: Memphis Q&A
The Memphis Q&A session for the 2023 Current Art Fund grant cycle will be a time for interested applicants to meet in person with Tri-Star Arts Director Brian R. Jobe to discuss this year’s call for project-based submissions. The grant’s application requirements, eligibility, accessibility, and format will be addressed.
The Current Art Fund will distribute grants of $7,500 each to 9 Tennessee-based contemporary visual artists and artist collectives, selected by a 4 person jury panel, to use towards the realization of a dynamic and accessible project.
2023 Jurors to be announced soon!
Tone: Open Hours
TONE partners with Mama Sundry for the 2023 Tennessee Triennial, under the theme: RE-PAIR.
Brick X Brick: A Billion Pounds of Cultivation, an interactive exhibition, from February 18th to May 7th, to bring about restoration to the folks in our community.
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art: Open Hours
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will be open on Saturday, April 29 from 10:00am-5:00pm. Tommy Kha: Eye is Another, curated by Dr. Patricia Daigle, is their featured Tennessee Triennial exhibition.
Tommy Kha: Eye is Another is a site-specific installation in the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s rotunda. Activating the rotunda’s floor, walls, and dome, Tommy Kha’s photography-based installation explores themes of identity, (in)visibility, and sense of place. The dome features a photo-mosaic of an eye, a literal oculus, composed of images of the sky from the two cities where Kha splits his time: Memphis and New York. The work is based on Kha’s own left eye, and its blue color is borrowed from Elvis. Below are photographs of the Southern landscape that consider the relationship between self and place, and on the floor is a blanket that explores the connections between identity, memory, and family. Visitors may lie down to “sky gaze” and contemplate on the grassy lawn.
Off the Walls Arts: Topography Event
Topography features artists Yvonne Bobo, Scott Carter, S.E. Cornejo and Tracy Treadwell, all of whom are members of the Off the Walls Artist Collective. At the Friday, April 28th event, there will also be a performing band, band TBA.
Memphis Celebration
Tennessee Triennial Memphis Celebration
Celebrate the Tennessee Triennial in Memphis at the Brooks Museum of Art! This evening includes:
+ 5:30 - 6:30pm: book signing with Tommy Kha
+ 6:30 - 7:15pm: an artist talk featuring Tommy Kha in conversation with Dr. Patricia Daigle, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Brooks
+ 7:15 - 8:30pm: a celebratory reception for the exhibition Tommy Kha: Eye is Another
The evening will also highlight the presence of numerous Tennessee Triennial exhibitions in town, including at official venues Tone, Memphis River Parks Partnership, and the UrbanArt Commission.
Free admission.
Stock & Belle: Artist Talk + Opening reception
Join Stock & Belle for an artist talk and opening reception feat. works on view by Brittney Boyd Bullock on Friday, April 28 from 4:00-9:00pm. The artist talk will begin at 4:00pm and the reception will begin at 6:00pm. This exhibition is a response to the Tennessee Triennial theme of RE-PAIR.
The regular hours for Stock & Belle are as follows: Tuesday - Friday, 10AM - 7PM; Saturday, 10AM - 6PM; Sunday, 12PM - 5PM.
Tone: Open Hours
TONE partners with Mama Sundry for the 2023 Tennessee Triennial, under the theme: RE-PAIR.
Brick X Brick: A Billion Pounds of Cultivation, an interactive exhibition, from February 18th to May 7th, to bring about restoration to the folks in our community.
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art: Open Hours
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will be open on Friday, April 28 from 10:00am-4:00pm. Tommy Kha: Eye is Another, curated by Dr. Patricia Daigle, is their featured Tennessee Triennial exhibition.
Tommy Kha: Eye is Another is a site-specific installation in the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s rotunda. Activating the rotunda’s floor, walls, and dome, Tommy Kha’s photography-based installation explores themes of identity, (in)visibility, and sense of place. The dome features a photo-mosaic of an eye, a literal oculus, composed of images of the sky from the two cities where Kha splits his time: Memphis and New York. The work is based on Kha’s own left eye, and its blue color is borrowed from Elvis. Below are photographs of the Southern landscape that consider the relationship between self and place, and on the floor is a blanket that explores the connections between identity, memory, and family. Visitors may lie down to “sky gaze” and contemplate on the grassy lawn.
Off the Walls Arts: Opening Reception
Topography will open on Thursday, April 27th from 7:30-10pm at Off the Walls Arts, located at 360 Walnut St, Memphis, TN 38126.
The show features artists Yvonne Bobo, Scott Carter, S.E. Cornejo and Tracy Treadwell, all of whom are members of the Off the Walls Artist Collective. There will also be an event on Friday, April 28th from 8-10pm with a performing band, band TBA.
Tone: Screening
From April 13th- 27th, we will be screening High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America on Netflix, every Thursday at 7 p.m. This series highlights the relationship that Black folks have had with food throughout our time in America and tracing back, to where it all began in Africa. “Black food is American food.”
Jay Etkin Gallery: Artist Talk + Closing reception
Join the Jay Etkin Gallery for an artist talk and closing reception feat. works on view by Carl E. Moore on Thursday, April 27 from 6:00-9:00pm. The artist talk will begin at 8:00pm. From the Studio is a response to the Tennessee Triennial theme of RE-PAIR.
UrbanArt Commission: Artist Talk + Closing reception
The UrbanArt Commission will host an artist talk and closing reception on Thursday, April 27th, from 5:30-7:30pm.
This programming celebrates Tend To, a flora-filled group exhibition at UAC, featuring works from Memphis-based artists Joel Parsons, Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo, and Verushka Dior of The Mane Wildling.
Curated by UrbanArt Commission’s Executive Director, Lauren Kennedy, this exhibition is presented as part of the inaugural, state-wide, multi-site exhibition the Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art. The Triennial’s 2023 theme of “Re-Pair”, developed by consulting curator Dr. María Magdalena Campos-Pons, serves as a guiding conceptual framework for all participants and venues.
Tone: Open Hours
TONE partners with Mama Sundry for the 2023 Tennessee Triennial, under the theme: RE-PAIR.
Brick X Brick: A Billion Pounds of Cultivation, an interactive exhibition, from February 18th to May 7th, to bring about restoration to the folks in our community.
UrbanArt Commission: Open Hours
The UrbanArt Commission will host open hours on Thursday, April 27th, from 12:00-5:00pm.
This programming celebrates Tend To, a flora-filled group exhibition at UAC, featuring works from Memphis-based artists Joel Parsons, Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo, and Verushka Dior of The Mane Wildling.
Curated by UrbanArt Commission’s Executive Director, Lauren Kennedy, this exhibition is presented as part of the inaugural, state-wide, multi-site exhibition the Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art. The Triennial’s 2023 theme of “Re-Pair”, developed by consulting curator Dr. María Magdalena Campos-Pons, serves as a guiding conceptual framework for all participants and venues.
Memphis River Parks Partnership: Food Truck Thursday + Special Performances
Memphis River Park Partnership will host events on Thursday, April 27 from 11:00am-2:00pm, in partnership with Downtown Memphis Commission.
The program features the popular Downtown Memphis event supporting local food vendors in Court Square Park, Food Truck Thursday. With special performances relating to the “All Power to All People” installation in Fourth Bluff Park.
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art: Open Hours
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will be open on Thursday, April 27 from 10:00am-4:00pm. Tommy Kha: Eye is Another, curated by Dr. Patricia Daigle, is their featured Tennessee Triennial exhibition.
Tommy Kha: Eye is Another is a site-specific installation in the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s rotunda. Activating the rotunda’s floor, walls, and dome, Tommy Kha’s photography-based installation explores themes of identity, (in)visibility, and sense of place. The dome features a photo-mosaic of an eye, a literal oculus, composed of images of the sky from the two cities where Kha splits his time: Memphis and New York. The work is based on Kha’s own left eye, and its blue color is borrowed from Elvis. Below are photographs of the Southern landscape that consider the relationship between self and place, and on the floor is a blanket that explores the connections between identity, memory, and family. Visitors may lie down to “sky gaze” and contemplate on the grassy lawn.
Memphis River Parks Partnership: Open Hours
Fourth Bluff Park, the site of All Power to All People by Hank Willis Thomas, will be open from dawn to dusk during the Memphis Highlight Weekend. This project has been curated by George Abbott of Memphis River Parks Partnership for the 2023 Tennessee Triennial.
Tone: Screening
From April 13th- 27th, we will be screening High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America on Netflix, every Thursday at 7 p.m. This series highlights the relationship that Black folks have had with food throughout our time in America and tracing back, to where it all began in Africa. “Black food is American food.”
Tone: Screening
From April 13th- 27th, we will be screening High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America on Netflix, every Thursday at 7 p.m. This series highlights the relationship that Black folks have had with food throughout our time in America and tracing back, to where it all began in Africa. “Black food is American food.”
Tone: Restoration Day
On April 8th, from 12-4 p.m., we are making our way back to ourselves on Restoration Day. On this day we are healing, intentionally, with the help of Memphis Black Healers Collective. Through cultural practices we will have a safe journey on our way back home.
Big Ears Festival: Lonnie Holley Sculpture
Lonnie Holley sculpture: Big Ears 2023 Tennessee Triennial project
The Big Ears exhibition for the Triennial will be a site specific installation, created during the week of our annual festival (March 27 - April 2, 2023) by artist Lonnie Holley (Atlanta, GA). Lonnie will conduct site visits with UTK sculpture students and K-5th grade students at Beaumont Magnet Academy on March 27 - 28 to introduce the project and share about his own artistic process. Following these visits, students will choose their own found object using the prompt “something that used to hold importance to me but no longer does”.
On March 31 - April 1, Lonnie will reconvene with these students and their objects to create a collaborative sculpture that will be installed and come to life in view of the public at the Southern Railway Station (306 W Depot Ave.), a Big Ears venue hosting a variety of free community concerts and programming during the festival (March 30 - April 2).
Also a highly acclaimed musician, Lonnie Holley will perform twice during the Big Ears Festival. Learn more at www.bigearsfestival.org
UT Downtown Gallery: Lonnie Holley Solo Exhibition
Lonnie Holley’s life and work read as a narrative retelling of Black American history—the residual effects of the Jim Crow era, the triumphs of the Civil Rights movement, and the struggles with false narratives around class mobility and race. Holley’s multidisciplinary practice seeks to educate viewers as a means of remedying the historical amnesia surrounding these topics. Rooting himself in the events of the past, the artist moves into the future—presenting synesthetic, multimedia work that visually engages its viewers with unique found objects and intricate motifs to subsequently inform on topics such as inequity and history as memory. Known throughout the art world for his found-object sculptures, paintings, and installations, Lonnie Holley gained a new audience when he started releasing and performing his music during the 2010s.
The UT Downtown Gallery is pleased to present a selection of recent works on paper, sculpture, paintings, and short films. Throughout the exhibition, we will be screening I Snuck Off the Slave Ship, I Went A Little Too Far (Mistreating Love), and I Woke Up… This exhibition is in collaboration with Knoxville’s Big Ears Music Festival, where Holley will be performing at the end of March. The UT Downtown Gallery is proud to be a free Big Ears Festival venue.
Tone: Pop-Up Shop + Farmer’s Market
On March 25th, from 12-4 p.m., our Pop-Up Shop/Farmer’s Market will provide a glimpse of what the Orange Mound Tower will embody. We are allowing our community to pour back into herself. Redistributing the wealth amongst one another as we purchase: sustenance, goods, crafts, and everything in between to help restore our community.
UrbanArt Commission: Sound bath
The UrbanArt Commission will host a sound bath event (limited capacity) on Sunday, March 19th, from 2-3pm.
This programming celebrates Tend To, a flora-filled group exhibition at UAC, featuring works from Memphis-based artists Joel Parsons, Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo, and Verushka Dior of The Mane Wildling.
Curated by UrbanArt Commission’s Executive Director, Lauren Kennedy, this exhibition is presented as part of the inaugural, state-wide, multi-site exhibition the Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art. The Triennial’s 2023 theme of “Re-Pair”, developed by consulting curator Dr. María Magdalena Campos-Pons, serves as a guiding conceptual framework for all participants and venues.