HOSTS
Highlight Weekends
NASHVILLE
Feb. 26- Mar. 1, 2026
CHATTANOOGA
Mar. 5-8, 2026
KNOXVILLE
Mar. 26-29, 2026
MEMPHIS
Sept. 23 - 27, 2026
The highlight weekends will include receptions and celebrations at select participating venues.
West, TN >
East, TN >
Host Museums
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For eighty-four years, the Memphis College of Art offered a rigorous arts education to students from across the country and around the world. Through this exhibition of ninety works by ninety faculty, administrators, and graduates, Memphis College of Art, 1936-2020: An Enduring Legacy reflects on the school’s historical impact and celebrates its continued legacy regionally and beyond. The exhibition is guest curated by Marina Pacini, Chief Curator, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 2002-2019, and is accompanied by a catalogue published by Paul Holberton Press.
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In Spring 2026, the KMA will present a solo exhibition by the Chattanooga-born provocateur
Wayne White – a multi-faceted artist, designer, and musician who has charted a kaleidoscopic
path through multiple frontiers of art and culture. From Emmy award-winning work as Art
Director for Pee Wee’s Playhouse and orchestrating pioneering music videos by acts like Peter
Gabriel and The Smashing Pumpkins, to crafting illustrations for The New York Times and
singing lead in the art band Username Password, White defies convention to revel in the fray of
pop culture. He has also been the subject of the epic 2009 monograph Maybe Now I’ll Get the
Respect I so Richly Deserve and an eclectic 2012 documentary titled Beauty is Embarrassing,
but the breadth of his work still feels under-appreciated. At the KMA, in concert with a wall
painting and a wide-ranging survey of his canvases, drawings and sculpture, White will create a
newly commissioned, room-sized kinetic puppet inspired by his memories of the South. This
show will be a magnet for collaborators, and will open in conjunction with the Big Ears Festival
in 2026 – furnishing a marquee platform for White to unleash an especially unique rendition of
his idiosyncratic enterprise.
Mandy Rodgers Horton. Material and Metaphor II, 2023. Acrylic on shaped and cradled panel, supported by cinder blocks; 48 x 36 in. Courtesy of the artist. © 2025 Mandy Rodgers Horton. Photo: John Schweikert
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Nashville host Museum
In Her Place: Nashville Artists in the Twenty-First Century
Jan. 29 to April 26, 2026
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Women have long been at the center of Nashville’s vibrant visual arts community, and In Her Place highlights their influence by presenting nearly 100 paintings, sculptures, textile pieces, and installations from 28 intergenerational women artists exploring ideas of place and identity. Part of the Frist’s 25th-anniversary celebration, the exhibition underscores the museum’s commitment to the local arts community and will be accompanied by a catalogue co-edited by Katie Delmez and Laura Hutson Hunter and published by Vanderbilt University Press.
Mandy Rodgers Horton. Material and Metaphor II, 2023. Acrylic on shaped and cradled panel, supported by cinder blocks; 48 x 36 in. Courtesy of the artist. © 2025 Mandy Rodgers Horton. Photo: John Schweikert
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The Hunter Invitational, conceived by Hunter Museum Chief Curator Nandini Makrandi and launched by the museum in 2007, highlights emerging trends and current events through the work of artists practicing in the Southeast. Opening January 2026, its fifth iteration will present new or expanded works by eight artists – including Anna Carll, Corrine Colarusso, Craig Drennen, Amie Esslinger, Jerushia Graham, Katie Hargrave with Meredith Lynn, and Althea Murphy-Price – offering audiences a chance to discover some of the region’s most innovative talent.