Category: Arts or Education

Tots! Activity: Root Plants

As Cheekwood’s Tots program is temporarily suspended, we are sharing today’s activity for parents and tots to activate at home. Use our files to create your own Root Vegetable, then share your work with us by tagging @cheekwood on Instagram and using #cheekwoodtots!

Here’s what you’ll need:•  Paper root veggie
*See templates below
•  Glue stick

•  Tissue paper cut into squares

Carrot Template   

Beet Template 

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Try pairing the activity with one of these books:
The Carrot Seed, by Ruth Krauss

The Gigantic Turnip, by Aleksei Tolstoy, Niamh Sharkey, and Imelda Staunton

Tops & Bottoms, by Janet Stevens

Q&A with Hiroshi Sato

During the month of January, the Cheekwood Museum Team was pleased to have Harpeth Hall senior Addie Smith join us for her Winterim internship. While at Cheekwood, Addie had the opportunity to work and learn alongside the curators, art handlers, as well as the 2020 Martin Shallenberger Artist-in-Residence Hiroshi Sato.

Addie Smith: Is there a significant moment in your life that has helped to shape the certain style and technique you use to paint?

Hiroshi Sato: Sort of. When I was in Georgia, I saw one of Chuck Close paintings. That was the first time I came across the idea of flattening and form at the same time. I combine Chuck Close and Euan Uglow; that’s what started off how I paint now.

Addie Smith: If you could give yourself a piece of advice to your past self at the beginning of your painting career, what would it be?

Hiroshi Sato: I should have been an abstract painter.

Addie Smith: You mentioned that you have lived in Tanzania and Japan as a teenager and young adult. Have any cultural styles from either of these places been incorporated into your work?

Hiroshi Sato: Mainly, the idea of how to construct the picture plane is coming from a lot of Japanese art philosophy. In terms of purely the picture, I would say that’s what it is, connecting with the cultures. But the idea of an objective observer looking into the world, is kind of the angle that I’m coming from and that comes a lot from the Africa side too.

Addie Smith: What are some of your favorite moments to capture in your work?

Hiroshi Sato: It’s about the process. It’s less about a specific moment, especially because my series are more, conceptually, about the human condition.

Addie Smith: Why do you mainly use women as your subjects?

Hiroshi Sato: There’s a common association. As soon as you paint somebody that’s the same gender as the artist, people automatically assume it’s a self-portrait. They project and psycho-analyze; I just didn’t want that to happen. It’s distracting to what’s actually going on.

Addie Smith: What are you most looking forward to regarding your residency at Cheekwood?

Hiroshi Sato: I’m looking forward to really getting further and further into observing the experience of light in this place. I can see how it’s changing and it’s making the experience even better. Also, I’m hoping that people enjoy the show and see that “Joy of Painting”.

Addie Smith: Do you prefer the painting process or the final product? If neither, what makes each part so special to you?

Hiroshi Sato: It’s definitely the painting process. There’s a saying that goes
‘you don’t finish paintings, you just abandon them’. You don’t really finish a painting.

Addie Smith: Where do you see yourself in the future?

Hiroshi Sato: Hopefully, still painting. That’s all I really care about, the painting.

Addie Smith: Do you think your style will change?

Hiroshi Sato: It has to change. I don’t think it’s a good thing if it stays the same.

Join Hiroshi Sato in the museum galleries on Saturday, February 1 at 11 AM for an artist-led tour of the exhibition. This exhibition will be on view January 31 – March 29, 2020.

Learn more

Hiroshi Sato, “Double Portrait.” 2019. Courtesy of the artist. (hero image)

Photo courtesy of Warner Tidwell Photography. (right image)

Her Voice: Works from The Cheekwood Collection

Nearly 100 years ago, on August 24, 1920, Tennessee was the final state, the 36^th state, needed to ratify the 19^th Amendment which gave women the right to vote in America. To celebrate the 100^th anniversary, we are partnering with Lipscomb University to celebrate the strength of the women that came before by presenting the exhibition, Her Voice: Selections from The Cheekwood Collection.

In the decades following the campaign for women’s suffrage, a greater number of women successfully pursued careers as professional artists and designers. Her Voice: Selections from The Cheekwood Collection highlights our long-standing legacy of collecting works by female artists. This exhibition serves to recognize the voices, narratives, and creative innovations of extraordinary women.  Strong female voices, including Mrs. Wood, Mabel Cheek and Huldah Cheek Sharpe, guided Cheekwood, and Florence Drake, the maid, and Johnnie Woodbridge Winstead, the cook, were among some of the female staff on the estate. The women of Cheekwood were bold, beautiful women, unafraid to claim their place in history. This tradition of honoring female voices continued into the collecting tendencies of the institution.

Her Voice: Works from The Cheekwood Collection challenges the dominant history of 20^th century American art by focusing on the overlooked and underrepresented work and stories of women artists. This exhibition advocates for inclusion and gender equity in museums, the art world, and beyond. The works in this exhibition will offer an opportunity for the Lipscomb University community to consider how institutions like Cheekwood can help remedy gender gaps in the Western canon of art history and consider the legacy of risk takers who refused to be written out of the narrative. This exhibition includes work by Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jane Peterson, Liliane Lijn and more.

Her Voice: Works from The Cheekwood Collection will be on view from January 27 – March 30 in the Hutcheson Gallery of the Beaman Library at Lipscomb University. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Learn more

Perle Fine, Pure Myth. c. 1948. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Berezov Family. 1994.21. (above)
Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer, Symbols 81-5. 1981. Charcoal, pastel and oil on canvas. Gift of the Exchange Club Charities. (right)

2020 Middle Tennessee Scholastic Art Award Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 29th Annual Middle Tennessee Scholastic Art Awards! Students on this list and their teachers will receive formal notification and more details of their award(s) via e-mail the week of January 13. For more information about the Scholastic Art Awards, visit artandwriting.org.

Sponsored by

American Visions Nominees

Sarah Katherine Steen, 12^th grade from Hume-Fogg Magnet School

Amalia Dopp, 12^th grade from Hendersonville High School

Mattie Ree Neal, 12^th grade from Lipscomb Academy

Nora Leigh, 12^th grade from Summit High School

Annabelle Parrish, 12^th grade from Lipscomb Academy

 

Battle Ground Academy

Gold Key

Rebecca Steynberg (three Gold Keys)

 

Silver Key

Rebecca Steynberg (two Silver Keys)

Olivia Whitley

 

Honorable Mention

Gillian Baisden (two Honorable Mentions)

Annie Clendenin

Ansley Dambach

Nathan Evans

Katelyn Helberg (two Honorable Mentions)

Hairuo Zhou

 

Beech High School                               

Silver Key

Averie Kulbeda

Zachary Ramsey

 

Honorable Mention

Mandy Lin

 

Brentwood Academy                           

Gold Key

Katie Edgeworth

 

Silver Key

Katie Edgeworth

 

Honorable Mention

Katie Edgeworth

Samuel Tiblier

 

Brentwood High School

Gold Key

Jillian DeGrie (two Gold Keys)

Claudia Grove

Alice Guo

Lila Horesh

Keunwoo Park

 

Silver Key

Jillian DeGrie

Lila Horesh (two Silver Keys)

Angela Huo

Hallie Pitts

Alice Qu

Caroline Southard-Smith

Jack Wilson

 

Honorable Mention

Sarah Cai

Caroline Cavin

Claudia Grove

Mattie Hargis

Lila Horesh

Jordan Hurt

Avery Johns (two Honorable Mentions)

Sriya Kakarala

Lincoln Moore

Lauren Nicholson

Alice Qu (two Honorable Mentions)

Caroline Southard-Smith

Lauren Taylor

Jack Wilson

 

Brentwood Middle School                                

Gold Key

Alana Akovenko

So Young (Amy) Park

Cara Sullivan

 

Centennial High School

Gold Key                                  

KatelynDarnell

Aimee Karger

Alina Spatz (two Gold Keys)

 

Silver Key

KatelynDarnell

Aimee Karger

 

Honorable Mention

Katelyn Darnell

 

Currey Ingram Academy                                  

Gold Key

Maria King

 

Ensworth School                                  

Gold Key

Jacqueline Frist

 

Silver Key

Allie Duke

Jacqueline Frist

Lillie Waddell (two Silver Keys)

 

Honorable Mention

Yan Dellinger

Allie Duke

Jacqueline Frist

Sachi Srivastava

 

Father Ryan High School

Honorable Mention                              

Ashley Nealon

 

Franklin High School                                        

Silver Key

Olivia Wolfson

 

Honorable Mention

Sam Craddock

Emme Glover

Ashley Lauterbach

 

Friendship Christian School                              

Silver Key

Emma Caudill

 

Glencliff High School                            

Gold Key

Ever Turcios

 

Honorable Mention

Ever Turcios

Emmy Villalba

 

Grassland Middle School                                 

Silver Key

Jia Huang

 

Honorable Mention

Jia Huang

 

Harpeth Hall School

Gold Key                                  

Katherine Dovan (two Gold Keys)

Kate Miller

Emily Napier

Amelia Reddy

Ashley Tirrill

 

Silver Key

Aden Barrett

Lucy Callen

Katherine Dovan

Ainsley Hanrahan

Sarah Hinds

Walker McKnight

Rachel Rushing

Sabrina Russell

Grace Scowden (two Silver Keys)

Ashley Tirrill

 

Honorable Mention

Elizabeth Averbuch (two Honorable Mentions)

Devon Campbell

Stefanie Chiguluri

Allie Cunningham

Evie Daniel

Katherine Dovan (two Honorable Mentions)

Bella Guillamondegui

Emma Lowe

Olivia Majors

Walker McKnight

Zoe Miles

Ellie Nolan

Emma Pierce

Maia Roark (two Honorable Mentions)

Rachel Rushing

Grace Scowden (two Honorable Mentions)

Lexi Stewart

Mallory Thomas

Caroline Trichel

Ava Williams (two Honorable Mentions)

Sophia  Williams

 

Hendersonville High School

Gold Key                                  

Amalia Dopp (American Vision Nominee)

Amber Goforth (two Gold Keys)

Elizabeth Long (two Gold Keys)

Rylee Nelson

Noah Revis

Mia Ruffra (two Gold Keys)

 

Silver Key

River Harvill

Briley Kotler

Elizabeth Long (two Silver Keys)

Emma McCoury

Noah Revis

Mia Ruffra (three Silver Keys)

Jared Witt

 

Honorable Mention

Hannah Atwood

Phoebe Brown

Amalia Dopp

Amber Goforth

Zoe Graham

Madison Hightower (two Honorable Mentions)

Ya Jin

Kasey Jones

Trevor Jones

Briley Kotler (two Honorable Mentions)

Elizabeth Long (two Honorable Mentions)

Sage Mulzer (three Honorable Mentions)

Rylee Nelson

Sarah Ross (two Honorable Mentions)

Mia Ruffra

Jayla Thomas

Elizabeth Wilson

 

Hillsboro High School

Gold Key

Lily Duren

Victoria Ramsey

 

Silver Key                     

Addison Blanks

Lily Duren

 

Honorable Mention

Lily Duren

Gretchen Link

Victoria Ramsey (two Honorable Mentions)

Isabelle Sanders (two Honorable Mentions)

 

Hillwood High School

Gold Key

Zhiyi Meng

 

Silver Key

Za’Kayle Thomas (two Silver Keys)

 

Honorable Mention

Kaylee Grigg

Oliver Orellana  (two Honorable Mentions)

Za’kayla Thomas

 

Hume-Fogg Magnet High School                                  

Gold Key

Belinda Grace Brooks

Anabel Canedo

Alex Haston

Mae Herbert

Sojda Mousley

Eden Sekwat

Sarah Katherine Steen (three Gold Keys, American Vision Nominee)

 

Silver Key

Audrey Chang

Parker Denton

Alex Haston

Simone Marcantel

Calvin Parrack

Cameron Stacy

Sarah Katherine Steen

Rook Tilley

 

Honorable Mention

Tiana Aldroubi (three Honorable Mentions)

Gracey Alley

Kennedy Carroll

Aaliyah Dempsey (two Honorable Mentions)

Polly Edwards

Alex Haston

Mae Herbert

Azaiah Johnson

Simone Marcantel

Cora Miller

John Montague

Calvin Parrack

Emily Settles (two Honorable Mentions)

Avery Shippen

Auden Van Laeken

Addison Wright

 

Independence High School                               

Gold Key

Logan Bock (two Gold Keys)

Amy Csaki

McKenzie Owens

Lauren Schwartz

Gabe Thieman

 

Silver Key

Johannah Ingram

Kiersten Maddox (two Silver Keys)

McKenzie Owens (two Silver Keys)

Allison Rasmussen

Lauren Schwartz (two Silver Keys)

Madisyn Searles

Gabe Thieman

Corinna Vollmer

 

Honorable Mention

Annette Campos

McKenzie Owens

Ashlyn Pause (two Honorable Mentions)

Lauren Schwartz

Madisyn Searles

Gabe Thieman

John Overton High School

Gold Key                                  

Marina Ibrahim (two Gold Keys)

 

Silver Key

Marina Ibrahim

Bibimaryam Karimova

 

Honorable Mention

Marina Ibrahim (three Honorable Mentions)

 

Lipscomb Middle High Academy

Gold Key                                  

Mattie Ree Neal (two Gold Keys, American Vision Nominee)

Annabelle Parrish (two Gold Keys, American Vision Nominee)

 

Silver Key

Mattie Ree Neal

Annabelle Parrish (two Silver Keys)

 

Honorable Mention

Mattie Ree Neal (two Honorable Mentions)

Mary Estes (three Honorable Mentions)

 

Martin L King Jr Magnet School

Silver Key

Anna Post

 

Honorable Mention                              

Anna Post

Amelia Wang

 

Meigs Magnet Middle School                           

Honorable Mention

Ava Bryn Anderson

 

Mill Creek Middle School

Gold Key                                  

McKenna Aquino

Annabelle Mullenix

 

Silver Key

Thanh Pham

 

Honorable Mention

Thanh Pham

 

Montgomery Bell Academy                  

Gold Key

Bert Echols

John Raulston Graham

Thomas Harwell

Grayson Hill

Clay Lamb

Jax Leasure

Stokes Myers

Zane Thompson

Quinn Trabue

Bryan Zhang

 

Silver Key

Britton Busbee  (two Silver Keys)

Chanden Climaco

John Raulston Graham

Will King

Quinn Trabue

Owen Willers

 

Honorable Mention      

Richard Aylward

Luke Boyer

Britton Busbee

Wesley Carlton

Ike Cravens

Alexander Doulis

Andrew Dovan

Garrett Goodrum (three Honorable Mentions)

John Raulston Graham

Darin Hall (two Honorable Mentions)

Thomas Harwell

Carson Hensler

Grayson Hill (two Honorable Mentions)

Jude Kelley (two Honorable Mentions)

Fletcher (Sims) Lance

Andrew Lentchner

Jack Marro

Lain Orndorff

Graeme Rutter

Quinn Trabue

Adam Wang (two Honorable Mentions)

Nathan Williams

 

Nashville Christian School

Honorable Mention                              

Bettie Hoyt

Madison Turner

 

Nashville School of the Arts

Gold Key

Jeneil Benjamin

Aiden Cox

Micha’el Johnson-Davis

Enzo Lederer-Morihisa

Quinton McClain

Kelly Nguyen (two Gold Keys)

Isabella Orozco

 

Silver Key

Grey Higginbotham

Maleah Kelly

Enzo Lederer-Morihisa

Kelly Nguyen

Nemili Pineda

Trillium Rice

 

Honorable Mention                              

Violet Andrews

Amy Dominguez Ponce

Madison Eddins

Luke Holifield

Nicole Knight-Fallon (two Honorable Mentions)

Enzo Lederer-Morihisa (two Honorable Mentions)

Messiah Mayfield

Quinton McClain

Jason Mosley

Kelly Nguyen

Trillium Rice

Maison Spaulding (two Honorable Mentions)

Fred Whitley

Gabriel Williams

 

Nolensville High School

Gold Key

Brianna McVay

Michaela Ray

 

Silver Key

Rachel Gant (two Silver Keys)

Jordan Harris

Emma McKinney

Jasmine Morden

Michaela Ray

 

Honorable Mention

Rachel Gant

Jacob Paul

Brody Skipper

 

Pope John Paul II High School

Gold Key                                  

Adrianna Cadena

 

Silver Key

Adrianna Cadena

Mia Roettger

Dylan Wood

 

Honorable Mention

Lauren Cameron

Dylan Wood

 

Ravenwood High School

Gold Key

Minyoung Jo (two Gold Keys)

Madison Smith

Madeline Zhang

 

Silver Key                     

Emily Burlingame

Capri Easterday

Fangyu Guo

Madison Smith

Madeline Zhang (two Silver Key)

 

Honorable Mention

Capri Easterday

Minyoung Jo (three Honorable Mentions)

AarushiKhanna

Adam Kreider

Katie Mankamyer

Gianna Minias

Akanksha Pandey

Madeline Zhang (three Honorable Mentions)

 

Smyrna High School

Gold Key                                  

Breanna Evans

 

Honorable Mention

Breanna Evans (three Honorable Mentions)

 

St. Cecilia Academy

Gold Key

Katherine Guzman

Susan Sotak

Lauren Wittig

 

Silver Key

Aina Phelps

Mia Smitherman

 

Honorable Mention

Shelby Albright

Darby Carr

Olivia Grytza

Katherine Guzman

Penelope Herrero-Marques (two Honorable Mentions)

Katie Kaiser

Millie Kennedy

Nicole Manda

Parker O’Keefe

Elly Pease (three Honorable Mentions)

Mia Smitherman

Susan Sotak (two Honorable Mentions)

 

Stewarts Creek High School                             

Gold Key

Savannah Sawyer

 

Silver Key

Morgan Mueller

 

Honorable Mention

Starr Bryant

Chloe Cardon-Cole

Savannah Sawyer

Madison Wood

 

Summit High School

Gold Key                                  

Nola Craig (two Gold Keys)

Ashlyn Henley

Nora Leigh (two Gold Keys, American Vision Nominee)

Vanessa Sanchez

 

Silver Key

Madeline Ellis

Alexandra Franse (two Silver Keys)

Jesse Houle

Nora Leigh (two Silver Keys)

Rebecca Lilly

Michael Marrison

Chloe Salvatore (two Silver Keys)

 

Honorable Mention

Nola Craig (two Honorable Mentions)

Austin Dailey

Madeline Ellis (two Honorable Mentions)

Alexandra Franse (two Honorable Mentions)

Yuliya Melnychenko

Louie Pecce

Anastasia Tyndall

 

University School of Nashville

Gold Key

Lily Bartholomy

Erica Friedman

Lucy Mauries (two Gold Keys)

Sheeline Yu

 

Silver Key

Jolie Booth

Erica Friedman

Eleanor Hirt

Lucy Mauries (two Silver Keys)

Ainsley McMillan

Margot Ross

Tyler Schoenecker

Rachel Westerfield (two Silver Keys)

 

Honorable Mention

Lincoln Alphin

Sadie Begtrup

Jolie Booth

Kaya Booth

Piper Dorsey (two Honorable Mentions)

Erica Friedman

Meggie Hays

Emily Law

Anders Little

Campbell Luschen

Isabella Lutes

Lucy Mauries (five Honorable Mentions)

Ainsley McMillan

Elizabeth Nichols

Phillip Ratliff

Eleanor Shepard (three Honorable Mentions)

 

Valor Flagship Academy

Silver Key                                 

Demiana Sadek

Hosanna Sarlo

 

Wilson Central High School

Honorable Mention                              

Isabelle Leonard

Five Women Artists

Can you name five women artists? During the month of March, The National Museum of Women in the Arts is asking this as part of their annual initiative to recognize females in the art world.  As tribute to Women’s History Month, the NMWA will use the hashtag #5WomenArtists to challenge people to name five female artists. Can you?

Vadis Turner (b. 1977) is a mixed media artist from Nashville, Tennessee. Turner studied at Boston University before returning to Nashville, where she now lives with her husband and two sons. Turner explores the transformative possibilities of feminist materials. Commodities created for and produced by women are translated into storied abstract paintings and sculptures. Connecting generations of women, Turner’s production methods assert value on female experiences, rites of passage, and question traditional gender roles. Each work fuses archetypal female figures, from literature or cultural traditions, with specific atmospheres and landscapes. Turner created two pieces for an exhibition at Cheekwood Continuity of Context: Five Artists in Dialogue with Cheekwood’s Collection (September 2018-January 2019). Turner’s work is in permanent collections of 21C Museum Hotel, Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Andy Warhol Museum, the Tennessee State Museum and the Egon Schiele Art Centrum.

Vadis Turner. Laurel, 2018. Satin ribbon, sweat, tears, charred wood, acrylic resin, acrylic paint, and metal. Courtesy of the artist and Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN.

Beth Lipman (b.1971) is a multi-media artist from Philadelphia, PA who currently lives and works in Sheboygan Falls, WI. Lipman’s material of choice is glass and through the medium Lipman’s oeuvre explores the Dutch still-life tradition and the associations of these depictions. Lipman’s work is featured in Cheekwood’s latest exhibition Derived from the Decorative (open until June 2019). Lipman’s work has a direct precedent in Dutch still-life painting, and specifically in pictures by Golden Age masters such as Willem Kalf, Pieter Claesz and Balthasar van der Ast. Beneath the guise of a sumptuously laden table adorned with blossoming flowers, ripe fruit and shiny vessels, viewers were reminded to act with moderation. This was particularly meaningful for a newly emerged middle class that found themselves with both expanded riches and expanded curiosity, hence the commodities that are found on the tables. Each object in Lipman’s composition is hand sculpted and composed of vulnerable glass that according to the artist is representative of a moment in time. The pictorial framework she employs is undeniably influenced by the still life tradition and through it she relays a contemporary message in a historic context. Lipman has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Pollock Krasner Grant, Virginia Groot Foundation Grant, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant. She has exhibited broadly at institutions such as RISD Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her work has been acquired by numerous museums including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Kemper Museum for Contemporary Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Jewish Museum, Norton Museum of Art and the Corning Museum of Glass.

Beth Lipman. Margin for Error, 2014. Glass, adhesive. Courtesy Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Gift of Kohler Foundation, Inc.

Marilyn Murphy (b. 1950) is a painter based in Nashville, Tennessee. Murphy is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Art at Vanderbilt University. Her oil paintings and drawings create curious situations implying a larger story that often explores dualities both formally and conceptually. Most often in Murphy’s work, her subjects are females, and often females showing strength, independence and intelligence. Her breadth of work seems to focus on women breaking from the archetype of the gentile southern homemaker and reclaiming their spot in the forefront of society. Most of her work forces viewers into a sort of fantasy that is only created and imagined by Murphy. Murphy’s work has been shown in more than 300 exhibitions nationally and abroad. Recently, she had solo exhibitions at Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago and Cumberland Gallery in Nashville. In 2004, the Frist Center for the Visual Art had a mid-career survey of her paintings, drawings and prints. The Long Haul by Murphy is in Cheekwood’s permanent collection.

Diana Al-Hadid (b. 1981) was born in 1981 in Aleppo, Syria. She was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and currently lives and works in New York. Al-Hadid’s large-scale sculptures and wall hangings are the outcome of process-based investigations into materials, including fiberglass, polymer, steel, and plaster.

Exploiting the innate tension between mass and gravity, Al-Hadid is particularly interested in the point at which her works are fixed to the ground, often seeking to create what she describes as “something that seems improbable.” Making drawings since her adolescent years with her grandmother, Al-Hadid creates meticulous renderings driven by a fascination with the depiction of space and perspective. While critics often cite Al-Hadid’s Syrian background as influential to her ornate works, the artist is just as likely to reference to ancient Rome, the Renaissance, or Mannerist painting. In May, Al-Hadid’s work will be shown in Nashville for the first time. In a collaboration between Cheekwood and the Frist Art Museum, Al-Hadid’s works will be able to interact with the outdoors, as well as in the museum. This joint exhibition Sublimations will be on view May 24 – September 1.

Diana Al Hadid. Citadel, 2017-2018, (part of the exhibition Delirious Matter). Steel polymer gypsum, fiberglass, paint, aluminum, and bronze Commissioned by the Madison Square Park Conservancy, New York, and made possible at Williams College by a generous contribution from Seton Melvin ’82 and the Williams College Public Art Fund, established by the Class of 1961. Installation Photo by Elyse Mack.

Lillian Genth (1876-1953) was an American Impressionist painter. In 1900, Genth won the Elkins Scholarship and traveled to Paris. She studied under James McNeil Whistler. Under Whistler, her paintings began to adopt tonalist qualities. Her work focuses on female forms and landscapes, or Mother Earth. In 1908, Genth was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate. She was the youngest woman ever elected to this position. Cheekwood holds Summer Afternoon in its permanent collection. In this work, Genth presents an elegant woman pausing on a sunny porch, looking down to touch summer flowers in a brass bowl. Genth relates the woman to the vase of flowers by painting both in the same palette. Like the woman, the flowers are valued for their beauty. They have been cut from the garden and are separated from the earth, just as the woman is in some sense separated of her true nature. Genth’s work is in many private collections and museums, including the National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Summer Afternoon will be on view in the exhibition In Bloom: Works from Cheekwood’s Collection from March 21 – September 1.

Lillian Genth. Summer Afternoon, c. 1910. Oil on canvas. Transfer from the Nashville Museum of Art. 1960.2.36

These #5WomenArtists and several others bring unique mediums, talent, and beauty to our collection. We are proud to display some of their work at Cheekwood and very excited to advocate for the acknowledgement of all women artists, past and present. Are you interested in supporting women artists alongside Cheekwood and the National Museum of Women in the Arts? We encourage you to keep learning about women in the arts, to start conversations with your friends, and to use the hashtag #5WomenArtists to promote this necessary campaign on social media. Learn more about the NMWA campaign here.

Three Answered Questions We Know You Are Dying to Ask When Seeing Derived from the Decorative

Imagine your home. You are in your living room. You have a couch on top of a rug. On the side table, there is a vase that you intended to fill with flowers year-round until you realized that is an impossible feat unless you are Martha Stewart, or Oprah. Now, imagine if you are in Salvador Dali’s home, or even Pablo Picasso’s. Or at least imagine what a fictitious world would look like if those artists were creating your couches and rugs and vases. This is Derived from the Decorative: Works by Faig Ahmed, Beth Lipman and Bouke de Vries, opening Friday, February 1 through Sunday, June 9 at Cheekwood.

These contemporary artists explode and alter the decorative arts, removing the functionality and transforming them into contemporary sculptures.

 

Faig Ahmed uses ancient carpet weaving techniques from his native Azerbaijan in his works. Ahmed creates the patterns for his rugs on the computer, before he and women in his community hand-weave each piece. A method that has been practiced for over 2,500 years.

Beth Lipman is technically a craft artist, a glass artist. Her work explores several themes, including materiality, mortality, temporality, consumerism, and critical issues that stem from the still life tradition in the 17th century. Her work is constantly blurring the lines between craft and fine art. Her work transcends the “craft” aspect of her medium.

Bouke de Vries literally smashes and explodes porcelain objects. Porcelain is often show behind glass to prevent breakage, whether inside a museum or in your home. And yet, de Vries intentionally highlights these fragments and breaks in his work. De Vries began his career as a conservator. It was there that he learned the techniques to restructure fragments and chips.

Here are three things to know before seeing Derived from the Decorative:

 

1. Yes, those are real flowers. Trust us, you don’t have to touch them.

As a visitor enters the galleries, he or she is immediately confronted with Fragmented Vase 2 by Bouke de Vries. De Vries has smashed two vases and reconstructed them into this new “fragmented vase.” In this piece, de Vries has put the functionality back into the work. To highlight this, we have decided to place flowers in the work. The flowers will be replaced every week with new flowers, sometimes different flowers from the previous week. At Cheekwood, we are finally able to fulfill our dream of having fresh flowers in the vase, year-round.

 

2. Yes, that is an adult cradle.

In the Stallworth I gallery, visitors will see Beth Lipman’s Margin for Error. This work consists of a crib and a cradle. Part of the work itself is the visitor passing by the crib, which is melting into the ground, and being met with the cradle. Lipman’s intention is that this work encompasses the entire life cycle. In the Shaker tradition, aging adults are placed in wooden cradles. They are rocked, held and soothed until they ultimately pass away. As we see in many other ways, we enter into this world in the same way we leave it.

 

 

3. And yes, we know that we are hanging a carpet on the wall. We meant to do that.

In the second to last gallery in the exhibition, we have hung Faig Ahmed’s Impossible Viscosity on the wall. The design on the carpet resembles the liquidity of Dali’s clocks in The Persistence of Memory. It is indeed a carpet. This choice to hang the work encapsulates the entire message of the show. From simply taking the rug off of the floor and placing it on the wall, the work is figuratively and literally being elevated to fine art.

Some would say the exhibition is sparse. This is intentional. We want the visitor to experience each object in its own right before encountering another one. This exhibition gives the visitor room to breathe and space to enjoy each gallery. This exhibition is in the former Cheek bedrooms. Just as we have museum-ified these rooms, painting the walls white, the decorative objects that may have once been in these spaces are museum-ified. In these galleries, take a moment. Breathe. And imagine living in these spaces, with these objects. And yes, now we are back to imagining life through Picasso and Dali’s lens.

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