On Saturday, Ground Floor Gallery + Studios announced it has closed. Ground Floor was founded by artist Janet Decker Yanez in the May Hosiery Mill in 2012, and its first resident artists included Amanda Joy Brown and Heidi Martin Kuster.
In 2014, Ground Floor found new digs on Fourth Avenue South, across from City Cemetery. At 3,250 square feet, the new space had enough room for at least six artists to work. The gallery has continued to host several shows each year, exhibiting work by both resident and visiting artists, as well as an annual juried show. Since then, it has housed artists Matt Christy, Carri Jobe, Morgan Higby-Flowers and many more.
From the gallery's press release:
For the last 8 years Ground Floor Gallery + Studios has been committed to providing contemporary exhibitions with depth and relevance, in multiple disciplines for a diverse audience, with the intent to connect artists with other art professionals, community builders and potential patrons. After great consideration, we have decided to close our doors. We are incredibly grateful for 8 successful and abundant years of studio mates, gallery shows, and growth within Nashville, and the National and International art communities. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has shown support. Please follow along with us on Instagram as we share some of our dearest moments on our feed. We hope to continue to connect with you throughout the community as well as on our social media platforms. Another huge thank you for all the love and support, we wish everyone the very best.
Here are some of our favorite exhibitions at Ground Floor.
Terra Incognita, Erin Murphy and Andy Harding
Terra Incognita, June 2019
"Drawing will always be intrinsic to sculpture-making, and I’m especially fond of exhibitions that display the disciplines side by side. Terra Incognita at Ground Floor Gallery + Studios featured large, illuminated sculptures by Andrew Harding alongside gorgeous, meditative drawings that Erin Murphy created in response to Harding’s works. Terra Incognita created a conversation about textures and spaces informed by big-picture ideas about cosmology, quantum mechanics, ecology, mythology and geology. It was also a display that embraced the mysterious even as it hinted at the anxieties that arise at the edges of perception and understanding." JOE NOLAN
"Silver Twist," Amanda Joy Brown
Resurface, February 2016
“Amanda Joy Brown's Resurface at Ground Floor Gallery offers the most painterly show of the night as the artist pulls transparent painted layers from their substrates, transforming them into elements in her sculptural presentations.” JOE NOLAN
'Piñata Skin,' Desiré Hough
Rotting Piñata, July 2015
“At Ground Floor Gallery, Desiré Hough's installation Rotting Piñata is the surprise party that never happened. A rock-hard stale cake, deflated balloons and the eponymous candy-dripping decoration all add up to a celebration of life haunted by a sardonic kind of death.” JOE NOLAN
"Aculeus," Shana Kohnstamm
Touched, October 2015
"The soft sculpture exhibition Touched at Ground Floor Gallery and Studios in Nashville featured creatures and abstractions, faux taxidermy, biomorphic shapes, and multimedia designs — utilizing wool, fabric, sticks, and hardware — sculptural works that blur the line between traditional crafts and fine art. … The exhibition ranged from charmingly pleasant to conceptual; at their best, these artists push their media and techniques beyond the expected forms to realize works that are technically audacious, visually compelling, and conceptually insightful.” JOE NOLAN FOR BURNAWAY
The Artist's Alphabet
The Artist’s Alphabet, December 2015
"Curated by Jodi Hays, the juried exhibition shows 10 mid-career artists that have established their own rules within their practice. In her curatorial statement, Hays references artist Charline Von Heyl: ‘I have an alphabet of tricks, an alphabet of colors.’ Hays, who is an accomplished painter in her own right, proves to be a capable curator with a great ability to choose works that relate to one another subliminally." ERICA CICCARONE
"Sex Trafficking via the Rear View Mirror," Laura Crosby
A.I.R. ReFreshed, September 2014
“For Nashville, whose growing contemporary art scene can sometimes feel a bit insular, ReFreshed does exactly what Yanez hoped it would: it offers a look into what’s driving contemporary artists around the country. The works on view demonstrate both a commitment to aesthetic fulfillment and a willingness to continue conversations about gender and subjectivity.” ERICA CICCARONE FOR BURNAWAY
