“The First,” Khari Turner
Fall won’t officially begin until after the autumnal equinox on Sept. 23 — I’m well aware of that, writing this in nearly 100-degree weather. Even still, my news feed is packed with stories about the upcoming college football season, I’ve already put our beach gear into storage, and I’m resisting the urge to break out my favorite wool sweater. It might not feel like autumn yet, but the best art season of the year is just around the corner. And the September gallery calendar looks very cool — even if my curly hair says it’s still stifling.
East Nashville
The Frist Art Museum opens Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage on Sept. 15, and a new exhibition at Red Arrow is smartly set up to share in the Frist display’s conversation about how deftly Black stories can be addressed through combinations of artistic materials and techniques. Resonance features a pair of artists who both explore cultural narratives of the African diaspora in works that ensnare viewers with their tantalizingly touchable — don’t touch the art! — textures. Khari Turner’s multimedia paintings combine acrylic, oil, charcoal, stained glass, seashells and sand with water collected at seasides and lakeshores of personal or historic significance to the artist and his narratives. Turner is based in the Great Lakes region in Milwaukee, and his work registers the way those massive bodies of fresh water shape the geography and social structures of the land and the people in the industrial Midwest. Turner’s works are part portraiture and part narrative, but their formal flourishes of unexpected materials, bold palettes and intriguing abstraction elevate them above the glut of content-focused art still stubbornly sticking to contemporary gallery walls.
Turner’s paintings are nicely complemented by Donté Hayes’ gorgeous, textural ceramics. Hayes’ works stole the show at Red Arrow’s Mundus Inversus group exhibition in spring 2022, and it’s great to see more of his work back at the East Nashville space. Hayes uses a needle to mark the surfaces of his soft-seeming geometric forms. The repeating marks create a texture that makes the pieces look like they’re made of woven threads — it’s a dramatic transformation that has to be seen in person. For the artist, these monochrome black works, and the rippling designs on their surfaces, speak to the oceanic crossings of the Atlantic slave trade. Like Turner’s paintings, Hayes’ works are likely to engage gallerygoers in these deeper meanings, if only because they first seduce viewers with their irresistible forms and textures.
DETAILS: Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Saturday at Red Arrow, 919 Gallatin Ave.
Downtown
One of this season’s crispest offerings is a throwback exhibition featuring some of the artists who helped to create Nashville’s contemporary art scene in spaces like the May Hosiery Mill and the Fugitive Art Center. The May Hosiery Mill, which we always just called the Chestnut building, was once a thriving creative spot where generations of local artists rented studios, launched galleries and partied into the wee hours, dreaming and scheming about building the visual arts scene that Nashville newbies now take for granted. The Fugitive Art Center was located at 404 Houston St. — what is now the Houston Station building. That curatorial collective brought an international roster of artists to Nashville before anybody considered our city to be a visual arts destination. The Fugitive also provided studio spaces to a generation of creators who’ve gone on to build national reputations in cities across the country. On view at The Browsing Room gallery and co-curated by OG Nashville artists Lain York and Janet Decker Yanez, The Key Show recalls the Wild West of our city’s contemporary art scene when a small, scrappy and resourceful collection of visionary oddballs built a creative community and transformed Nashville in the process. The exhibition includes work by Greg Pond, Beth Gilmore, Michael McBride, Adrienne Outlaw and Dane Carder, as well as York and Yanez themselves.
DETAILS: Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Saturday at The Browsing Room, 154 Rep. John Lewis Way N.
Wedgewood-Houston
Speaking of old-school Nashville, Julia Martin traces her beginnings as an artist and a curator to the May Hosiery Building’s heyday. Her Wedgewood-Houston gallery is a testament to what a hardworking and talented artist can build out of a no-frills space. Julia Martin Gallery is celebrating its 10th birthday celebration on Saturday night, and given the gallery’s reputation for festive receptions, this one should be a banger. Martin has nurtured the careers of a number of local and regional creators over the years, and artists like Kevin Guthrie, Delia Seigenthaler and Elise Drake have become emblematic of the gallery’s quirky take on contemporary art. The gallery is also the only Wedgewood-Houston venue to regularly feature live music at their opening receptions, and the gallery’s front-porch concerts can be some of the best shows in Music City.
Martin is planning an all-day affair to celebrate her art-baby’s big day. A massive, gallery-spanning group show will feature works by many of the artist’s Martin has exhibited over the years, and a rotating lineup of bands and performers will be gracing the front-porch stage, including William Tyler, Ziona Riley, Styrofoam Winos, artist Wayne White’s band Username Password, HR Lexy and more. Martin is also promising “a feast” from Martin’s BBQ, beverages from Bearded Iris Brewing, and several surprises she’s keeping to herself. Martin and her gallery are a staple of the crawl, and she’s also one of the people who helped to grow Nashville’s contemporary art scene from the very beginning. You’ve come a long way, Julia. We all have.
DETAILS: Celebration 3-9 p.m. Saturday at Julia Martin Gallery, 444 Humphreys St.
