Terry Adkins: Our Sons and Daughters Ever on the Altar

This Terry Adkins exhibit is a big deal. Adkins, who died at age 60 in 2014, was a Fisk alum and an incredibly influential artist, and yet this exhibition is somehow his first in Middle Tennessee. Terry Adkins: Our Sons and Daughters Ever on the Altar opens on Thursday at both the Frist Art Museum and Fisk University’s Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery. Among the show’s 40-something sculptures, works on paper and videos are several pieces influenced by the artist’s experience in Nashville, specifically his time at Fisk. Look for tributes to the legacies of several influential black figures, among them Jimi Hendrix, Bessie Smith and W.E.B. Du Bois. Through May 31 at the Frist, 919 Broadway; through Sept. 12 at Fisk, 1000 17th Ave. N. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER