Author: Abigail Morici

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On the Fly: Week of 7/25/25

Silversun Pickups come to Graceland Thursday. (Photo: Claire Maire Vogel)

The Wiz  
Orpheum Theatre
Through Sunday, July 27
The Wiz returns to the Orpheum’s stage in its first American tour in 40 years, bringing its groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz. With an iconic score and stirring tale that definitely isn’t in Kansas anymore, The Wiz brings a “whole new groove to easing on down the road.” Tickets ($29-$130) can be purchased here. Remaining shows are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

The Genius of Being Stupid
Hattiloo Theatre
Friday-Saturday, July 25-26, 7:30 p.m. | Saturday-Sunday, July 26-27, 2 p.m.
Playwright Keenan Scott II returns to Hattiloo with his newest work-in-progress: The Genius of Being Stupid. This autobiographical solo show offers a deeply personal and unfiltered exploration of his experiences as a special education student growing up between Queens and suburban Maryland. Memphis is invited to a special workshop presentation of The Genius of Being Stupid, currently in its early stages of development before heading to Broadway. As part of this intimate experience, audience feedback is encouraged and essential to the creative process. Tickets are $20.

GloRilla & Friends First Annual GLO BASH
FedExForum
Friday, July 25, 8 p.m.
Glo returns to the city that raised her. Tickets start at $98. Oh, and read our “Desperately Seeking Glo” cover story before you go.

Wagging in Memphis
Beale Street
Saturday, July 26, 4-7 p.m.
Who let the dogs out? Seriously, who let them out? Because they’re running amok on Beale Street. Amok! Well, more like in an organized fashion, what some are calling a fashion parade. That’s right: Dogs are parading in costume down Beale Street, and your dog can be a part of the madness, too, as long as you register beforehand. After the short parade from Robert R. Church Park to Handy Park, a party will ensue with vendors, live music, activities for the pups, and more. Find out more here.  

Edge District Art Crawl
Edge Triangle
Saturday, July 26, 4 p.m.
Stroll through galleries, discover your fave local artists, and enjoy exhibits. Soak up exclusive deals from neighborhood bars and restaurants. Participating galleries include Marshall Arts, Sheet Cake, and Ugly Art Co. Ugly Art will be featuring Blake Conner and Isaiah Kennedy’s popup titled “dirt://PIGMENT,” while Sheet Cake will be closing its “Summer Break” show, group exhibition featuring work from Justin Tyler Bryant, Sai Clayton, Coulter Fussell, Carl E. Moore, and Melissa Wilkinson.

Golden Girls 901
Hi Tone
Sunday, July 27, 3-6 p.m.
The Golden Girls debuted 40 years ago, and the world has never been the same! Join the Blue Suede Sisters at the HiTone as they celebrate this iconic show with contests, performances, screenings, and so much more. Tickets are $15.

Johnny Dowd Art Show and Music Matinee
Mollie Fontaine Lounge
Sunday, July 27, 4 p.m.
The tortured troubadour, fresh off his tour with the Mekons, performs with Amy LaVere, Will Sexton, and special guests.

Meet the Author: Lindsey Stewart
Novel
Tuesday, July 29, 6 p.m.
Join Novel as they welcome Lindsey Stewart in conversation with Tara M. Stringfellow to celebrate the release of Stewart’s new book The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic. The new book is a crucial telling of American history centering the Black women whose magic gave rise to the rich tapestry of American culture we see today.

Silversun Pickups
Graceland Soundstage
Thursday, July 31, 8 p.m.
See L.A.-based Silversun Pickups in concert as they tour their latest album ​Physical Thrills, which was birthed out of the pandemic. Tickets are $35.

There’s always something happening in Memphis. See a full calendar of events here.

Submit events here or by emailing calendar@memphisflyer.com.

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Powerful Pink Palace Exhibit Sheds Light on Jim Crow

“Overcoming Hateful Things” is on view at the Pink Palace Museum & Mansion through October 19th. (Photos: Courtesy Museums of Science & History)

More than 150 pieces of racist memorabilia make up “Overcoming Hateful Things: Stories from the Jim Crow Museum,” now on display at the Pink Palace Museum & Mansion. Raka Nandi, director of exhibits and collections for the museum, assures that the exhibit “is not a shrine to racism but is instead an exhibition that encourages visitors to witness and to reflect on the lessons that we should learn from the past.”

Fraught with racist imagery, these items, from the late 19th century to present, “caricature and stereotype African Americans,” Nandi says. They represent the Jim Crow era, the African-American experience during it, and the way its legacy endures in the modern day. The exhibit has traveled from Ferris State University’s Jim Crow Museum of Racist Imagery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, making this the first time it has traveled outside of Michigan.

The exhibit is the brainchild of David Pilgrim, the founder and director of the Jim Crow Museum, who has collected almost 3,000 objects of Black memorabilia. Eventually, he donated these objects to the university as the foundation of what would become a more than 20,000-piece collection of race-based artifacts in the Jim Crow Museum. To him, these items, while hateful, are helpful for learning, with the right context and intention. 

“One of the really profound things that [Pilgrim] said [to the Pink Palace team] was: we love history that is patriotic and that’s happy, but history is also messy, and it makes us uncomfortable, and it’s embracing that that really helps us to learn,” Nandi says. 

The objects can be triggering and offensive, but Nandi says, “The flip side of it is, this is also a story of how African Americans during the Jim Crow era became activists, they weren’t passive, and they didn’t see themselves the way in which they were caricatured and stereotyped. It is a story about how when we caricature and stereotype people, it is a way to demote them, to demean them, and the power that lies in that.” 

In each thematic section of the exhibit, there are representations of pushback against racist stereotypes. “For instance, in one unit, on one side of a wall, you see all the laws that were put into place during the Jim Crow era,” Nandi says. “… On the other side, you see landmark cases that were passed that allowed our society to move forward.”

Since its opening in May, Nandi has been surprised by the turnout for “Overcoming Hateful Things” as students, church groups, book clubs, even a mah-jongg club have come to view the exhibit. “It’s been interesting to see intergenerational visitors, grandparents coming with their grandkids, people coming who lived through the Jim Crow era or who had parents who lived through the Jim Crow era, and younger people coming in, who have no knowledge of this and are just shocked.” In interactive elements, these visitors have written raw and provocative reflections and responses to the exhibit. 

“I’m really proud of the museum for exhibiting ‘Overcoming Hateful Things’ at this moment because I think it’s needed to have these kinds of conversations,” Nandi says. “We’re living in a particular political time where people are afraid to have discussions about race and racism, but we really felt like this was an important exhibition to host.”  

Also on view at the museum, just outside of “Overcoming Hateful Things,” is “Ernest Withers: I Am A Man,” a display of Withers’ famous photographs from the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike. The collection, which features an original “I AM A MAN” sign, was last shown in 2010. 

“Overcoming Hateful Things: Stories from the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Imagery” is on view through October 19th — as is “Ernest Withers: I Am A Man.” Guests are encouraged to review this visitor’s guide before visiting the exhibit with children under age 12. Admission is $21.

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Art Art Feature

Tyré’s Photographic Legacy

Jay Etkin describes this photo as one of Nichols’ most sophisticated. ”It was the way he captured it,” he says. (Photo: Tyré Nichols)

As anyone in her position would, Keyana Dixon never imagined her brother, Tyré Nichols, would be a victim of police brutality. With a background in criminal justice, she knew her family would have not only overwhelming grief of it all to wade through but also the justice system, the federal trials, the state trials, the civil lawsuit, the press. “My family and I, we kept saying, ‘Once this is over, once this is over, once this is over, we’ll be able to do X, Y, Z, like, we’ll be able to grieve.’”

Even now, two years later, it’s not “over.” Two of the former officers pleaded guilty in both state and federal court, while three were acquitted by a state jury earlier this year and await federal sentencing. The civil trial date has been set for 2026.  

Yet today, Dixon’s focus has been able to shift to happier memories of her brother, away from his final, tragic moments. She’s been able to fulfill his dream of having a gallery show, though posthumously. 

A self-portrait (Photo: Tyré Nichols)

On drives, walks, bike rides through Memphis, Tyré Nichols brought his camera. “Photography helps me look at the world in a more creative way,” he wrote on his website. “It expresses me in ways I cannot write down for people.”

He had described Memphis as beautiful to his older sister Keyana Dixon — from the bridges over the Mississippi River to the trails in Shelby Farms Park. He had moved here for a FedEx job before the pandemic, and something about Memphis made him pick up his camera again, a hobby he’d started when he was a young skateboarder, wanting to document his tricks. “He was like one day I’m [going to be] in a gallery or something,” Dixon says.

“This was the perfect time,” she says. “I didn’t want to have this beautiful moment overshadowed by court dates and ugly and sick images and videos of my brother.”

Since June 24th, Nichols has several of his photographs on display in the Cooper-Young Jay Etkin Gallery in what’s being called “Tyré Nichols: Photographic Legacy.” Etkin is a friend of Nichols’ and Dixon’s stepfather. 

“This exhibition isn’t just a tribute to Tyré’s life — it’s a platform for his voice as an artist, for his vision,” Etkin says. “We want people to experience what he saw, to witness his sensitivity, his humor, his eye for beauty. It’s a chance to know Tyré not through tragedy or headlines — but through his own lens, through Tyré’s eyes.”

In this show are photographs seen on his website and ones that have been pulled from Nichols’ camera, yet unseen by the public and by even his family. In the weeks immediately following his death, Dixon recalls, sites like The New York Times and even our own Memphis Flyer publicized her brother’s photography, pulling from the internet — “which is fine,” she says. But seeing his work in the gallery, “it was different. … It’s something that makes me feel like his life meant something.”

Etkin compares Nichols’ work to that of William Eggleston. “There’s that same instinct to elevate the overlooked, to find meaning in the everyday. But Tyre’s point of view was all his own. His images carry a rhythm that feels deeply personal,” he says. (Photo: Tyré Nichols)

Dixon doesn’t want to be the only one who remembers Nichols, to see him in the fabric of the city, and so she started the Tyré Nichols Foundation to share his bright legacy for future generations. Two goals she hopes to achieve include offering creative arts scholarships and photography workshops for youths. 

“Things like this happen way too often — that there’s someone killed by the police,” Dixon says. “And then five years later, nobody cares to remember them, so I hope that this will give him a lasting presence here in Memphis long after I’m gone, long after everything.”

“Tyré Nichols: Photographic Legacy” will be on display at Jay Etkin Gallery through August 2025. Please contact Jay Etkin about purchasing work at 901-550-0064, available framed or unframed.

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Fashionable Dogs to Parade Down Beale on Saturday

Liz Wright with Saint (Photo: Courtesy Liz Wright)

Beale Street has been host to many a parade — from Pride to St. Patrick’s Day — but this Saturday, it’ll be host to a parade like no other. Picture it: dogs in costume strutting their stuff down the iconic street in a fashion show. 

Liz Wright, owner of The Friends of Dog online store and the event organizer, is calling it Wagging in Memphis (like “walking in Memphis” — get it?). “It’s a fun day for pet owners and dog lovers to come out experience dogs dressed up in clothing,” she says. “The reason behind the clothing is because it’s an opportunity to bond with your pet.”

And, hey, what’s cuter than a dog in a dress or a themed bandana? Heck, Wright even says pawrents can coordinate with their pets. “We definitely love when we see pet owners dress up like their dogs.”

The parade will be only a five-minute walk from Robert R. Church Park to Handy Park. “We’re considering the fact that it is hot outside,” Wright says. “Once they get to Handy Park, there’s tons of areas with grass for [dogs] to play in. We have a dog cooling zone.”

Any highly socialized, leashed dog is welcome to participate, dressed or naked. Wright’s pups Thor and Saint, for their part, will be dressed to impress in matching T-shirts with Wright. She calls them the mascots of her e-commerce store that she started during the Covid lockdown while living in L.A. “I love fashion, but not really having anywhere to go, I thought it’d be fun to be able to stay close to fashion but dress up my dog instead.” 

She’s now based in Nashville, but she’s a born and raised Memphian, happy to return home to host this event, where her store will be just one of the vendors at the parade’s after-party. “There’ll be a lot of dog-related vendors at the after-party, which is a good time — a DJ, live music, a lot of free giveaways,” she says. “There’ll actually be a fashion a dog fashion contest with a lot of silly giveaways, and then we’ll have some areas for the dogs to play with and chase bacon-flavored bubbles. Just have an all out good day.”

The day will also be raising money for rescue group Streetdog Foundation.

To register your dog to walk in the parade, go to tinyurl.com/msf5huzu. 

Wagging in Memphis Dog Fashion Parade + After-Party, Beale Street, Saturday, July 26, 4-7 p.m., free. 

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On the Fly: Week of 07/18/25

Country singer-songwriter Parker McCollum takes the stage for Memphis Botanic Garden’s Live at the Garden series. (Photo: Courtesy Memphis Botanic Garden)

“Home Is A Dream I Keep Having” Closing Reception
Urban Art Commission
Friday, July 18, 5-8 p.m.
Noah Miller and Sara Moseley’s exhibit, a reflection on the meaning of home, closes this weekend. The reception will have free refreshments, live music from Dream Journal, an avant-garde music project from Robby & Rachael Grant, and a DJ set. Read more about the show here. 

Live at the Garden: Parker McCollum
Radians Amphitheater at Memphis Botanic Garden
Friday, July 18, 8 p.m.
See country music star Parker McCollum take over the Radians Amphitheater stage this Friday for Memphis Botanic Garden’s Live at the Garden series. Individual lawn tickets start at $89.25. All lawn seating is general admission and is located behind the table seating sections. Attendees are allowed to bring their own food and beverages including coolers or can purchase from on-site vendors. 

Shopping! 

  • Chickasaw Oaks Vintage Street Market: Shop unique vintage finds including clothing, home goods, accessories, and furniture. Plus, get your vintage treasures tailored on the spot with an on-site alterations vendor. | Chickasaw Oaks Village, Saturday, July 19, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
  • End of All Art Books Pop-Up: Shop new and used books, curiosities, and limited special edition Slowdown Dry Goods collaborative merch. Patrick Sansone of Wilco will be signing his new book of photography, “Noticings” at noon. | Slowdown Dry Goods, Saturday, July 19, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.  
  • Memphis Oddity & Curiosity Market: Find the oddest of oddities and the most curious of curiosities! | Hi Tone, Saturday, July 19, 4-10 p.m. 

Sing 2 Sing-Along
Orpheum Theatre
Saturday, July 19, 2 p.m.
Sing along to the show-stopping numbers of Sing 2’s unforgettable soundtrack. Arrive dressed as your favorite character, warm up your singing voice, and get ready to rock the Orpheum. Tickets are $12. Up next in the Sing-Along series is Grease on August 2nd.  

Lampyfest
Lamplighter Lounge
Saturday, July 19, 3 p.m.
Celebrate the historic Lamplighter’s new improvements with music by Aquarian Blood, Jack-O & the Sheiks, Dr. Brown, Turnt, Jeffery Evans & Ross Johnson, Tyler Keith, and Superfun YeahYeah Rocketship. Karaoke to follow. Cover is $10. Oh, and, hey, before you go, read this totally awesome music story by Alex Greene before you go.    

Asian Night Market
Agricenter International
Saturday, July 19, 4-10 p.m.
The ever-popular Asian Night Market returns for a third year, promising a feast for your senses with dishes and flavors from over 70 food vendors across the U.S. Live cultural performances, a lion and dragon dance, DJ, eating contest, and more will take up the stage, and kids can enjoy a kids zone. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the gate for adults, $5 for children 6 to 12 years old, and free for children 6 and below. Get your tickets here. 

Colombia Night
Overton Square
Saturday, July 19, 6-9 p.m.
Celebrate Colombia’s independence with music, dance, traditional food, and more in Overton square. Expect live performances, tastings, and storytelling — for free admission. Dress in yellow, blue, and red. 

Mystic Krewe of Pegasus: Christmas in July
Dru’s Place
Sunday, July 20, 3 p.m.
Join the Mystic Krewe of Pegasus Memphis for a festive summer twist on the holiday season — all to benefit the Memphis Child Advocacy Center. Enjoy holiday performances by Fantasia Bordeaux, Bela D’Ball, Papa Chubb, Boy Dustin, and many more of Santa’s favorite entertainers. The krewe will be bringing all the Christmas cheer with a 50/50 auction, fun games, prizes, and surprises throughout the afternoon, so put on your best holiday attire (or your most outrageous Christmas-in-July look) and get ready to celebrate. 

There’s always something happening in Memphis. See a full calendar of events here.

Submit events here or by emailing calendar@memphisflyer.com.

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On the Fly: Week of 7/10/25

Enjoy summer-inspired cocktails at the Memphis Summer Cocktail Festival. (Photo: Courtesy Willmott Events)

Pattiloo Unplugged
Hattiloo Theatre
Friday-Saturday, July 11-12, 7-8:30 p.m. | Sunday, July 13, 2-3:30 p.m.
Hang with Hattiloo on the theater’s pattiloo. (I did not come up with that pun, but I wish I did.) This weekend, Hattiloo is putting on a series of free concerts with The PRVLG performing on Friday, D’Vonna Taylor on Saturday, and Kortland Whalum on Sunday. 

Bar Limina Bartender Residency Series ft. Abigail Gullo
Bar Limina
Friday-Saturday, July 11-12
Abigail Gullo (great first name) is taking over Bar Limina for the weekend. The creative force behind New Orleans’ Loa Bar, Gullo is a 2025 James Beard nominee. At Bar Limina, she’ll craft and present five that tell her story. Reservations are encouraged.  

Memphis Hates You Fest
Growlers
Friday, July 11, 6:35 p.m. | Saturday, July 12, 3 p.m.
This just in: Memphis hates you. You know what you did. And Memphis Hates You is a music fest that’s billing itself as a “vitriolic megazord of riffs and beer” — whatever that means. On the lineup for Friday are Chora, Die Young, Process of Suffocation, Seeing Hell, Vermin Fate, and Pigsticker. Saturday continues with Hosoi Bros., Deathspiral of Inherited Suffering, Woorms, Slolerner, Hate Doctrine, Ruined God, Sibyl, Victory Fives, Mudshow, and Sleuthfoot, and Sunday has Pressed, Mrs. Fletcher, Epoch of Unlight, Anemoia, Korroded, and Interna. Admission is $20 in advance, $25 day of. Three-day passes are $55.    

Soulin’ on the River featuring Tonya Dyson
The Fourth Bluff
Friday, July 11, 8 p.m.
Soulin’ on the River returns, bringing free live music to Memphis’ riverfront. Tonya Dyson kicks off the series with her soul, jazz, and R&B. Arrive early for food trucks, cold drinks, local vendors, and a DJ. Gates open at 6 p.m., and music starts at 8 p.m. Following Soulin’ on the River performances will feature Talibah Safiya (July 25th), Cherisse Scott (August 8th), and Will Graves & Soul (August 22nd).

Memphis Summer Cocktail Festival
The Kent
Saturday, July 12, 6-9 p.m.
If you want to make like Jimmy Buffet this summer and sip on tropical cocktails, you’ll love this buffet of samples of seasonal sips at the Memphis Summer Cocktail Festival. Tickets get you 12 fun-size cocktails, plus complimentary mocktail tastings. The evening will also have local eats, a dance party, cigar lounge, fun photo ops, and more. This event is 21+ (duh). Get your tickets here.   

Summer Plant Swap & Social + Pottery Class
Seize the Clay
Saturday, July 12, 6 p.m.
Get a new plant and make it a pot. Bring plants to sell, swap, or trade, or just come hang out, make pottery, and connect with fellow plant lovers. Pottery class is $38.24. 

Summerween 
The Cadre
Saturday, July 12, 7 p.m.
You’ve heard about Christmas in July, but what about a little ’ween in the summer? This perfectly timed Halloween party will be packed with costumes, DJs, lasers, and themed drinks. Tickets are $15 ahead of time and $25 at the door. 

Spies in the Cemetery
Elmwood Cemetery
Sunday, July 13, 2-3 p.m.
When I was little, I asked Santa for a spy kit. I thought I’d be a spy when I grew up, sounded like a nice career. Alas, here I am, not being a spy (as far as you know). But this weekend, I — and you — can live your childhood dreams vicariously through the dead, thanks to Elmwood Cemetery’s Spies in the Cemetery lecture. You’ll hear about world-famous spies from the past 150 years or so, the spies that started it all, the spies that wrote the book on spying, and the spies who permanently reside in Memphis. The seated presentation will last about 45 minutes. Register for $20 here.

MUSE Creative Gathering: SOUND — A Collaborative Community Soundscape
Bar DKDC
Monday, July 14, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Join Like Really Creative for MUSE:SOUND, a collaborative and improvisational soundscape experience inspired by Euterpe, the Greek muse of music, and led by musicians Victor Sawyer, Natalie Hoffmann, and EsMod. The soundscape will begin with a single note from each of the three featured musicians, setting the tone. Attendees are then invited to join in intuitively, adding their own sounds to build evolving layers of collaborative music. Tickets are $10.

There’s always something happening in Memphis. See a full calendar of events here.

Submit events here or by emailing calendar@memphisflyer.com.

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Dixon Hosts National Scrollathon

Participate in art-making at the Dixon and be part of the National Scrollathon visual art installation in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Charles Zizzo)

This Thursday, the Dixon Gallery & Gardens invites all to collaborate on a project that will draw in more than 250,000 participants from around the country and, eventually, culminate in a visual art installation at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. It’s called the National Scrollathon. 

Created by brothers Steven and William Ladd, each Scrollathon has its participants roll fabric strips around wooden dowels. Participants make two of these rolls, one to keep for themselves — “like a little memento,” says Kristen Rambo, the Dixon’s communications manager — and one for a community piece that’ll be photographed for the D.C. installation. The piece created Thursday may even go into the Dixon’s permanent collection. 

Photos: Ladd Brothers

The Scrollathon is meant to bring together community members of all ages and backgrounds as participants imbue personal stories and statements into the making of their scrolls, often sharing with the group. The idea began in 2006 when the Ladd brothers were looking for something young students could create. Turns out, kids weren’t the only ones who could benefit in the scrolls’ opportunity for self-expression, the artists realized. And so, over the years, the Ladds have hosted Scrollathons for the incarcerated, veterans, seniors, and festivals.     

Now, the National Scrollathon, say the brothers on their website, “will bring one Scrollathon to every state; five U.S. territories; Washington, D.C.; 10 locations that will specifically involve individuals of native ancestry. The scrollathons [take] place over five years, concluding at our nation’s 250th birthday in 2026.”  

“We’re the only participant in Tennessee,” Rambo says.

To participate in the Dixon’s Scrollathon, register for a one-hour time slot at dixon.org/events. 

Scrollathon at the Dixon, Dixon Gallery & Gardens, 4339 Park Avenue, Thursday, June 26, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

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Art Art Feature

‘Home Is a Dream I Keep Having’

Noah Thomas Miller’s pieces in “Home Is a Dream I Keep Having” take inspiration from Finnish landscapes.(Photo: Abigail Morici)

The houses in Fiskars, Finland, look the way houses are supposed to look, Noah Thomas Miller says. He was there earlier this year for an artist residency. “I would go on hikes and look at these country houses, and I feel like this is the way you thought the world was going to be when you were a little kid.”

The houses had matching red roofs, as if they’d been plucked out of an illustrated storybook. So he brought back those little buildings, engraving them into Baltic birch wood and painting them with those signature red roofs. “I made my own town in that same sort of way that’s very picturesque, just making these dreamy homes,” Miller says. 

He even titled one of the pieces “Home Is a Dream I Keep Having,” and the dual UrbanArt Commission show he’s presenting with Sarah Moseley has taken on the same name. The two are friends and found inspiration in each other for the show. “Sarah is the first person outside of my sister that I’ve worked on pieces with,” Miller says.  

For Miller, visual art is somewhat of a new bullet point for his resume. He’s been a filmmaker for most of his creative career; that’s what he studied at the Memphis College of Art. But after working behind a computer screen for so long at his day job, not even counting his hours spent editing film and looking at footage, he wanted to do something with his hands, to take a break from the all-consuming screens. So he signed up for a membership in Crosstown Arts’ woodshop only a few years ago.   

He started with furniture. It was practical. Until it wasn’t. “We can only have so many tables, so many chairs.” But he learned the machines, the tools; he learned that he could carve grooves for coasters to stay put on tables and record cabinets. His skills evolved, and so did his ideas. “It was like, ‘Oh, I can use this to draw.’”

Soon, he was making paintings of sorts on wood. He would get his paint — house paint — mixed at Lowe’s. “I’m not a traditional painter. I’ve never studied painting. I just started doing this,” Miller says. For the past few years, he has had a set of five or so colors he turns to for his color palette. “They feel like my colors,” he says. In this show, he introduced a pale blue and brown, yet there’s comfort in this palette, a familiarity that’s not unlike home to the artist. 

Likewise, it was natural that Miller turned to wood when in a creative need, for its familiarity. He’d always been working with the material, helping his dad renovate their homes. “I feel like every place we lived, my family renovated themselves,” he says. “We bought really cheap, and then our house was always just a construction site in a way. And growing up in that, this became familiar. And the last few series and shows I’ve had have all been kind of about houses and the idea of home because I do have the biggest attachment to all of these houses and my family members. … And then in a different way now, I paint houses and build houses.”

Miller hasn’t forgotten his love for film, though. “I know some people have described my pieces … like storyboards in a way,” he says, but for this show, he tried to marry the forms more overtly. In one piece, he inserted film strips from his time in Finland among carvings of his red-roofed houses — something he hopes to do more of for future pieces. In another piece, he has included a film photograph by Moseley, situated in the skies above another red-roofed home. 

Moseley, for her part, turned to film for its unfamiliarity. She’s the art director at Goner Records and is used to working in digital design, creating posters, flyers, and props. It’s been years since her last solo art show in 2017, and back then she was showing collage and illustration mostly. “Making physical work unique to me is kind of a new exploration,” she says.

Photography was a break from the art she’d make for work, and a break from life around her. “A really good friend of mine died,” she says, “and he gave me a bunch of cameras when he was alive, and I put my cameras down for, like, seven years. I didn’t touch him for a long time. His death was traumatic. And then I was cleaning and I came across these vintage cameras that I’ve had forever, and I was like, ‘Well, I need to take these out and use them.’”

She began taking pictures of nature around her home, on her walking path along the Vollintine-Evergreen Greenline. “These flowers and trees, I feel like they are part of the house, my home. … It’s my mental chill pill,” she says. “I have a lot of anxious energies sometimes. I give it to the trees; they can handle it.”

Film, too, can handle her anxious energies, subverting her perfectionist tendencies, Moseley would learn. She began making double exposures, where two images layer in one photograph. “You just kind of let go and just see what happens. It’s so experimental and you really have no idea what you’re doing.”

These photographs, in turn, are centered in her pieces, framed in wood that had been stored in her house’s attic for years. The frames themselves are hand-painted in bright colors with symbols of life and death, new beginnings — candles, lit and extinguished; a sun and moon. 

“I bought my first house in 2022,” Moseley says, “and it’s just something that I never thought I’d be able to do, and I got really lucky. And it’s a really old house with really old house problems. And I feel like the house is alive in a way, and I’ve been getting to know it.

“For this show, I contacted the lady that I bought the house from. She was like, ‘I’ll tell you my story about my life, how I ended up with the house, and what I did when I lived there.’ She sent me this, like, novel about the beautiful Sunday dinners she would have with her queer friends in the ’80s and moon nights and music nights. … It was just really beautiful to get to hear about the life that was lived before me in my house, like my studio.” 

To Moseley, the house is active; its history matters, as do the people that come and go in search of home, of that dream. Perhaps it’s the dream of familiar red-roofed homes, consistent, filled with memories. Perhaps it’s something else, a longing that can’t be described or met until change comes around. 

“Home Is a Dream I Keep Having” will be on view through July 18th. 

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On the Fly: Week of 6/13/25

Photo: Overton Park Conservancy

Clark Gable Slept Here
TheatreWorks @ The Square
Friday, June 13, 8 p.m. | Saturday, June 14, 8 p.m. | Sunday, June 15, 2 p.m.
Emerald Theatre Company closes out its season with Clark Gable Slept Here, a dark comedy that’s anything but discreet. When the corpse of a male prostitute is found in his client’s hotel room during the Golden Globe Awards, hotel owner Jarrod Hilliard and manager Gage Holland are left to sweep things under the rug. The show runs this weekend and tickets. Get your tickets here. 

Worldwide Knit in Public Day
Chickasaw Oaks
Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Get ready to unwind this weekend — unwind your skeins of yarn, that is. Saturday is Worldwide Knit in Public Day, and Memphis will be a part of it this year, thanks to Stitching Supply. Bring your latest knitting, crocheting, cross-stitch, etc. project, or pick up a new skill at Stitching Supply’s demonstrations during the day. Expect games, giveaways, and exclusive new merchandise. Plus, Pile of Threads will be on site for custom embroidery.

Summer Splash
Overton Park
Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Overton Park Conservancy is making a splash this summer with waterslides on the Greensward, next to Rainbow Lake Playground. Bring the kids to cool off the second Saturday of June, July, and August. Word is there’s also going to be face painting and food trucks at the free event.

Sankofa African Diaspora Festival
Cossitt Library
Saturday, June 14, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Celebrate the rich culture, lived experiences, and creative expression of African-descended communities here in Memphis as Cossitt Library offers an afternoon of performance, dance, art, vendors, readings, and much more in recognition of Black Music Month and Juneteenth commemoration. On the lineup are Artistiqly Xpressive, Black Crème, and Ekpe Abioto and the African Jazz Ensemble, with a dance performance by Queen Siren and drama performances by Hattiloo Theatre  and Ann Perry Wallace. Food trucks include StickEM and Jus Enuff Concessions. 

Juneteenth Fest at Cordova
Cordova Branch Library
Saturday, June 14, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Celebrate Juneteenth at Cordova Library. There’ll be a Juneteenth-themed children’s story time, local Memphis dancers, writers, poetry performances, African drumline, and more, plus local Memphis businesses selling food, drinks, accessories, home decor, and other fun merchandise. 

If Beale Street Could Talk
Orpheum Theatre
Wednesday, June 18, 6 p.m.
Join the Orpheum for this special screening in partnership with Telisa Franklin and Memphis Juneteenth featuring a live pre-screening performance by Singa B in honor of the Juneteenth holiday. The Balcony Project exhibit located on the Beale Street side of the theater will also be open from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. before the film. Admission is free. 

Munch and Learn: Blissfully Adrift in Tennarkippi
Dixon Gallery & Gardens
Wednesday, June 18, noon-1 p.m.
Hear about the Dixon’s latest exhibit, “Walk in the Light,” from the artists themselves, Colleen Couch and Dolph Smith. Bring your own lunch or order something from Park + Cherry. Read more about the exhibit in this Flyer article here. 

There’s always something happening in Memphis. See a full calendar of events here.

Submit events here or by emailing calendar@memphisflyer.com.

Categories
Art Art Feature

Worldwide “Knit in Public Day” Comes to Memphis

(Photography Courtesy Stitching Supply)

Get ready to unwind this Saturday — unwind your skeins of yarn, that is. June 14th is Worldwide Knit in Public Day, and Memphis will be a part of it this year, thanks to fiber arts store Stitching Supply in Chickasaw Oaks.

“We’re going to just have a place for a whole bunch of people to sit and knit or crochet or whatever other kind of stitching they want to do with us,” says Erica Carpenter, Stitching Supply’s owner. “We’re making it almost like a little festival, where we’re going to spill out into the little mall that we’re in, and we’re going to have demonstrations and raffles and games and giveaways and special merchandise.”

Worldwide Knit in Public Day began in 2005 and has since become the largest knitter-run event in the world, spreading across continents and bridging communities. “I’ve only been open since September, and when I realized that this was an event that was coming up, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun?’” Carpenter. “We’re big on community here at this yarn store. We do a community table all of the time, and we do social events frequently — at least off-site every month. The Knit in Public Day matches our community vibe.”

After all, community is what initially drew Carpenter to knit and crochet, and later to opening a store. She had done the craft as a kid or a teenager, really, but didn’t get back into it until the boredom of the pandemic. Once the lockdown lifted, she found something she hadn’t had before. 

“I used to do a lot of sewing, and with a sewing machine and embroidery machine and all that kind of stuff, that’s fun and all, but it’s solitary,” she says. “You have to pay attention to the needle and the machine and the direction that your fabric is going in, so if you have somebody there with you, you’re not really talking to each other very much. And I found with knitting and crocheting everybody’s talking about their project, about their lives.”

And so, community will be at the center of Knit in Public Day for aficionados and newcomers alike. Instructors will be on-hand demonstrating knitting and crochet. “I’m hoping they can get people interested in joining in,” Carpenter says. 

For the day, Stitching Supply will introduce limited-edition achievement patches and will sell exclusive yarn from independent dyers, one of whom is Forbidden Fiber from Covington, Tennessee. Pile of Threads (featured in this week’s cover story) will be on-site offering custom embroidery, and MemPops will be there with popsicles.

“I can tell you that there are other stores here in Chickasaw Oaks that are also planning a little extra special event within their stores as well,” Carpenter says.

Worldwide Knit in Public Day, Stitching Supply, Chickasaw Oaks, 3092 Poplar, Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.