Ballet Memphis announced that president and CEO Gretchen Wollert McLennon will step down following the conclusion of its 38th season after five years under her leadership.
McLennon, herself a former student of the school and dancer in the junior company, succeeded founding artistic director Dororthy Gunther Pugh. In her role as president and CEO, she led Ballet Memphis through the challenges brought on by the pandemic, while leading year-over-year growth in main-stage ticket sales, garnering support from the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission, guiding the creation of new productions like Dracula and the company’s newly reimagined Nutcracker, and more.
A national search, led by the Nashville-based executive search firm ThinkingAhead, is already underway to find Ballet Memphis’ next leader as it prepares for its 39th season.
Season 38 concludes with its production of Angels in the Architecture to be performed on April 25th to 27th at Germantown Performing Arts Center. Ballet Memphis fans can also look forward to its Winter Mix, February 21st to 23rd, at Playhouse on the Square.
Preston Jackson (American, b. 1944), Jolly and the Mississippi Flood, c. 2005. Cast Bronze. Courtesy of the artist.
In October 2024, the Metal Museum named Preston Jackson as its 38th Master Metalsmith. “A Hidden Culture,” the exhibition now on display in honor of Jackson’s achievement, features 16 freestanding sculptures and four paintings by the artist, who describes the show as revealing “history that has been buried, forgotten, or deemed unimportant by society.” The Flyer had a chance to speak with Jackson about the show for our “Winter Arts Guide,” published in December 2024.
Memphis Flyer: What was your reaction to being named the Metal Museum’s Master Metalsmith?
Preston Jackson: When I got the call to get involved in this, especially being in Memphis, you know, where my ancestors are from, I jumped at that opportunity, and I took it on, even preparing new works for the show. So it was an uplift to do what you’re supposed to.
Your work goes into history and wants to uncover hidden histories, right?
Yeah, things that people feel uncomfortable talking about. … I find that looking back and re-understanding, rethinking things that were only a hint in your past because you didn’t have the facilities to understand them or express them, it’s almost like admitting it’s good to be human.
Preston Jackson, Madame Fruitvale and Her Dog, c. 2003. Courtesy of the artist.
Did you always know that you wanted to tell stories of other people, or was this something that you developed?
A lot of these traits that I have today were discovered, as my parents tell the story of my growing up, many years ago, right at the beginning of my little life as a young kid. Growing up in Decatur, Illinois, a product of the great migration that happened, my life is so much a part of that history. My exhibit gave me a chance to express my feelings about that.
And when you’re looking at these stories, are you doing a lot of research?
Yeah, you don’t want to be wild in your thinking because of how important it is to tell the truth. Just look at our politics today. Truth is sought after, and it’s valuable. If we live a lie or believe in lies, we’re going to sort of destroy the entire civilization.
Energy States, 2023 (Photo: Courtesy Scott Carter)
Scott A. Carter has worked in art installation for years. He’s worn the nitrile gloves to handle priceless works, like when he worked as a preparator at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Shoboygan, Wisconsin. He’s hung framed photographs not to be touched on the walls of Christian Brothers University’s Beverly + Sam Ross Gallery, which he runs as assistant professor of art. He’s placed pieces in tempered glass display cases at local museums as an occasional art handler. It’s a delicate practice, art installation — a practice that Carter was ready to disrupt.
It started with the display cases. As a sculptor, Carter says, “I was interested in using the surface to add jacks and cut holes, and treat them as a material, not so much like it’s going to preserve something.”
So, without much of a plan, he took a display case, laser-cut a hole, inverted a corner, added guitar cables, electronic components with exposed wiring, a silk plant, and topped it with a beer bottle. Now, it works as an amplifier of sorts. “You can plug [your instrument] in, and there’s three different modes you can switch between, and it’ll distort [the sound],” Carter says. “I ended up adding a contact mic, too.” Even without an instrument plugged in, the piece will make a loud buzzing sound, disrupting the typically quiet gallery space.
This piece, titled Energy States and made in 2023, would become the first of many semi-functional sculptures by Carter. For the first time, when he goes in to create a piece, he doesn’t have a plan; he just lets inspiration take over. “It’s a mashup of all the things that I like, furniture-ish design, electronics, engineering,” he says. “For years, I tried to combine my musical interests, interest in electronics with art, but they were always separate things.”
Most of these pieces now make up the Dixon Gallery & Gardens’ “Energy States” exhibition, on display through January 19th. Like the first, many of the pieces have sound and interactive components built in, with their mechanics exposed to the viewer, wires and tubing looping through grids made by the artist. Carter evokes mid-century modern or art deco styles with clean lines and simple use of materials, like recycled Modelo beer bottles and hardware the artist 3-D printed himself. He wants viewers to get up close to his works to engage with the elements from all sides layered under plexiglass and in display cases.
“I do get joy from looking at them and plugging them in a way that I haven’t gotten from other work I’ve made,” Carter says. “I think with this show, I finally got it to the point where I feel like, oh, everything together, I’m happy. Which is weird.”
“Scott A. Carter: Energy States,” Dixon Gallery & Gardens, 4339 Park, on display through January 19, free.
The art crawl will go to four venues. (Photo: Holtermonster)
Before Covid postponed events or canceled them altogether, Marshall Arts hosted an open studio event each December, welcoming the public into makers’ creative spaces and boosting the artistic community’s spirits. But the gallery hasn’t hosted one since 2019 — a fact that wasn’t lost on Lauren Holtermann, aka Holtermonster, who started renting studio space from Marshall Arts post-pandemic.
In fact, Holtermann didn’t even know about the previous open studio events until gallery manager Anthony D. Lee mentioned it one day. “I was like, ‘Let’s do that again,’” she says. “And then it turned into a whole thing.”
By “whole thing,” she means the first-ever Edge District Art Crawl. With Holtermann’s excitement to motivate him, Lee wanted to make the usual open studio event bigger. “Now, it’s not just us, Marshall Arts,” he says. “We extended the invite to all the new guys [Sheet Cake, Ugly Art Co., and Solid Ground Studio]. So it takes it from us, an isolated venue, and now we kind of have a district. I always kind of knew that was coming because I’ve been here for 20 years, and Marshall Arts has been for 32 years.”
The “new guys,” as Lee calls them, have all opened their spots in the past year or so. Sheet Cake, owned by Lauren Kennedy, celebrated its first year with a party on December 14th, and Anderson Goin’s Ugly Art Co. opened this spring. Solid Ground Studio is artists Jodi Brewer, Pam McDonnell, Lisa Williamson, and Paul Behnke’s private studio that’ll be open to the public for the art crawl. These four artists just closed their show, “Something Solid,” on December 14th at Marshall Arts, the gallery’s first show since Covid.
For the art crawl, guests can expect special gallery hours as they take a self-guided tour of the four arts venues. Marshall Arts will have work on display by its artists, plus open studios by Lee, Holtermann, Emma Self, Wiley Bros Music, and others. Sheet Cake’s new exhibitions “Loose Ends” and “Back for Seconds” will be on display with work by Brittney Boyd Bullock, Roger Allan Cleaves, Melissa Dunn, Stephanie Howard, and Clare Torina. Meanwhile, Ugly Art Co. will have an exhibition by Sam Reeves Hill.
“We want to let people know that the Edge is an active third space,” Lee says of his hopes for the art crawl. “The district’s still in its formation, but it’s a walkable locale with interesting things to do.”
“And it’s cool to show off that we have a blooming arts district popping up with some old heads, like Marshall Arts, and all these new bloods,” adds Holtermann. “It’s really exciting.”
Edge District Art Crawl, Marshall Arts, 639 Marshall | Sheet Cake, 405 Monroe | Ugly Art Co., 635 Madison | Solid Ground Studio, 669 Monroe, Thursday, December 19, 5-8 p.m., free.
Sculpture by Israeli artist Rick Wienecke (Credit: Heather Strickland Photography)
Susan Powell and Melissa Wheeler were taken aback when they discovered many of their students at Horn Lake (Mississippi) Middle School didn’t know what the Holocaust was.
Instead of just telling them it was when 6 million Jews were killed during World War II, the teachers wanted to involve the students in a project.
“They felt like if they had a project to go along with what they were taught and learned, they would really understand,” says Diane McNeil, president of the Unknown Child Foundation. “And, oh my, did they.”
The children collected 1.5 million pennies. Each penny represents one child killed in the Holocaust.
To showcase the children’s efforts and to raise money for a memorial that will include the pennies, “A Night to Shine” will be held December 16th at the Landers Center. Priscilla Presley will be the special guest.
“When I was asked to serve as honoree of a gala to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Unknown Child Foundation, I learned the mission of the foundation is to educate the world on the importance of keeping children safe by memorializing the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust,” Presley says. “The Unknown Child Foundation will be the only memorial outside of Israel dedicated to these children. I have no doubt visitors will travel to the Mid-South from far and wide to pay their respects to these children.
“I have lost my daughter, Lisa Marie, and I have lost my grandson, Ben. I have a heart for all children.”
Priscilla Presley (Credit: Christopher Ameruoso)
McNeil got involved when Powell contacted her about helping them come up with a project for the students. She knew McNeil had been involved with Jewish/Christian relations. When asked, McNeil didn’t hesitate.
“I’d always wanted to know what 1.5 million looked like. And so I said, ’Why don’t we get the students to collect 1.5 million pennies? One for each child that died in the Holocaust. Then we’ll know what 1.5 million looks like.’”
Both teachers loved the idea. “So, the kids started collecting. We thought we would have it done by the end of that school year.”
Instead, she says, “It took three-and-a-half years.”
The pennies “weigh over four tons.”
During one point, they realized they might have a problem, McNeil says. “We’re sitting here with 1.5 million pennies. There’s something wrong with this picture. Why are we going to let people from the Holocaust be represented by the American penny? That makes no sense at all.’”
They then discovered a fascinating fact. “The guy who designed the penny came here as a 19-year-old from Lithuania. And he’s Jewish. Victor David Brenner.”
Also, she adds, “The penny is the most circulated piece of art in the world.”
But there was another question. “What are we going to do with all these pennies?”
“I had no idea. But someone had brought me these pictures of a sculpture of a child in the ovens of Auschwitz.”
She contacted Israeli artist, Rick Wienecke. “I called him and said, ‘We want to melt these pennies and make something out of them.’ He said, ‘No, you don’t. The power in the project is them collecting 1.5 million pennies.’”
He told them not to melt the pennies. He said, ‘I will make this sculpture for you.’ I said, ‘We have no money.’ And he said, ‘I believe in you.’
“He made the sculpture for us. It’s a life-sized sculpture in bronze. And it’s of a child in the oven of Auschwitz. The child is on the grate about to be burned.”
Some of the pennies are beneath the grate.
In addition to the life-sized statue, Wienecke told them he’d make 10 limited editions — some smaller sculptures or maquettes of the statue. He said he’d sign them, number them “and then break the mold. No more.”
As a result of the penny collection/sculpture project, McNeil, the two teachers, and some volunteers formed the Unknown Child Foundation.
The Desoto County Museum in Hernando, Mississippi gave the space for them to do an exhibit on the penny collection. The exhibit, “The Unknown Child Holocaust Exhibit,” which is still on view, includes a more than six-foot tall wall of pennies. These aren’t the pennies from the Horn Lake students, McNeil says. The pennies in the exhibit are less than two percent of 1.5 million.
Also included is a recording of Rabbi Levi Klein from Chabad Lubavitch of Tennessee and a student from the Hebrew Academy reciting names of children who died in the Holocaust.
The goal is for the exhibit to travel, McNeil says. “We can go through the state and tell about this and raise funds for a permanent memorial.”
The timing for the gala was perfect. “Christmas and Hanukkah coincide this year. And this happened to be our 15th year.”
Dabney Coors, a Memphis friend of Presley’s, contacted her about attending the gala.
Presley agreed. And, in addition to appearing in person, Presley will be featured in a video with about 10 of the children who collected pennies. The children will be saying, “It’s so much more than a penny.”
Starry, Starry at the Brooks (Photo: Abigail Morici)
You don’t need to look too far in the sky to see the stars, not at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. That’s where Greely Myatt has installed his Starry, Starry starscape for the museum’s inaugural Winter Art Garden. Consisting of four sculptural elements — Big Star, Star Fall, Star Sprays, and Sirius (Dog Star and Pup) — the starscape, which opened at the end of November, is a constellation of Myatt’s own creation, stemming from the artist’s recent obsession with stars.
It all started with a show last year for Eagle Gallery at Murray State in Kentucky. For each show, as with the Winter Garden, Myatt notes that “space is crucial,” meaning that he curates his pieces to suit the space they’re shown in, often creating pieces if he’s so inspired. And for “tool,” as the show was called, Myatt was inspired by the reflective black floor of Eagle Gallery. “I wanted to do something with neon,” he says.
What exactly, he didn’t know yet. Myatt toyed with the idea of ripples in water, but after playing with a metric folding rule and shaping into a five-point star, he found his subject. “It was a form that wasn’t just erratic. It was fun, and relatively easy to make,” he says. “And so that happened.” And he happened to have an extra five pieces of traffic sign post leftover from another project, so he made a “massive” star and “put neon under it to reflect light and bounce it back up.”
Now that massive star — aptly titled Big Star, with a nod to the Memphis-based band — sits against the Brooks Museum. To the side of it, on the pedestals where statues Spring and Summer once stood, another star is propped up, this one made of charred wood.
“It’s a fragmented star,” Myatt says of Star Fall as it’s called. “When I was making the other stars [for previous shows], I kind of became interested in, instead of the completeness of it, letting the mind mentally finish it. And I kind of like the incompleteness.”
Star Fall
The wood of this fragmented star comes from a pine tree Myatt grew himself, starting in the third grade. “It was kind of a common tradition that teachers would give students, or at least in Mississippi, a sapling that you would plant and nurture if you were a reasonably good student,” he says. “So I did that, and I planted it behind my mom’s house. And 55 years later, my twin sister called me and said, ‘Hey, I cut your tree. Do you want any of it?’ I said, ‘You did what!’ But my sister was nervous about the storms blowing through and the trees coming down. This was about eight years ago.”
Meanwhile, Sirius (Dog Star and Pup), which is suspended between two trees near the plaza, is made of broom handles, and Star Sprays, which spring up from the umbrella holes in the plaza’s tables like bouquets of sparklers, are made of traffic signs. “I like to have all these materials around because I will use them eventually,” Myatt says. “My mom was like that — some people would call us hoarders. I remember as a kid she taught us how to pull old nails out and straighten them because we had plenty of wood, but we didn’t have any nails and we didn’t have any money. It’s always stuck with me, you know, that kind of idea of reusing material and seeing the good in something old.”
Star Sprays
All in all, though, as he reflects on the use of stars in his work, Myatt says, “They’re abstract, but they’re real. It’s kind of like Dave Hickey once said, ‘A Pollock doesn’t mean anything, but it has meaning.’”
The installation was made possible through the work of Kristin Pedrozo, Jon Hart, Chris Little, Jennifer Draffen, and more, Myatt adds.
Starry, Starry, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, through January 2025
A Love Supreme (Intertwined) 2024 (Photo: MadameFraankie)
Something was missing in MadameFraankie’s photography practice. At least, the artist thought so. She’d been able to capture stories of the Black community; she found that she preferred shooting in black-and-white and in film. “As soon as you are forced to have 36, 24 shots, or now 12 with the new camera I shoot with, you get real intentional,” she says. “I love a good black-and-white image; it stops the distraction.” But, so often behind the camera, she says, “I didn’t really have a way to bring in my own family or even myself.”
Fraankie looked for inspiration in her mother and maternal grandmother, who use their own creative talents for commercial arts and sewing, respectively. Her mom even used to paint in acrylic; the family house still has a painting by her of Fraankie’s older cousin as a “grumpy baby” on a swing. “It’s like they have this thing, this gift,” Fraankie says of her mom and grandma, “and I have decided to accept the gifts that they have.”
With this mindset, Fraankie integrated their crafts into her photography, adding embroidery and painting watercolor elements onto her pictures. “It’s just my first iteration of the mediums sharing space with each other,” she says, “the intertwining of the mediums and the intertwining of the storylines.”
These are the pieces that make up her exhibition “Intertwine,” on display in the Beverly + Sam Ross Gallery at Christian Brothers University. The images she uses are a mixture of her own candid film photographs of her family and those from her family collection that she’s manipulated — the little moments, from relatives doing hair to family gatherings in the living room with pillows on the floor.
“It just felt great to bring life back to them,” she says of the archived photos. “They’re not on anybody’s wall. They’re just kind of tucked away. So, to give a new purpose to the image, it was great.” Most of these have been transferred onto paper using a cyanotype process and toned with black tea. “I think having practices like this really lets you sit with the work,” Fraankie says. “It’s slow work.”
Having spent so much time with the pieces herself, the photographer hopes viewers will do the same. “I hope they physically feel themselves slow down. I’m not asking you to do anything except notice these little moments in between. I’m aware how mundane this is, but it’s like, no, like your family is worthy of existing on a wall. You have a story to tell whether you think it’s slow or not.”
As for the photographer’s family, they’re delighted to be included in the gallery show, most of them traveling from out of town to see the exhibit. “They’re excited about the journey,” Fraankie says.
Back in October, the city of Memphis hired its first-ever director of creative and cultural economy: DeMarcus Suggs. The arts, it seems, have taken priority in the Young administration, and Suggs, and the newly established Office of Arts and Culture where he will find his home, will lead the way.
Suggs describes his position as one of a centralized collaborator and convener, supporting artists and cultural organizations while boosting their economic impact. It’s about making sure the city’s ecosystem — businesses, restaurants, hotels, sports, and cultural policy — complements, welcomes, and retains the arts on a citywide scale.
“There are things we don’t always assume that are deeply connected to the arts,” Suggs says. “And so the role of this office, I think, is going to be helping to coordinate some major initiatives that can’t happen independently, but that we can coordinate and put government support behind.”
After all, not only are the arts an integral part of the “cultural fabric of Memphis”; they’re also an economic driver. “The National Endowment for the Arts produced a report that underlined that artists actually are three times as likely as any other industry to be entrepreneurs,” Suggs points out. “Memphis has a lot of really talented artists. We also have some really grit-and-grind entrepreneurs that have a vision. They have a dream, and they’re willing to build it.”
With this in mind, Suggs is ready to listen. So far, he’s been in conversation with arts organizations and philanthropists, and now he’s ready to talk to individual artists in a town hall listening event on Monday, December 9th, where wants to hear the strengths and weaknesses of Memphis. More listening events like this are to come.
“I’m an optimist that loves to have the full picture, and so I don’t ignore the challenges,” Suggs says. “I’m really excited to dig into what makes Memphis just so beautiful and amazing, in terms of our talent, in our artists, so that we can have more of that, and then really tackle the issues that make it prohibitive to experience those more of the good that we have.”
Once a performing artist himself, a dancer, Suggs understands the life of an artist and wants to create more community and equity in that space — especially in Memphis. “I love Memphis,” says Suggs, who, outside of the month or so he’s lived here since this position, spent a yearlong stint in Memphis for another job in 2021.
“My grandmother was from here,” he adds of his fondness for the city. “She was my first dance partner.”
This first year, Suggs says, will be about “reframing culture.” “That’s really us being able to use [and collect] data [from conversations and events like the listening session],” Suggs says. “We’re going to be framing what success looks like for us as a city, moving forward.”
Earlier this week, Arrow Creative announced its closure following its Holiday Bazaar, which will conclude on December 22nd. The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will absorb the majority of the nonprofit’s programming, including workshops and camps, artist coworking spaces, and retail opportunities.
“Our goal has always been to empower creatives,” said Abby Phillips, co-founder of Arrow Creative, in a press release announcing the closure. “We know that the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is already a very strong champion for this mission.”
The launch of Memphis Fashion Week, which sought to showcase Memphis’ fashion design industry, marked the beginning of Arrow Creative in 2012. In 2017, with the closure of Memphis College of Art (MCA), Arrow expanded its reach, outside of just fashion, to support creative entrepreneurs and engage artists of all skill levels in visual arts, hoping to fill the gap created by the school’s closure.
In that mission, this weekend, for instance, Arrow will host a Macrame & Mimosas: Tree Wall Hanging workshop ($54.13) and a Winter Watercolor Workshop ($49.87). It will also continue its Holiday Bazaar, where you can shop more than 100 local artists and makers (Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) through December 22nd, which, as aforementioned, will be its last day of business.
(Photo: Arrow Creative | Facebook)
All programming added to the Brooks’ existing framework will be recognized under Arrow Creative’s name, with the transition taking place over the coming months. Expect a schedule in early 2025 at brooksmuseum.org.
“By integrating Arrow Creative’s innovative programming into the city’s art museum, we can provide even greater opportunities for artists and creatives of all ages to make and learn while ensuring these resources remain accessible,” said Brooks Executive Director Zoe Kahr in the press release.
Arrow had also purchased key equipment from MCA in 2019, including tools from the woodworking, ceramics, photography, illustration, painting, fashion design, sound lab, letterpress, paper-making, and print-making departments. Those pieces will be distributed to local and regional art organizations, schools, and individual artist groups.
“Memphis has an indelible legacy of incredible creativity and collaboration,” said DeMarcus Suggs, director of creative and cultural economy at the city of Memphis. “I am excited to see these groups come together to support our artists and the creative community.”
“The board, staff, and I are incredibly proud of our work over the last 12 years,” said Phillips. “We look forward to what the next 12 will look like under the helm of Memphis’ art museum.”
2024 Contemporary Arts Memphis Fellows (Photo: Courtesy CAM)
On October 24th, Contemporary Arts Memphis (CAM), a nonprofit dedicated to uplifting under-resourced student artists, opened its newly renovated home base at 652 Marshall Avenue in the Edge District.
Founded in 2022 by Memphis-born artist Derek Fordjour, CAM’s initial and primary mission was to offer a no-cost, four-week summer arts-intensive fellowship to Memphis-area high school juniors and seniors. Through this program, students spend three weeks in a sleepaway-style camp in North Memphis before spending another week in New York City. The students also receive college-level instruction, dual enrollment through the University of Memphis, and mentorship.
Photo: Courtesy CAM
This new space in the Edge District will expand on Fordjour’s mission by offering ongoing support and studio space year-round for even more students, removing the barrier to access, whether that’s to the space, the cost of art supplies, or art instruction.
“Contemporary Arts Memphis is a safe space, dedicated to the growth and development of young high school students from all schools in the county,” Fordjour said at CAM’s ribbon cutting ceremony. “Public, private, charter, whatever neighborhood you’re from, it doesn’t matter. What home you live in, doesn’t matter. What matters is that you share our passion for art, and that is our currency.”
The 4,700-square-foot space includes working studio spaces, a computer lab, and an art library with books donated from leading art museums. The walls are lined with student artwork and, currently, a piece by Fordjour, with plans to rotate these student pieces and include work by a Memphis artist, courtesy of Sheet Cake Gallery.
Already, CAM has launched its Teen Art Labs program for high school students to deepen their art skills through classes at no cost. From Monday through Fridays, 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., and every other Saturday, students in Art Lab, fellows, and CAM alumni will have full access to the studio, including art supplies and storage for their work. Local contemporary artists will serve as mentors and instructors.
Painting by CAM alum Avajayne Ortega, Central High School, August 2021, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30, on display in CAM’s new building (Photo: Abigail Morici)
Deja Bowen, a CAM alum from the first cohort, looks forward to using this studio. “As an artist living in a house where I never had my own space to grow as a person, or an artist, a place like CAM could easily become a second home,” she said.
Now a student at the University of Memphis, she looked back on her days of completing her art assignments on her family kitchen table. “As you can imagine, I was turning my pieces into food stains, fingerprints, and all types of smears on the back and even the front.
“It didn’t help that my materials were usually cheap art supplies I would buy on Amazon or little things I brought home from school,” she continued. “Having my home be the center of all of my art making also sucked because I had no chance to talk with other artists or really seek advice that could benefit my artwork or artistic journey.
CAM’s new art library (Photo: Abigail Morici)
“But, with our new space, all of that will change. With this new building, I’m excited to have the opportunity to … be pushed into the art scene even more than I am now. As an alum, I look forward to watching the younger fellows flourish in our new space while growing as an arts community together.”
That’s what Fordjour imagined all along, he said, pointing out that his inspiration for CAM found its origin in his own fond memories of his high school art community. “[Bill Hicks], an art teacher at Central High School, essentially transformed his classroom into an incubator for artists,” he said. “We, his students, were abandoned misfits, the art kids who loved drawing and painting and making things. He opened his classroom for us to continue art making long after the last bell of the day. We pored over his extensive art book collection to study great works of art. He made it clear to us that we could never be competitive without putting in the extra hours outside of school.
Derek Fordjour (Photo: Courtesy CAM)
“So we organized small groups of figure drawing, painting sessions, and very soon we were winning prizes, all on par with the student athletes. He told me, and countless others, that we could make it as artists. And we believed him. Under his tutelage, we formed friendships that would last for decades. We went into the world with confidence in our skills and ourselves, and 35 years later, he is still with us.”
Fordjour, for his part, has become a world-renowned artist. Though he now resides in New York City, he said in an interview with Memphis Magazine, “I attribute my success to having grown up in Memphis.”
Registration for the fall semester of Teen Art Labs has closed. Students can apply for CAM’s Summer Fellowship 2025 here. Learn more about CAM here.
