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.
Robert Petkoff as Harold Zidler and the cast of the North American tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Photo: Matthew Murphy | MurphyMade)
As the temperatures are cooling down, the Memphis arts scene is heating up — with exhibitions, performances, and unique experiences. See for yourself in our Fall Arts Guide.
“Dear Grandmother” Heather Howle explores themes of nostalgia and familial connection. ANF Architects, through Oct. 17
“Troubling the Line: New Dimensions in Drawing” The works of Melissa Dunn, Terri Jones, Paula Kovarik, Mary Reid Kelley, and Patrick Kelley complicate the idea of drawing. Clough-Hanson Gallery, through Nov. 9
“All Rise: Memphis Bar Association at 150” Through arresting objects and powerful images, the exhibition showcases the Memphis Bar Association’s historical significance and continuing relevance. Museum of Science & History, through Nov. 10
“Bracelets, Bangles, & Cuffs” This collection of contemporary bracelets reveals the wide-ranging creativity of artists working in the jewelry form between 1948 and today. Metal Museum, through Nov. 17
“The 6 Points Artists” This exhibition features Sharon Havelka, Mary Jo Karimnia, Paula Kovarik, Carrol McTyre, Jennifer Sargent, and Mary K VanGieson. Bornblum Library, Southwest Tennessee Community College, through Nov. 27
“Andrea Morales: Roll Down Like Water” Andrea Morales’ first solo museum show features 65 photographs spanning her decade of photojournalism in Memphis and the Mid-South. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, through January
“A Hidden Culture” Master Metalsmith Preston Jackson who gives voice to those overlooked in the history books. Metal Museum, through Jan. 26
“ANA•LOG” Lester Merriweather examines the concept of agency over Black visualization within American popular culture. Crosstown Arts, fall
Alex Paulus, “Size Matters” (Photo: Crosstown Arts)
“Size Matters” Alex Paulus’ current series focuses on the juxtaposition of small figures within expansive landscapes. Crosstown Arts, fall
“Still” Michelle Fair’s latest works delve into the process of painting. Crosstown Arts, fall
“Chromatic” This exhibit merges explores the two worlds of sounds and color in a synergistic full-bodied experience. Arrow Creative, October 3, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
“Two Rivers” Huger Foote captures the moments when day slowly turns to night from Memphis and the Mississippi Delta to the Hudson River Valley. David Lusk Gallery, Oct. 8-Nov. 16
“I Saw the Light in Your Eyes” Ceramic sculptors Renata Cassiano Alvarez and Anthony Sonnenberg work through complex ideas of identity through abstraction. Sheet Cake Gallery, Oct. 12-Nov. 23
“Our Love Is a Shady Garden” Yanira Vissepó studies the ecosystems between her birthplace in Puerto Rico and adopted home in Tennessee. Sheet Cake Gallery, Oct. 12-Nov. 23
MadameFraankie Works by MadameFraankie. Beverly + Sam Ross Gallery, October 21-December 8
“2024 Accessions to the Permanent Collection” This exhibition celebrations the more than 170 pieces added to the Metal Museum’s permanent collection. Metal Museum, November 27-November 2, 2025
ON STAGE
Concerts in the Grove GPAC presents some of the best musicians in the area in a park-like setting. The Grove at Germantown Performing Arts Center, select Thursdays, 6:30 p.m.
Sounds of Memphis Each week, a new Memphis powerhouse presents a unique concert — from the Handorf Company Arts of Opera Memphis to YOBREEZYE. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Thursdays, 6 p.m.
De Aquí y de Allá Accompany the courageous Don Quixote of La Mancha and his trusty sidekick, Sancho Panza, on an adventure full of fun, music, dance, culture and more. Orpheum Theatre, October 4-5
Paradise Blue This dynamic and musically infused drama shines light on the challenges of building a better future on the foundation of what our predecessors have left us. Hattiloo Theatre, through October 6
Girl from the North Country The Tony Award-winning musical reimagines Bob Dylan’s songs into a story about a group of wayward travelers. Orpheum Theatre, Oct.8-13
The Mousetrap Theatre Memphis presents this murder mystery. Theatre Memphis, Oct. 11-27
Lizzie: The Lizzie Borden Musical New Moon Theatre’s Lizzie is American mythology set to a blistering rock score. TheatreWorks@The Square, October 18-November 3
The Smell of the Kill This tantalizing dark comedy has malicious housewives and miserable husbands. Germantown Community Theatre, Oct. 18-Nov. 3
Amadeus: The Music and the Myth Opera Memphis explores Mozart through the lens of music from the award-winning movie Amadeus. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m.
Rumpelstiltskin A young girl is locked away until she spins straw into gold. Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center, Oct. 26, 2 p.m.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary film comes to life. Orpheum Theatre, Oct. 29-Nov.3
The Three Bs: Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven Memphis Symphony Orchestra presents. Crosstown Theater, Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m. | Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, Nov. 3, 2:30 p.m.
Iris Collective Orchestra: Transformations Memphis-native Randall Goosby and conductor and Iris founder Michael Stern will be joined by the Germantown Youth Symphony. Germantown Performing Arts Center, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Taikoproject Taikoproject traces the history and lore of the ancient Japanese drums. Buckman Performing Arts Center, Nov. 7, 7 p.m.
The Orchestra Unplugged: Leonard Bernstein Music director Robert Moody of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra guides audiences through the life and legacy of the American Maestro. Halloran Centre, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m.
Junie B. Jones: Toothless Wonder This family-friendly show takes audiences on a humorous journey of growing up with Junie B. Jones. The Circuit Playhouse, Nov. 8-Dec. 22
Parallel Lives Two actresses play men and women struggling through the common rituals of modernity. Theatre Memphis, Nov. 8-23
The Wizard of Oz Dorothy isn’t in Kansas anymore. Playhouse on the Square, Nov. 15-Dec. 22
The Rake’s Progress Opera Memphis presents Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical opera. Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, Nov. 22, 7:30 p.m. | Nov. 24, 3 p.m.
NutRemix New Ballet Ensemble sets The Nutcracker on Memphis’ iconic Beale Street. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, Nov. 23-24
Peter Pan This high-flying musical comes to Memphis. Orpheum Theatre, Nov. 26-Dec. 1
Who’s Holiday Cindy Lou Who returns in this riotously funny and heartwarming adults-only comedy. Circuit Playhouse, Nov. 22-Dec. 22
A Motown Christmas Celebrate the holiday season with this musical of all your favorite Motown tunes. Hattiloo Theatre, Nov. 22-Dec. 22
Twelfth Night Shakespeare’s most charming comedy finds itself on the Tabor Stage. Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Dec. 6-22
A Christmas Carol ’24 Theatre Memphis presents this holiday classic. Theatre Memphis, December 6-23
Bright Star Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s bluegrass musical tells a story of love and redemption in 1920s and ’40s North Carolina. Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center, Dec. 6-8
Tía Pancha Tía Pancha is Cazateatro’s bilingual adaptation of the classic A Christmas Carol but with a Latin and female twist. TheatreWorks@The Evergreen, Dec. 6-14
A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live on Stage The whole family can enjoy this adaptation of Charles M. Schulz’s timeless story. Orpheum Theatre, Dec. 7, 2 p.m., 5 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
The Nutcracker Ballet Memphis’ production of this holiday classic returns. Orpheum Theatre, Dec. 13-15
AROUND TOWN
Art Club The Brooks’ Art Club with Mallory Sharp gives participants an in-depth look at a different work of art each month. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, monthly
Appetite for the Arts Enjoy a picnic and/or food truck fare while feasting your eyes on music and dance films. The Grove at Germantown Performing Arts Center, Wednesdays in October, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Super Saturdays Enjoy free drop-in art making workshops for families and free admission to the Brooks. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Saturdays, 10:30 a.m.-noon
Free Family Day On the second Saturday of the month, the Stax has live music, outdoors, food trucks, games and activities, arts and crafts for children, and free admission to the entire museum. Stax Museum of American Soul Music, second Saturdays of the month, 1-5 p.m.
Artoberfest Off the Walls Arts showcases Memphis artists and musicians for a day of music, vendors, a costume contest, activities, and fun. Off the Walls Arts, Oct. 5, 2-10 p.m.
V&E Greenline Artwalk 2024 Meet and shop from local artists, and enjoy music, entertainment, children’s activities, and artist demonstrations. V&E Greenline, Oct. 7, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Paint Memphis A hundred or so artists will be painting murals all day long and it’s a spectacle to behold. Willet and Lamar, October 12, noon-7 p.m.
Come as Thou Art Guests will don their most imaginative attire, either inspired by the night’s theme — the world of Tim Burton — or the spirit of a designer. The evening will be capped off with a fashion show by Sonin Lee. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Oct. 18, 8 p.m.
Art on Fire Enjoy tastings from local restaurants, live music, thrilling fire dancers, and a vibrant art sale — all set around a roaring bonfire. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Oct. 19, 7-11 p.m.
Dracula Party Celebrate Ballet Memphis’ reprise of Dracula and help raise critical funds to support its mission with a Halloween party where you can party like a vampire. Mollie Fontaine Lounge, October 19, 7:30-10:30 p.m.
Repair Days Bring your metal items to have them restored their former glory at the Metal Museum’s largest fundraiser, which also includes the Dinner + Auction and Family Fun Day, where visitors can participate in hands-on activities, explore the galleries, and watch metalsmith demonstrations. Metal Museum, Oct. 17-20
RiverArtsFest The region’s largest and longest running fine arts festival showcasing works from 200+ participating local and national artists returns with an artist market, artists-at-work demonstration station, hands-on artist station, performances, and plenty of food and beverages. Riverside Drive, Oct. 20, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
28th Annual Quilt & Fiber Arts Show and Sale View around 100 antique, vintage, and modern quilts, plus meet with vendors and demonstrators and see a new special exhibit. Davies Manor Historic Site, November 1-3, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Orpheum Soiree Enjoy an evening including glittering entertainment, live auction, specialty cocktails, exciting eats, and fun surprises. Orpheum Theatre, November 15, 7 p.m.
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ARTSassist
In August, ARTSmemphis announced the inaugural distribution of ARTSassist grants to 22 individual artists, providing these artists in dance and visual arts an unrestricted $5,000. This makes it the only unrestricted grant program supporting individual artists in Shelby County.
The program comes as an expansion of a pre-pandemic grant program for visual artists, known as ArtsAccelerator. As ARTSmemphis CEO and president Elizabeth Rouse says, “About 10 years ago, thanks to some local artists in the community who asked questions of us, we began a grant program to support visual artists. … We started with visual artists because at the time, they had fewer other networks of support and fewer other opportunities to be hired.
(top) Dorian Rhea; (below) Therrious Davis (Photos: Courtesy ARTSmemphis)
“But that really, thankfully, put us in a position to launch an artist emergency fund for individual artists in 2020 as artists of all different types immediately lost work during the pandemic. And we supported about 800 artists during the pandemic with emergency funding totaling almost a million, right around $900,000. From 2020 through 2023, we focused on emergency and recovery funding, so coming out of 2023 we wanted to reintroduce an unrestricted grant for artists and expand it rather extensively.”
That meant bringing on an artist advisory committee made up of Memphis artists to make sure artists’ needs were met, and out-of-town jurors to select the grantees without local bias. That also meant, in addition to supporting the 22 selected grantees, partnering with Indie Memphis to support a filmmaker through Indie Memphis’ Black Creators Forum and partnering with Music Export Memphis (MEM) to support three musicians through its Ambassador Access program. “It was a way for us to be efficient and not create something new, but to support and complement,” Rouse says. “We hope, long-term, to be supporting even more types of artists. But it makes sense, just based on the makeup of artists in our community, that we start out with visual, dance, music, and film.”
This first cohort will use their grants for a variety of reasons, Rouse says. Therrious Davis, an illustrator, comic book artist, and occasional muralist, has used his grant money to buy a new computer and tablet. “I had this laptop for close to 10 years now,” Davis says. “It was starting to show signs of its age.”
Davis has been developing a comic project called Exodus of Love, premised on the question, ‘What if Cupid didn’t know what love was?’ But not having reliable or capable equipment has been holding him back from making headway. “The goal will be to make more videos following the development of the comic book project and to give people a chance to follow it from the ground up.” (You can follow Davis’ progress on Instagram @therrothekid.)
Meanwhile, choreographer Dorian Rhea plans to use his grant to fund future movement-based programming at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. “It’s going to be jazz. It’s going to be social dance, known as hip-hop styles, accompanied by excerpts and texts to contextualize the history,” Rhea says. The classes will be for young kids and their parents, an experience that Rhea, as a new dad himself, hopes will “sow the seeds for much more later down the road.”
Rhea will also use his grant to attain a technique certification in Giordano dance, a style of jazz that originated in Chicago. “I’m hoping that with bringing that style to Memphis, we elevate the cultural exchange that I think is already taking place [between Chicago and Memphis],” he says. “Knowledge is power. Art is all about telling a story and communicating the narrative, sharing an experience, and so as someone who believes in art activism — using arts as a vehicle for creating change and sparking the catalyst for evolution, growth, progress — the more grounded my work is in the history of those who’ve come before, the richer I can articulate lessons.”
No matter their personal goal, Rouse says, “We know how important it is to have a strong community of artists and to be a city that is a city of choice for artists. They’re just so critical to our culture and our economy, so … we intend for this to be an annual grant.”
On Monday, in alignment with this goal, ARTSmemphis, in partnership with Music Export Memphis, also announced a new, first-ever Artist Emergency Fund for local artists, which will support artists in times of unexpected and catastrophic emergency. For more information on both of these grants, visit artsmemphis.org.
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Andrea Morales: “Roll Down Like Water”
Andrea Morales has been making photographs since she was a child, and yes, “making photographs” is the right phrase here. Not taking photographs, capturing, or shooting. For Morales, these words are too aggressive to describe a process that is about building trust and intimacy between the photographer and the photographed individuals, or, as Morales calls them, her collaborators.
She’s been working in Memphis as a photojournalist for a decade now, making photographs of the community. You probably recognize her name from her work as the visuals director at MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, but she’s also been featured in The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, and TIME Magazine, among many others. Now, to add to her impressive resume, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art has opened an exhibit of 65 of her photographs of Memphis and the surrounding region, titled “Roll Down Like Water.”
Andrea Morales, Southern Heritage, 2017 (Photo: Courtesy Andrea Morales)
Taking its name from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech in Memphis, in which he said, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” the exhibit, says its curator Rosamund Garrett, is “a portrait of America through Memphis.”
“There are some tremendously famous photographers from this area,” Garrett says, “but I really feel that Andrea looks at things through a very fresh lens, and she looks at this region very directly, very earnestly, in a way that still allows the magic of this place to come through.”
But in this exhibit, not appearing in a publication with someone else’s byline, a headline she didn’t choose, or quotes she didn’t pull, the photos can stand alone. “It does feel like something’s being restored, I guess,” Morales says. “I’m struggling with identifying exactly what, but it feels like something’s restored. It’s like back to that feeling of the moment [of making the photo] because you have that moment and then you kind of have to tuck it away because this photo has to exist in this one context [of an article]. But this is all existing in the context of me and Memphis right now.”
Binghampton is putting on a play. The actors are young and old, some seasoned and many freshly-minted to the spotlight. Kids at Carpenter Art Garden are building scenic elements, and community members are tuning their instruments for a show their stories helped create.
It all started over a year ago when the Orpheum Theatre Group launched its Neighborhood Play Program. After working with the Refugee Empowerment Program in Binghampton, making original plays out of participants’ stories, Orpheum staff “realized one of their favorite moments in it was when they got to step out of their story and play the characters that were in other people’s stories,” says Taylor St. John, Orpheum’s director of education and engagement. “There’s something powerful about telling your own story, but there’s also something powerful about participating as a community in a fictional story.”
Ann Perry Wallace (Photo: Courtesy Orpheum Theatre)
So came the Neighborhood Play Program, through which the Orpheum partnered with various organizations and formed “story circles” to create a neighborhood play. “For six months or so, we got people in a circle and asked them questions about their community, things that they found beautiful, things that they found challenging,” St. John says.
These stories, in turn, would be the inspiration for the fictional story that playwright Ann Perry Wallace, author of the one-woman play Live Rich Die Poor, would weave. They then presented this fictional story in another round of story circles for feedback.
“I felt like I had a lot of responsibility to deliver something that was representative of what I had heard,” Wallace says. “You are responsible for these stories that have been told, you are responsible for putting out this image of the people, and so that is a weight that I carry with honor and take seriously. There’s nuance. And so I’m having to hold all of that in a way that gives dignity where dignity is due and have to show the complex struggles where they are present. It is a dynamic place, and I hope for people to see the intricacies, or just a snapshot of those intricacies come out.”
As for the plot of the play, titled We All We Got, St. John says, “The story itself centers on two young Black girls living in the neighborhood, one from a generational home and one living in the apartments who’s a refugee, and how they navigate the world and encounter all of the various characters of Binghampton.”
The hope, both St. John and Wallace point out, is to highlight the different experiences within Binghampton. “It’s one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Memphis,” St. John says. “There’s over 20 languages spoken there, and so we really tried to honor the stories that do not otherwise get highlighted.”
With all those differences, St. John adds, “It’s been exciting, in the last couple weeks, to see all those people from all those different groups that do different things and have very different beliefs and sometimes cultures now all be in the same room, and we’re all working on this thing together, and it just feels like a great exercise in community.
“We think it’s so important that the people in Binghampton can hopefully see themselves in this play, or see reflections of their ideas and other stories in this play. But it’s also really important that as a city, we’re able to come together [by seeing the play].”
The play is set to premiere in November, with community members acting both in the scenes and behind the scenes. Already, just watching rehearsals has Wallace “thrilled.” “You are seeing people who have pride in the neighborhood come out to be a part of it and really stretch themselves in creative and artistic ways,” she says. “Not all of them are normally doing this in their day-to-day life, and then we do have some actors who are in it, but particularly the community members, them showing up and performing best, to me, that’s pride, and that’s dedication, and that’s belief in their community.”
All three performances, which will take place at First Baptist Broad Church in Binghampton, will be free to attend, and Backbeat Tours will provide free transportation at designated locations.
Andrea Morales, Southern Heritage, 2017 (Photo: Courtesy Andrea Morales)
Andrea Morales has been making photographs since she was a child, and yes, “making photographs” is the right phrase here. Not taking photographs, capturing, or shooting. For Morales, these words are too aggressive to describe a process that is about building trust and intimacy between the photographer and the photographed individuals, or, as Morales calls them, her collaborators.
She’s been working in Memphis as a photojournalist for a decade now, making photographs of the community. You probably recognize her name from her work as the visuals director at MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, but she’s also been featured in The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, and TIME Magazine, among many others. Now, to add to her impressive resume, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art has opened an exhibit of 65 of her photographs of Memphis and the surrounding region, titled “Roll Down Like Water.”
Taking its name from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech in Memphis, in which he said, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” the exhibit, says its curator Rosamund Garrett, is “a portrait of America through Memphis.”
“There are some tremendously famous photographers from this area,” Garrett says, “but I really feel that Andrea looks at things through a very fresh lens, and she looks at this region very directly, very earnestly, in a way that still allows the magic of this place to come through.”
Morales engages in what’s called movement journalism, an approach to journalism that emphasizes community over objectivity. This, in turn, makes the Brooks the first museum to showcase movement journalism, and the first to publish a catalogue on it.
It’s also the first time Morales will have her photography in a major museum exhibition. Of course, she’s used to her photographs being seen publicly on a large scale, with them being in publications and such, but this, she says, is different. She even shrugs when asked if she sees her work as art. “What’s art?” she ponders. “It’s hard to answer that.”
But in this exhibit, not in a publication with someone else’s byline, a headline she didn’t she choose, or quotes she didn’t pull, the photos can stand alone. “It does feel like something’s being restored, I guess,” Morales says. “I’m struggling with identifying exactly what, but it feels like something’s restored. It’s like back to that feeling of the moment [of making the photo] because you have that moment and then you kind of have to tuck it away because this photo has to exist in this one context [of an article]. But this is all existing in the context of me and Memphis right now. That’s been crazy. It feels very special to be honored this way, to be able to hold this much space.”
“Roll Down Like Water,” Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 1934 Poplar Avenue, on display through January 2025.
At Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the Metal Museum’s transition to its new home at the former Memphis College of Art building, Carissa Hussong showed off her decked-out hardhat, complete with diamonds and black flames sprawling across the cap. “Yes, the diamonds are real,” she said. “’Cause who doesn’t need a hardhat with their name and diamonds on it?”
The hardhat, she revealed, was gifted to her on her first day on the job 17 years ago by James Wallace, the museum’s founding director who preceded her. It was always destined that the museum would expand in some way, though it wasn’t always known that it would take over the Memphis College of Art’s campus. That suggestion wouldn’t come until 2018, and even then it was met with some hesitation, until eventually that hesitation subsided as the move became more and more logical.
“The museum has been called a hidden gem. This has a lot to do with our current location,” said Richard Aycock, the museum’s board president, at the ceremony. “Our programs have changed lives, and I can’t tell you how excited we are about the possibilities this expansion gives us to expand our educational opportunities. It will increase our educational offerings sixfold in a place that’s easily accessible by foot, by bike, by car, or by public transportation. The expansion gives us room and space to teach advanced metalworking techniques to more students.
“In addition to addressing the needs of our community, we are very excited and honored to become a part of the Overton Park family and to continue the Memphis College of Art’s legacy of art and education.”
Part of honoring the college’s legacy also means honoring its original architecture and architects Roy Harrover and Bill Mann, so the museum engaged the help of Los Angeles-based wHY Architects and Memphis-based LRK.
“This project is a true example of how you can work with the existing fabric to highlight its unique features, and then thoughtfully add on to it to serve future generations,” said Krissy Buck Flickinger, senior associate architect with LRK.
Quoting from the original National Register nomination for Overton Park, she continued, “‘The building is an outstanding example of contemporary architectural design, distinguished by its freestanding concrete sunbreak, folded plate roof structure and generous roof terraces, and balconies, all of which will be preserved and will live on.’
“The historic materials will be used, restored, and retained. I already talked about the folded plate roof. We have terrazzo floors. We have steel windows that are all original and in beautiful condition. We’re restoring the 350-seat auditorium. We’re reimagining the library and the cafe space. … And we’re letting the once art studio spaces live on as art gallery spaces. … And the second vital piece to this project is the addition of the innovative metalworking facility with its own expressive design that draws inspiration from and complements Rust Hall.”
The designs are complete, and construction is ready to begin, with a projected completion date of 2026.
The museum’s current site at 374 Metal Museum Drive will eventually be converted into a space to host an artist-in-residence program, as well as an events space.
As Aycock reminded guests at Thursday’s event, “The Metal Museum is the only institute in the United States dedicated to the art and craft of fine metalwork. There is nowhere else in the world where you can go and look at a beautiful exhibition of exquisite metalwork, then go to the shop and watch that metalwork being made, and even take a class and make some with your own hands. It is a special place. It is a place that metalsmiths from all over the world come and that many here in this country call home.”
If you’re even the most casual reader of the Memphis Flyer, you’ve seen Jeanne Seagle’s work. Just turn to the weekly “News of the Weird” column every now and then, and you’ll see one of her quirky illustrations. But this week, if you head to the Medicine Factory, you’ll find the work she’s proudest of — her drawings and her watercolors of Dacus Lake, across the Mississippi River in Arkansas.
Seagle has been fascinated by this area for years now. After all, it’s where she started to get to know her husband Fletcher Golden, who lived at a fishing camp in the area at the time. “We would just wander all over that land while we were dating,” she says. “It was so much fun.”
Often, she returns there — to hike, to paint with watercolors, and to let her surroundings wash over her as she takes photographs to reference later in her drawings. She thrives in nature, she knows.
“I just love going over there. I love these scenes. I love these landscapes. That’s my spot,” Seagle said in an interview with Memphis Magazinelast year.
Jeanne Seagle (Photo: Courtesy Jeanne Seagle)
Today when we speak about the Medicine Factory show, “Of This Moment,” which features new works, she notes how she hasn’t tired of the subject, especially with its ever-changing qualities. “In this show, I have a picture called Fallen Tree, and I have drawn that tree several times in other pictures when it was still standing,” she says. “That’s the thing about drawing landscapes, you can just focus on one spot and nature takes over and changes things constantly. … I find it endlessly fascinating.”
For three or four hours a day, she draws scenes of nature from photographs she’s taken at Dacus Lake, just a drive across the river from her Midtown studio. Sometimes, she’ll play blues CDs to fill the space with the rhythms of the Delta as she stills her focus on rendering the smallest of details — grooves in tree bark and wisps of grass — with careful marks in charcoal and pencil.
These black-and-white drawings take weeks to complete, sometimes up to two months. She’ll fold over the Xerox copies of photos she’s taken in some places, making entirely new compositions, adjusting the wilderness to her aesthetic liking. From these gritty images printed on copy paper, Seagle gleans details that an untrained eye would not recognize. She knows this art, inside and out, just like she knows these woods, harvesting their most innate qualities from her memories.
Unlike her illustrations that favor stylization, Seagle renders these images realistically, leaving no detail spared. The scenes are still, out of time. A sense of wonder remains in her drawings, inviting the viewer to slip into nature’s serenity, only a few miles from the grit and grind of Memphis.
After decades of working as an artist, Seagle has slipped into a serenity of her own, as if all her prior artistic endeavors have led to this moment. She’s experimented with styles and challenged herself many times over, she says, and now she’s found a subject that is uniquely hers — one that she’s emotionally attached to, that she’s excited to render in a style and medium that feels right, not like one she’s trying on.
“I have always liked to draw more than paint, and I just feel so much more comfortable doing that,” she says. “When I was a little girl, I was not exposed to paint media. When I was a little kid, I just colored with crayons, and I kind of just kept on doing that.”
Even as she continues in this phase of her life and art with these landscapes, Seagle can’t help but think of her childhood. “Just thinking how ironic it is that my parents were all about trees, too. My father worked with trees at his job as a forest ranger and my mother loved to take photographs of trees. It’s just kind of natural that I’ve just kind of slipped unintentionally into this little niche here.”
But it’s a niche Seagle plans to stay in, perhaps one that’s been in her genes all along. “I have spent most of my career doing color pictures for illustrations magazine and book illustrations,” she adds. “And now I’m doing what I want to do.”
“Of This Moment” is on display at the Medicine Factory. It features drawings and watercolors by Jeanne Seagle and paintings by Annabelle Meacham, plus works by Matthew Hasty, Jimpsie Ayres, Alisa Free, Claudia Tullos-Leonard, Anton Weiss, and others. Hours are Thursday, June 6th, noon to 6 p.m.; Friday, June 7th, noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday, June 8th, noon to 4 p.m.; and Sunday, June 9th, by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, email art@sylvanfinearts.com. Seagle will give an artist talk on Saturday, June 8th, at 1 p.m.
