Konstantin Dimopoulos’ “The Blue Trees” (Photo: Abigail Morici)
Skies of blue, clouds of white, trees of … blue? Yes, blue — at least along the Wolf River Greenline, where a new free, immersive public art experience is about to open this weekend, complete with blue trees and wind chimes. The experience, titled “Shelby Canopy: Our Shared Connection,” features two temporary installations: “The Blue Trees Environmental Art Installation” by international artist Konstantin Dimopoulos and “Tree Tones” by local artist duo, Belleau + Churchill. This will be Germantown Public Art Program’s first public art installation since developing its master plan in 2019.
For Australian-based Dimopoulos’ “The Blue Trees,” the artists and volunteers have, since November 1st, applied an eco-friendly pigment to the trunks of more than 100 trees, creating a striking landscape of ultramarine blue trees juxtaposed against the natural browns and greens of the forested area. The concept of the project was born out of Dimopoulos’ concern for deforestation. “In my environmental art installation, The Blue Trees,” he writes in his artist statement, “the colour and the Tree come together to transform and affect each other; the colour changing the Tree into something surreal, while the Tree, rooted in this earth reflects what we may lose.”
And so, the trees are blue, simply because there are no blue trees in nature; thus, the viewer will pay more attention to them. Since its conception in 2003, “The Blue Trees” has traveled around the world, making Memphis its 36th stop. “This is the first time we’ve done it in a forest area, which is really exciting,” the artist says. “Normally it’s outside a library or a municipal thing; whereas, here it’s kind of like little sparks [of blue] everywhere.”
The pigment is essentially liquid chalk, the artist goes on to explain, and does not have a binder that paint has, which makes it safe to use in a project like this. Over time, the pigment will fade and wash away with rain. It’s likely the trees will remain blue at the Wolf River Greenway for six months.
Konstantin Dimopoulos’ “The Blue Trees” (Photo: Abigail Morici)
“There’s a pretty rigorous selection of trees [for this project],” adds Cat Peña, Germantown’s public art and design manager. “You have to have smooth bark, and we can’t have trees that have lots of moss on them, because it takes a long time for moss to grow, and deeply fissured bark trees that insects can be living inside of them. And so, a city arborist came, and we selected the site, we selected the trees, and we also did a health check like a month beforehand.”
Further, to complement “The Blue Trees,” the Germantown Public Art program commissioned Belleau + Churchill, Raina Belleau and Caleb Churchill, to create “Tree Tones,” an auditory installation on the same trail as Dimopoulos’ trees. “Tree Tones” features 60 wind chimes, hanging from the trees. “There’s six different tones, and they relate to six different tree species on the trail,” says Peña. “There’s a cord between the six tones that’s scientifically proven to be very calming. And when it’s windy, you’ll be able to hear a little bit of the ecology of the forest.”
An audio tour, accessible through QR codes provided on trail signs, will accompany both installations in English and Spanish, says Peña. “Specifically for Tree Tones, you’ll hear voices of children who’ve worked on this project [with Belleau and Churchill] about their experience with trees and meditation,” she says. “We went to Carpenter Art Garden, The Overton Park Conservancy, Lamplighter Montessori School, and Crosstown High.”
In a similar fashion, Dimopoulos during his stay in Memphis will visit with students at Dogwood Elementary, Farmington Elementary, and Riverdale School, where he will speak about the project and tint a few trees on their campuses.
For Peña, including the next generation in this project was obligatory. “It sounds kind of cheesy,” she says, “but the children are our future. This project is about our natural resources, … so it’s kind of a way of making these things that are a part of us and we’re a part of just closer to us.”
In turn, Peña hopes these installations will encourage conversations about our ever-so precious trees, the environment at large, and what we can do to preserve and protect the resources we have. Plus, she says, “We are encouraging people to get outdoors and experience nature. We’re really encouraging people to use the trail throughout the county because we’re so lucky to have this trail system. People could be coming from the Germantown side or from the Memphis side [to see the installations], and it was really intentional to place them this close to a city border.”
“Shelby Canopy: Our Shared Connection” opens Sunday, November 19th, and will remain on display through April 19, 2024. The installation is located along a section of the Wolf River Greenway trail system, near the Memphis and Germantown border. (See map below.) The trail is open from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. Find out more about “Shelby Canopy” here.
Konstantin Dimopoulos will give an artist talk about “The Blue Trees” at Germantown Community Library, Thursday, November 16th, 6:30-7:30 p.m. For more information or to register, call (901) 757-7323.
Park at Kirby Parkway Trailhead or Germantown Greenway West Trailhead for easy access to the installations, which cannot be seen from the road. (Photo: Courtesy Germantown Public Art)
With its noble trees, winding paths, sprawling views, and magnificent monuments, Elmwood Cemetery is a place of peace, not just for the dead but for the living. For artist Martha Kelly, the historical site has been a source of inspiration, a quiet spot to sketch and paint trees and statues, a “mishmash of visual elements,” as she calls it. Now, after years of drawing and painting and printmaking images of Elmwood, Kelly’s own art is about to become a part of the cemetery’s permanent landscape.
Last year, the cemetery commissioned the artist to create a design for three granite columbaria outside the Chapel, which bear the names Oak, Willow, and Maple. Engraver Brian Griffin of Saltillo, Mississippi, recently finished carving Kelly’s design on-site.
For the commission, the cemetery board had selected the three tree names for the columbaria but otherwise gave Kelly free rein. “Trees are kind of in my wheelhouse,” she says. “I’m traditionally a landscape artist. And I have walked out here and sketched so much. I love the history, and I wanted to honor it in a way that is new, and that is current, and that is appropriate for my work, but also have those echoes coming forward. So they had the tree names. And I said, ‘What if I pair it with a statue [that’s already in Elmwood]?’ And everybody fell in love with that.”
So, Oak is paired with one of the angels who presides over an Elmwood grave. In her statue form, she holds an anchor, a Christian symbol for hope, but on the columbarium, she holds a branch to be more inclusive. Willow, meanwhile, is paired with Margaret Turley, whose memorial statue Kelly sketches regularly. “I felt like [the willow] was a very graceful complement to who she was,” she says.
Lastly, Maple is paired with Emily Sutton’s statue. “She’s my favorite story out here,” Kelly says. Sutton was a madam, who turned her brothel into a hospital during the 1873 yellow fever epidemic and nursed the dying until she herself died. “They put up the statue of her. But the cranky old men who were in charge at the cemetery at the time said, ‘Oh, no, no, we don’t want people to just think she was a hero or anything.’ So they took her madam name, which was Fannie Walker, and they put it in very large letters on stones on three sides around her monument, so people would know that she wasn’t a pristine woman. When I heard that story, I was like, ‘Oh, I think she gets a second round of acclaim.’”
(Photos: Abigail Morici)
Before selecting these three feminine figures, Kelly had experimented with sketches of other statues in the cemetery, including a few statues of men. “But these three emerged for me,” she says. “I thought this is fitting. This is what I want for here, for now. There’s something about women and trees. They feel right together somehow. … And there’s a lot of statues of men out there. I’m not saying I wouldn’t do a male figure if I end up getting to do more of these, but it was important to me to center women in public art because that hasn’t been the tradition. There’s a handful of them out there, but not that many.”
And the same can be said for women who have been credited for their art over the centuries, Kelly points out. “There’s so much work by women that hasn’t been credited,” she says. “[Elmwood] insisted on putting my name on [the columbaria] which I really appreciate. They sent me the mock-up and I’m like, ‘I think [my name] is a little big.’ They said, ‘It’s fine. We like it.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ … I’m just so tickled.”
This installation will also be Kelly’s first piece of public art. “There’s an extra bit of responsibility and wonder that goes into making art for something like this,” she says. “It really just meant a lot in so many different ways, because of the place, because of the purpose.
“I grew up here. I’m living in my grandparents’ house. I have a lot of history in the city. It means a lot to get to leave a small mark behind me as a lifelong artist who loves Memphis, loves the trees that we have. … This is where I want to live. So it just really means a lot, to me as someone with my roots very deep in Memphis, to get to have made something out of our history and out of our trees that’s gonna last.”
Elmwood Cemetery will host a free celebration of Martha Kelly’s public art on Sunday, November 19th, 3-5 p.m. Harbert Avenue Porch Orchestra will perform. RSVP at elmwoodcemetery.org.
This weekend, Monster Market returns for its seventh annual pop-up, this year at the Medicine Factory. And as with years before, it’s expected to be a graveyard smash.
Founded by illustrator Lauren Rae Holtermann, better known as Holtermonster, the weeklong market opens on Friday, October 13th, and will feature “weird” art, oddities, apparel, home decor, and more, made by over 80 makers from all over the country. (Think Dracula earrings, cemetery photos, Bigfoot illustrations, carnivorous plants … honestly, “weird” covers it.)
Holtermonster, whose own work finds influence in pop culture, comics, and horror, says when she first started selling her work at markets and festivals, “I felt like I was always kind of the odd one out, like style-wise. And so, if my people weren’t coming to the markets I was selling at, I thought wouldn’t it be kind of fun if I could make a special event for all the weird people and weird makers?” Thus, Monster Market was born.
Since that first year in 2017, Holtermonster says the market has only grown, even when it went online for a few years due to Covid. “Since this year it’s coming back [fully in-person], I really wanted to bring the community into it more,” she adds, “so I picked more local makers than we usually do.”
One such local maker new to Monster Market is Cassie Rutherford of Curio Creations, who makes terrariums “created from ethically sourced butterflies, bones, plants, and the curiosities in between,” as their Instagram bio states. Another whom Holtermonster points out is tattooist Nour Hantouli, who will sell preserved tattoo specimens on pig skin (they’ll also sell non-taxidermy stickers). And, of course, Holtermonster will sell her work, including shirts, stickers, and this year’s Time Warp Drive-In posters.
Monster Market’s opening night on Friday at 5 to 9 p.m. will include bites by Loaf Memphis and Allie Trotter’s Whisks of Doom, plus cocktails by Cameo and Old Dominick Distillery, and brews by Meddlesome Brewing Company and Wiseacre Brewing Co. (Holtermonster says you can expect the food and drinks to be on theme.) St. Francis Elevator Ride will also spin spooky tunes, and Creature Studio will provide an AR experience all week long.
The market will be open Saturday-Wednesday, October 14th-18th, noon-7 p.m., at the Medicine Factory. Whisks of Doom will have a Wake & Bake Sunday morning at 11 a.m., complete with tasty breakfast treats and cold brew coffee.
The event is card only. Find more information, including a full list of vendors, here.
Photo: Jarvis Boyland, Expectations, 2019, Collection of a Friend of the Brooks. Jarvis Boyland.
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.
Calida Rawles, United States, b. 1976, Thy Name We Praise, 2023. (Photo: Courtesy Terra Foundation for American Art and Spelman College Museum of Fine Art)
“Black American Portraits” at the Brooks
In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, the general public was flooded with images of Black pain and suffering. From news stations to social media feeds, these images, proliferated by modern technology, were and are instantaneous with nothing, really, to prevent them from surfacing on our screens.
To counteract this, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) curated the “Black American Portraits” exhibition, filled with portraits celebrating and depicting Black joy, power, and love. And now the exhibit has made its way to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
As a majority-Black city, Memphis needs this, says Brooks executive director Zoe Kahr. “It’s so important to see every Memphian reflected back in the museum.”
Though this exhibition originated in Los Angeles, the Brooks has included additional pieces to lend the experience a Memphis touch. An Augusta Savage sculpture is on loan from the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, and works by Jarvis Boyland, Derek Fordjour, Catherine Elizabeth Patton, Jared Small, Ernest Withers, and the Hooks Brothers Photography Studio punctuate the gallery walls. “We wanted to highlight talent in Memphis and show it in a national context,” Kahr says.
With 129 pieces of art in total, the sheer number of works, encompassing a variety of media and spanning over 200 years in history, is in itself a feat. “One of the things that struck me about this show and taking it here is just this idea of abundance,” says Patricia Daigle, the Brooks’ curator of modern and contemporary art. “So there’s this idea about being prolific, and the impact of what it means to see this many portraits of Black people in one space.”
“Black American Portraits” is on display through January 7th. For more information about the exhibition and its related programming, visit brooksmuseum.org.
In his artist statement, Theaster Gates writes, “This is my small contribution to the possibility of healing.” (Photo: Patrick Coleman)
Tom Lee Park Activates the Community Through Creativity
In 1925, Tom Lee rescued 32 passengers from the numbing waters of the Mississippi River. The steamer they were on had capsized, and the Black river worker, passing by in his small wooden skiff, soon became their hero, even though he couldn’t swim. Today, his bravery is largely forgotten, but with the recently completed renovation of Tom Lee Park, named in his honor in 1954, the folks with Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP) are hoping to change that and to inspire Memphis to channel his spirit of community, heroism, and selflessness.
For the renovation, MRPP commissioned Chicago-based and world-renowned artist Theaster Gates to create an art installation, complementing David Alan Clark’s Tom Lee Memorial, which depicts Lee in a moment of heroism. Gates’ A Monument to Listening overlooks this original sculpture and features 33 “thrones,” representing those Lee saved in 1925 and Lee himself.
All the thrones are made out of the same basalt stone, are the same height, and are marked with imperfections — all except for one that’s taller and “is perfect in a sense. That’s the one that represents Tom Lee,” says Michalyn Easter-Thomas, MRPP director of education initiatives and strategic partnerships. The idea is that all who sit upon the thrones are made equal and are (almost literally) given an equal platform from which to listen and to be listened to.
To enrich visitors’ experience with the sculpture, MRPP has enlisted three organizations to curate activations: UrbanArt Commission, the Orpheum Theatre, and The Big We Foundation, a collective of local Black artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs. These activations are expected to be unique experiences that will evoke emotions, challenge perceptions, celebrate creativity, and foster dialogue.
So far, activations have included an American sign language class with UrbanArts Commission and an open meeting with The Big We Foundation. More activations will be held through the end of the year, and next year, a new cohort of curators — this time creative individuals — will build upon the work of the current group. “And ‘creative’ doesn’t necessarily have to be the arts,” adds Easter-Thomas. “We’ve searched out folks in the food scene, in architecture, in philanthropy. It’s really about how you envision connecting Memphis to the Tom Lee story — how can we ensure that everybody knows this story?”
Keep up with the activations surrounding A Monument to Listening at Tom Lee Park on MRPP’s social media and at tomleepark.org.
Cremaine Booker (Photo: Courtesy Iris Collective)
Iris Collective Introduces Its Small Business Series
When Iris Collective rebranded from being the Iris Orchestra in 2022, the group began to think of itself not as a concertizing organization, but as a “community music organization that does concerts,” says Iris’ executive director Rebecca Arendt. “The idea is that everything we’re doing is with community rather than for community.”
Over the years, Iris has mentored hundreds of high school and middle school students in Memphis and Shelby County, regularly visited patients at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and worked with memory care and nursing home patients at retirement homes — just to name a few examples of the collective’s commitment to community.
For the 2023-2024 season, Iris will be debuting its new Small Business Series, through which they will partner with three small businesses to highlight the intersection of entrepreneurship and the arts. “It’s a fun and nontraditional way for people to engage in music and dialogue around things that are important to them,” Arendt says.
The first performance of this series will take place in December at the soon-to-be-opened Cafe Noir, Jasmine Settles’ bookstore that specializes in highlighting BIPOC and LGBTQ authors. Cremaine Booker, aka ThatCelloGuy, principal cello for Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra and Jackson Symphony Orchestra, will perform and will work “with an author of Cafe Noir’s choosing to put together a program that talks about being an artist from an underrepresented community.”
The following performances in this series will take place at Music Box in January and ARCHd in March. “As you know, these are all very small environment venues,” Arendt says, “and so you can get up close and personal. Not only will you get to hear great music, but you’ll be able to talk back and forth, express ideas, and use it as a chance to see how arts can make our community better. … The Small Business Series speaks to where we want to be, where we want to have that shared artistic experience, and we feel that one of the best ways to do that are small environments where people can come together with a shared interest.”
Cremaine Booker performs on Friday, December 8, 5:30 p.m., at Cafe Noir. Tickets are $20. For more information on Iris Collective and its upcoming season, visit iriscollective.org.
Chiffon Thomas, A mother who had no mother, 2018, is on display at Clough-Hanson Gallery. (Photo: Clifton Thomas)
ON DISPLAY
“Hued” Rachelle Thiewes’ jewelry empowers its wearer through rhythmic repetition, architectural forms, and vibrant auto paint. Metal Museum, through January 28
“Overstuffed” This exhibition features mixed media fiber artists Sharon Havelka and Paula Kovarik. Gallery talk on October 14, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. ARTSmemphis, through December
“The Molasses Man & Other Delta Tales” The show serves as an anthology of stories based on Ahmad George’s life and experiences with people they’ve encountered here and not. Crosstown Arts, through January 21
“Young, Gifted and Black” This show champions an emerging generation of artists of African descent. One of the artists, Sadie Barnette, will give an artist talk on November 2 at 6 p.m. An artist panel will take place on November 14. Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College, through December 9
“Lens Language” Explore the depths of love from behind the lens of MadameFraankie and Kai Ross. Opening reception on October 7, 4-7 p.m. TONE, October 7-December 12
“Woven Arts of Africa” This comprehensive visual exhibition defines the major woven artistic styles and traditions derived from cultural/regional groups from all over Africa. Opening reception on October 7, 3-5 p.m. Art Museum University of Memphis, October 7-January 20
Kaylyn Webster, Light Showin July, 2023; Oil on canvas; Courtesy of the artist.
“Commune” Memphis artist Kaylyn Webster’s paintings capture, with quiet honesty, the divine aspects of communing with those we love. Artist’s reception on October 26, 2-3 p.m. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, October 8-January 7
Zaire Love Zaire Love’s films and photography honor, amplify, and immortalize the stories and voices of the Black South. Artist’s reception on October 27, 5-8 p.m. Beverly + Sam Ross Gallery at Christian Brothers University, October 16-December 10
“Black Artists in America: From Civil Rights to the Bicentennial” This exhibition considers the various ways in which Black American artists responded to and challenged the cultural, environmental, political, racial, and social issues of the era from the Civil Rights Movement to the Bicentennial. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, October 22-January 14
Beetlejuice, pictured (l-r) Britney Coleman (Barbara), Will Burton (Adam), Isabella Esler (Lydia) and Justin Collette (Beetlejuice). (Photo: Matthew Murphy)
ON STAGE
Shout-Out Shakespeare Series: The Tempest Tennessee Shakespeare Company performs the Bard’s final romance for this free outdoor series. The final two performances will be ticketed. Various locations, through October 29
Father Comes Homes From the Wars An explosively powerful drama about the mess of war, the cost of freedom, and the heartbreak of love. Hattiloo Theatre, through October 22
Variations on a Theme Opera Memphis presents a new series of intimate, curated evenings of vocal music in all its forms. Opera Memphis, October 7, November 11
Funny Girl The indomitable Fanny Brice becomes one of the most beloved performers in history. Orpheum Theatre, October 10-15
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Ballet Memphis reimagines the iconic Shakespearean play. Playhouse on the Square, October 13-15
Blithe Spirit A spiritualist, a crime writer, an ex-wife back from the dead — what more could you want from this farcical and outrageous play? Lohrey Theatre at Theatre Memphis, October 13-29
Moody Conducts Beethoven 5 The Memphis Symphony Orchestra performs this revolutionary work. Crosstown Theater, Friday, October 13, 6:30 p.m. Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, October 15, 2:30 p.m.
Underwater Bubble Show This show incorporates drama, pantomime, dance, puppetry, juggling, aerial arts, acrobatics, contortion, sand art, and imagery with the beauty of soap bubbles. Participants of all ages will delight in this colorful, magical utopia that merges science, light, and imagination. Buckman Arts Center at St. Mary’s Episcopal School, October 26, 5 p.m. & 7 p.m.
Carmina Burana Opera Memphis and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra present a Halloween-inspired concert. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, October 28, 7:30 p.m.
Sons of Mystro Brothers Malcolm and Umoja interpret reggae classics, American pop songs, and their own creations, accompanied by a DJ and a drummer. Buckman Arts Center at St. Mary’s Episcopal School, November 2, 7 p.m.
Silent Sky The true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt, who changed the public’s understanding of the heavens and Earth. Next Stage at Theatre Memphis, November 3-18
Schoolhouse Rock, Live! This show is based on the cherished animated series that taught generations of youth. The Circuit Playhouse, November 11-December 22
NutRemix New Ballet Ensemble presents an electrifying and innovative production set on Beale Street. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, November 17-19
Take the Soul Train to Christmas This holiday spectacle is a time machine through the evolution of the African-American Christmas experience. Hattiloo Theatre, November 17-December 17
The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Gale is whisked away by a powerful twister and finds herself in the mystical land of Oz. Playhouse on the Square, November 17-December 22
The North American Tour Boleyn Company of SIX. (Photo: Joan Marcus)
SIX This new original musical about Henry VIII’s six wives is the global sensation that everyone is losing their head over. Orpheum Theatre, November 21-26
Who’s Holiday See a whole new side of Cindy Lou Who. The Circuit Playhouse, November 24-December 22
Michael Flatley’sLord of the Dance A unique combination of high-energy Irish dancing, original music, storytelling, and sensuality. Orpheum Theatre, November 29
The Importance of Being Earnest Tennessee Shakespeare Company presents Oscar Wilde’s trivial comedy for serious people. Tabor Stage, November 30-December 17
A Christmas Carol Ebenezer Scrooge returns to the stage for this holiday tradition. Lohrey Theatre at Theatre Memphis, December 1-23
Magic of Memphis The Memphis Symphony Orchestra offers a beloved holiday tradition, complete with a collage of Memphis performing groups. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, December 2, 6:30 p.m.
The Nutcracker Ballet Memphis’ production promises to delight in both familiar and unexpected ways. Orpheum Theatre, December 9-17
Clara & the Nutcracker Tennessee Ballet Theater presents a charming rendition of the classic tale. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, December 10, 2 p.m.
The Nutcracker Ballet This production of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet features dancers from Center’s Esprit de Corps Dance Company. Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center, December 15-17
Christmas Fiesta at the Dixon returns for a third year. (Photo: Angel Ortez)
AROUND TOWN
First Wednesdays at the Brooks Every first Wednesday the Brooks will have incredible live music. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, first Wednesdays of the month, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Jazz in the Galleries: Saturday Series Every third Saturday of the month enjoy good jazz and great times in the galleries at the Brooks. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, third Saturdays of the month, noon-2 p.m.
Munch and Learn Every Wednesday during lunchtime, join the Dixon for presentations by local artists, scholars, and Dixon staff sharing on a variety of topics. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Wednesdays, noon-1 p.m.
Super Saturdays at the Brooks The first Saturday of every month, the Brooks will have free admission from 10 a.m.-noon and art-making. (PS: Every Saturday, admission is free from 10 a.m.-noon.) Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, first Saturdays of the month, 10 a.m.-noon
Free Family Day On the second Saturday of each month, the Stax Museum offers free admission for everyone. There will also be food trucks, games and activities, arts and crafts for children, bouncy houses, face painting, balloon artists, and live music. Stax Museum of American Soul Music, second Saturdays of the month, 1-5 p.m.
Art History Lecture The Brooks’ art history lectures series covers virtually every aspect of human history and experience, with new topics each week. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Fridays through October 27, 12:30-3 p.m.
Artwalk More than 40 local artists will be on hand selling a variety of handcrafted items at this year’s Artwalk. V&E Greenline, October 7, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Teen Arts Fest Young artists (ages 13-19) are invited to an informal social and networking event. Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, October 14, 2-5 p.m.
Repair Days Bring your metal items to the Metal Museum to have them restored to their former glory. Metal Museum, October 19-22
Family Fun Day The Metal Museum hosts a day of free hands-on activities, demonstrations, and kid-friendly games, plus free admission to the museum. Metal Museum, October 21, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
RiverArtsFest This two-day festival is a celebration of fine arts and fine local music with live artist demonstrations and hands-on art activities for all ages. Riverside Drive, October 21-22, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Art on Fire Enjoy live music, tastings from local restaurants, drinks, an art sale, and a roaring bonfire. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, October 21, 7 p.m.
Indie Memphis Film Festival This festival presents a range of independent features, documentaries, and short films from all corners of the world. Various locations, October 24-29
Night at the Museum AMUM will have several interactive, kid-friendly programs inspired by the visual arts in the collections that will bring the museum to life. Art Museum University of Memphis, October 27, 5-8 p.m.
Día de los Muertos Festival & Parade The Brooks, along with the Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, invites you and your family to honor your ancestors and celebrate the cycle of life and death. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, October 28, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Collage’s Annual Gala This brunch is an enriching affair with performances by Collage’s world-class professional company and students from the Collage Dance Conservatory. FedEx Event Center at Shelby Farms Park, October 29, 2 p.m.
ARTSmemphis Anniversary Celebration ARTSmemphis celebrates its 60th anniversary with a dynamic, lively, interactive, immersive, and spirited evening. The Kent, Thursday, November 9, 6:30 p.m.
Raised by Sound Fest This free event showcases local and regional talent, honoring Memphis music, new and old, across genres. Crosstown Concourse, December 12, 1-11 p.m.
¡Christmas Fiesta! Learn about the Christmas traditions of Latin America and the Caribbean with Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, Opera Memphis, and the Dixon. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, December 9, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Little Amal visits Folkestone, England. (Credit: The Walk Productions/Igor Emerich)
This Wednesday, Memphis is welcoming a very special 10-year-old Syrian refugee as she makes her way across the United States. Little Amal, as she is called, is a 12-foot-tall puppet, who has traveled over 6,000 miles to 15 countries since July 2021, searching for family and friends, as part of one of the world’s largest free public art engagements. And now, Amal is coming to Memphis for a parade around Downtown, stopping at the historic Clayborn Temple, the Orpheum Theatre, and Tom Lee Park, with Memphis youth joining along the way and carrying puppets made in their own image.
The goal of Amal’s journey is to spark conversations about who we are and where we come from, says Anasa Troutman, executive director of Historic Clayborn Temple, who organized Amal’s stint in Memphis. And to make her stay even more poignant, Troutman adds, “We brought in Jeghetto, a United States-based puppeteer, who also makes oversized puppets, and he is making a second puppet, so there’ll be the Syrian girl and a large-scale puppet of a little Black girl.”
Memphis Girl stands at eight feet tall and will join Amal in the parade, which kicks off at Clayborn Temple, where attendees will learn about the history of Clayborn Temple and walk around the I Am A Man Plaza. “Then they’ll proceed together with a whole bunch of kids from all over Memphis,” Troutman says. After Clayborn Temple, the parade will proceed to the Orpheum Theatre, chosen for its connection to storytelling, and students from the Refugee Empowerment Program will welcome her with personal messages.
Little Amal towers over the crowd in Manchester, England. (Credit: The Walk Productions)
For the final stop, the group will take the walking celebration to Tom Lee Park. “I would never have Amal come here and not take her to the river,” Troutman says. “The city is built on the river, the history of the city begins on that river. … Also because of all the work that’s been done there, it is the premier location of the city to be able to take people to experience that part of our culture and our infrastructure.”
At Tom Lee Park, Amal will receive a “Culture of Love” quilt as a parting gift. “Culture of Love,” Troutman says, has been the guiding theme for Amal’s stay in Memphis. In preparation for the big day, Clayborn Temple collaborated with a number of organizations — from BRIDGES USA, to Shelby County Schools, to Memphis Youth Arts Initiative — to facilitate workshops for kids to create the puppets that’ll be used in the parade.
“Our goal was to be able to reach 1,000 children,” Troutman says. “Instead of trying to go and recruit all these young people to our organization, it felt really juicy and exciting to go to places where children already were because we want to support organizations that are already supporting young people, and we want to become part of their community and have them become part of our community. So the message of our local work has amounted to building a culture of love. This project has really brought us closer to the Memphis community and I love that.”
Little Amal takes part in the Luminato Festival in Toronto. (Credit: The Walk Productions/Taku Kumabe)
In addition to love shared among community members, Troutman hopes to instill self-love into the individual youths participating. “We talk all the time about the future,” she says. “The young people of this city deserve an opportunity to become the possibility of the future. The story of Amal is that refugee children bring possibilities, not problems. We’re saying the same thing. In a time when there’s a lot of conversation about crime, about poverty, these children in Memphis bring possibilities, not problems. If they’re engaged in the creative process, it allows them to open their minds and imagine what their future could be, what the future of the city could be.”
She continues, “There’ll be 1,000 children from all over Memphis who are getting to make puppets in their own image to be able to say things like, ‘I am beautiful, I am worthy, I am the future, and I am going to show that by creating this puppet, that’s going to show everybody what who I am.’ That is a powerful exercise to be able to create something in your own image, to be able to then put it on display in such a public way is very empowering and very healing.”
Walk with Amal begins at 4 p.m., and all — those young and young at heart — are welcome to join in at any of the three stops. You can support this project by donating here.
Works by Alexandra Baker, including "When Doves Cry," opens August 18th at New Day Healing and Wellness (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Alexandra Baker’s art exhibit, “Healing Through Color,” opens August 18th at New Day Healing and Wellness. Which is appropriate …
“The pieces in this show are more focused on calming and relaxation,” says Baker, 32. “They have a ‘Relaxation Room,’ so the painting in there is ‘When Doves Cry.’ Very subdued colors.” She adds, “The other pieces in the show are all based around healing. All my work is based around healing.”
Since Baker and New Day have the same goal of healing, the owners thought her abstract paintings “would be great in the therapy rooms.”
Describing “Earth Shake,” as a “fun, funky” painting to honor Earth, Baker says, “Since Memphis is on the fault-line for an earthquake, I believe if you honor the weather, maybe it won’t come. So, that’s my intention in that piece.”
“Earth Shake” by Alexandra Baker (Credit: Michael Donahue)
The show features eight works, including prints as well as originals. “Some of them I painted when I was sad. When I paint when I’m sad, it’s a very soothing result. What I need to see in that moment,” Baker says.
Born in Boston, Baker moved to Memphis with her family when she was four. “As a child, I loved art class. I was blessed to study with a woman named Kay Spruill. She was so wonderful. And she taught me so much about art and the magic of creation.”
Baker painted a lot of still lifes and animals in Spruill’s class. “I did a portrait of a dog once. I’ve always loved animals. It was a just a picture of a dog out of a magazine. It was a small dog with brown spots and brown ears. And it actually won a contest at my school. They put it on some stationery for my school, St. Mary’s Episcopal School for Girls.”
But Baker says she never explored “what’s in your soul” in Spruill’s class, as she does now.
Baker says she always dreamed of being an artist, but her parents steered her away from that dream. They thought she’d be better off being a doctor or a lawyer, “to be more lucrative or be more successful, or what have you.” Her parents are supportive of her now, but, Baker says it was “a journey.”
After high school, Baker attended the University of Vermont. “I double majored in English and studio art for a while,” she says, “and then I ended up dropping the studio art at the behest of my parents. (They) preferred that I just study English and psychology at that point in time. I don’t know. I think they were just looking out for my best interests. And maybe believing art might not be able to sustain me.”
Ironically, Baker says her parents helped further her love of art when she was growing up. “They were always taking me to art galleries.”
They also took her to art museums when they traveled. “They were always teaching me about the greats. Rembrandt and Monet,” she says. “We even went to Versailles and saw the gardens. So, my parents valued art highly. I think they were just surprised to find their daughter was an artist.”
Baker never took a painting class in college. “I took some of the foundation classes, like two-dimensional work and just some basic creating classes. The last class I was going to take was painting. Then I chose to drop the major and didn’t get to take that painting class.”
Baker became a paralegal after graduating with a degree in English literature. “My parents are attorneys, so I grew up in the law firm, learning how it works.”
Her mother and father are “wonderful, wonderful parents,” and, at the time, Baker thought it was best to go along with what they wanted her to do. “I wanted to please them and I knew art wasn’t the way to do that. So, I tried to take other avenues. But God really had plans for me. I started feeling a pressure on me to paint. Like I’d better paint or else.
“Just that feeling, that inner knowledge, of knowing that I needed to paint. I need to paint to process trauma. To heal my grief. I lost some friends along the way in life. And family members. But losing friends hurt more because they’re so young. And I felt life was kind of softened by them. I had a lot of grief I needed to process. And God gave me painting in order to help me heal myself and, hopefully, heal the world by sharing through my art. I really did try to suppress my need to create, but it didn’t last for long.”
Baker began painting five years ago. “It was kind of a culmination of the universe speaking to me. I had a knowing I had to paint, but I didn’t know what that meant. I had never painted what was in my heart. Never painted my emotions. Never painted my soul before.”
Then, she says, “The universe lined up. An art store near my home had a big sale on canvases.” Baker thought, “Okay, this must be the time.”
She bought canvases and paint and went to work. “My first painting was just variations of white and yellow. It was a big 48-by-48 (inch) painting. I was so proud of it. Just the fact that I had painted was maybe the bravest thing I had ever done. I felt in my heart I had taken a step toward my destiny.
“I loved it. Other people weren’t too impressed, but I was just proud I had put paint to canvas.”
Baker kept painting, and painting helped with whatever she was going through at the time. It was “the medicine I needed at that moment. Abstract art gave me a language of color and texture to really express my soul in a way that landscapes just didn’t.”
She didn’t show her work to her parents until about a year after she began painting. Her father, in particular, was “moved by the work to the point where he became incredibly supportive of me painting. My parents could tell painting was healing me. They knew it was the right thing whether I ever sold a painting or not. This was something that was healing their child and they were supportive of that.”
Baker exhibited her work in group shows after she moved to San Diego, nine years ago. “I have many paintings that are dedicated to the water — the spirit of the water, the ocean. I have a painting called ‘MAMA’ that is dedicated to the great mother, the ocean.”
She was asked to exhibit “MAMA” in British Vogue. “I spoke with them on the phone to see if their values were in line with mine. I agreed to go ahead with it. I’m gay. I’m not as familiar with high fashion values. I wanted to make sure they’re trans friendly. Gay friendly. Pro Black. Things like that. I wanted to make sure our values lined up before I agreed to be published in their magazine.”
Since then, Baker’s art has appeared in two more issues of British Vogue and three issues of Vanity Fair London.
Darrell Baker Jr. and Deborah Whitt with “MAMA” at Medicine Factory show (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Baker moved back to Memphis seven years later. “Several people reached out to me though social media: ‘We saw your work. We love it.’ And wanted to learn more about me and as an artist.”
She held her first solo show at Stock & Belle. She also showed at The Gallery on Main, which still has some of her art on view. She’s also exhibited in New York, San Diego, and Dallas.
In June, she held a show at the Medicine Factory in Memphis. “I put it all together myself. I rented the venue. I picked the food. I picked the wines. I picked the mock-tail. I dedicated the drink to one of my friends who passed away. I picked the pieces myself. It was all me. And the energy there was so wonderful. Everyone was so loving. So receptive to the work.”
l”Squigglefish” by Alexandra Baker at the Medicine Factory show (Credit: Michael Donahue)
As for managing her art career, Baker says, “I’ve been doing it all by myself. My mom is very supportive. And she gives me business advice often. She studied business in school. But it’s all me. I don’t have an agent.”
Baker also teaches yoga, but, she says, “Currently, my art career is sustaining me. In between times, shows and stuff, I’ll still pick up a bit of legal work from my parents to help them out.”
Alexandra Baker and her mother, Deborah Whitt, at New Day Healing and Wellness (Credit: Michael Donahue)
She continues to paint abstract works, but, she adds, “My process has changed a bit. I like incorporating fabric in my work sometimes now. That’s a new development. My work can be a little looser now. I feel a little bit more free of self-judgments now that I’ve been painting for quite a while. It’s a wonderful feeling. It gives me freedom to express what’s in my heart.”
Painting is a panacea for Baker. “It heals my heart. It heals my life. And my hope is to make my own personal dent in helping to heal the world. I know the world really needs it.”
Baker also is utilizing that English literature degree. “I started my book. It’s based on my life experiences, but I’m going to publish it as fiction because it’s a bit whimsical.”
“Healing Through Color” is on view through October 12th at New Day Healing and Wellness, 5040 Sanderlin Avenue, Suite 111.
Alexandra Baker and Eden Hite of New Day Healing and Wellness with Baker’s painting, “Jungle Spirit Share” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
From left to right, Lili Nacht, Neena Wang, Yidan Zeng, and Thandi Cai (Photo: Jin Yang)
Although their respective parents didn’t exactly dream they would one day become artists, Thandi Cai, Lili Nacht, Neena Wang, and Yidan Zeng did just that. “Our parents all chose to come here to achieve some dream that they had, the American dream,” says Wang, “and that transformed into something different for each of our parents. And then they also had dreams for us. And then we took those dreams and made them into our own.”
The four have known one another since childhood, having grown up together in the same circles within the Chinese-American community in Memphis. Over the years, though, as so often happens with childhood friends embracing the next stages of their lives, they lost contact, outside of following each other on Instagram. By 2022, Cai was splitting their time between Chicago and Memphis, while Nacht, Wang, and Zeng resided in Berlin, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, respectively. They hadn’t seen each other in years, but that summer, Nacht reached out via email to see if they would be interested in Zooming.
What followed were months of Zoom calls, wherein they formed the MengCheng Collective — the name finding its origin in the Chinese phonetic name for Memphis, which also happens to loosely translate to “City of Dreams.”
The Crosstown Arts residency this summer was the perfect opportunity for an in-person reunion, they decided. From the outset, the four knew that their residency would not be about sequestering themselves away to create the art that would be featured in their capstone exhibition. Instead, they would engage the community that they grew up around. “The intention [has been to create] an archive that is not just static, but can also be interacted with, participated in,” says Zeng. “It felt like a lot of our histories in the Mid-South were very invisible or suppressed, so how can we create a way for people to see their histories be displayed in a very public way, in an institution, and also for that to be a moment of celebration and collective witnessing?”
To accomplish this, the group hosted weekly potlucks throughout the duration of their residency, harkening back to their childhood days of attending potlucks at Chinese-American households throughout Memphis. That first potluck was open to the public and had 100 or so in attendance — a turnout they did not expect. In the weeks following, they hosted potlucks with other Asian-American creatives in Memphis, with students from the Memphis Chinese Language School, and with their own families.
With each potluck, the collective says they’ve found themselves in awe of the support they’ve garnered. “I feel like I’ve been on the verge of tears since I got here,” Wang says. “People have been so open and willing to listen to you. People are not just looking for what you can do for them. They really want to connect with you on a human level, and that is just so, so special and not something I’ve found almost anywhere else in the world that I’ve been. It’s made me realize how much Memphis has made me who I am.”
Yet the four agree that being away from Memphis has also solidified their identities. With distance, they were able to look from the outside in, able to question their experiences and to process them. “Living in Berlin,” says Nacht, “I felt a freeness that I never felt growing up, but that was also to do with me having not come to terms or not having not processed the traumas yet, like bullying that I had when I was growing up and the pressures from these generational conflicts. I didn’t even know until I left that it was not a great environment.
“I processed through the traumas [since then], and I’ve grown and matured and reconnected with my sense of self, and after having done all that — it took, like, 11 years — I can come back now as a person with my own agency, from a place of awareness of my culture and my own boundaries.”
Like Nacht, Cai, Wang, and Zeng express similar sentiments — that they feel more sure of themselves, especially in their identities as artists, since leaving and returning to Memphis. “My parents have been really amazing to me,” says Wang. “They’ve never heard me really talk about my artwork, but after my artist talk [at Crosstown Arts], they told me how proud they were of me, that they want me to actually really focus on my art, which is not something that they would’ve said, like, a year ago.”
The potlucks, she says, have also been instrumental in this sense of generational healing, with Cai referring to the potlucks as forms of participatory art.
“It’s helpful, at least speaking for my parents, to witness art in a way that is very much in the communities, that they themselves can also be part of that artistic practice,” Zeng adds. “I feel like, oftentimes, it’s easy for people to just kind of see art as a distant thing, like a sculpture or painting in a museum. But we are all very much interested in using art as a tool for change in relationship building.”
“[Art] is like a language,” Cai says, “especially in places where you have people, different cultures coming together. You may not understand the words or the context of what their sentiments are, but you can feel what they might be feeling. Even just the humility of watching someone create art and being there to receive it is really, I think, an important listening skill for human connection.”
Through their potlucks and artistic practices during their residency, Cai says, “Our community came together in a way that hasn’t happened before. I think that it’s just really important for us to be in the same room affirming one another. I think that is the core of everything that we’re doing. Healing is big on all levels — like within ourselves, within our community, with our presence in the city, between the generations, all of it.
“Art is not just a tool for communicating with people in the present, but it’s a tool for communicating with people in the past and the future. As a time traveling tool, I think it can be really powerful to create the futures that we want to see.”
And the future they want to see, Nacht says, highlights diversity. “We need more representation, first of all,” she says, “as well as a different way of interacting with each other to promote this sort of care for each other in a community that comes from this place of understanding.”
“I don’t know if it is too ambitious to try to strive for,” Wang adds, “but the healing that we’ve experienced and that we’ve seen and that our parents and other people have shared with us [during this residency], I really wish that for other communities in Memphis that have experienced intergenerational trauma and just really anyone who needs to heal their relationship with themselves or their creativity or their family. Yeah, if we could just be an example of that.”
This Saturday, July 22, 6-9 p.m., the MengCheng Collective kicks off its week-long exhibition, “Kai Pa Ti,” with a night of food and fun. RSVP to the free event at Crosstown Arts here.
“Kai Pa Ti” will be on display July 22-29, 3-7 p.m., or by appointment. Appointments can be made by emailing mengcheng.tn@gmail.com.
Art by Hi Tone Cafe owner Brian "Skinny" McCabe will be featured in a one night show at his club. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Get ready.
Artwork by Brian “Skinny” McCabe (and artist Michael Roy) will be featured in a new one-night exhibit on Saturday, June 10th, at his club, the Hi Tone Cafe.
Those who were at McCabe’s one-night show (“di-ART-rrhea”) last July at the old Seraphim gallery probably haven’t forgotten some of those art works — like the one of a bird relieving itself while perched on a teacup.
This new show features more birds doing the same thing. And at least one or two throwing up.
McCabe creates his art by making additions to pictures done by others. “A lot of what I do is find other works of art and then kind of desecrate them,” McCabe says.
His work could be referred to as “Poop Art” as opposed to “Pop Art.” Whatever. McCabe says his paintings were a hit in that last show. “People were buying them left and right.”
Works in his new show are going to follow along the same lines. “This one is pretty much focused around birds,” he says. “I don’t really have a title for it. I kind of let it speak for itself.”
The idea began with that bird/teacups painting in his last show. “I found this painting: A bird sitting on a teacup. It was really pretty. but the way it was positioned it was perfect to have it taking a shit down the handle of the teacup.
“I had four people try to buy that one right off the top. And it got into kind of a small bidding war. And I was like, ‘What?’”
For his new show, McCabe says, “I’ve been collecting stuff here and there. I just find funny stuff when I got to City Thrift or Goodwill or something.”
He found a print of two birds sitting on a branch when he was at a Cooper-Young shop. “I just thought to myself, ‘Man, it would be hilarious if one or the other ripped the other’s one eye ball out and it was bleeding and stuff.” So, he doctored the print and wrote, “Fuck Around and Find Out.”
Brian “Skinny” McCabe will feature his art work at his club, Hi Tone Cafe (Credit: Michael Donahue)
“The eyeball is my favorite one,” McCabe says. But, he adds, “They’re all kind of equally weird and gross. Not gross to the point where you have to look away or anything, but just funny.”
McCabe says he uses acrylic paint, and sometimes a Sharpie. “I’ll fill in here and there,” he says. “It’s kind of whatever’s around.”
In a Memphis Flyer story last year, McCabe said he was in Honors Art 1, 2, and 3 in high school. But, he said, “my conduct kept me out of Art 4.”
McCabe often makes attention-grabbing posters for bands playing at the Hi Tone. When there was downtime at the club during the pandemic, his wife suggested he get back into art.
He ran across a black-and-white painting of John Mayer at a thrift shop. “And I was like, ‘It would be hilarious to make him shitting his pants.’ I don’t know why it struck me that day. So, I just started buying paintings at thrift stores and stuff and painting poop on them.”
A Brian “Skinny” McCabe art work (Credit: Michael Donahue)
McCabe decided to do his current show at the Hi Tone. “I’m just a dingy bar dude,” he says. “A gallery just felt too bright and open.”
He wasn’t really planning to do another show, but then the artist Birdcap dropped by the bar. “We were just chilling” says McCabe, “and I was like, ‘Dude, what if we do an art show?’ He said, ‘Pick a date. I’m down.’ It was that easy.”
McCabe compares his art shows to the music shows he features at the Hi Tone. “I don’t know anything about producing art shows. I don’t know the first thing about it. But I do know how to book bands and have concerts. And that’s one night. Very rarely it’s a two-night thing. Bands play one night and hit the road.”
Just like McCabe’s paintings.
Art by Brian “Skinny” McCabe and Michael “Birdcap” Roy will be featured from 6 to 11 p.m. June 10th at Hi Tone Cafe at 282-284 North Cleveland Street
Barbara Hyde brought a gift to the groundbreaking of the future Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
Speaking before a crowd of dignitaries and press under a tent at Union Avenue and Front Street Thursday morning, she announced that she and husband Pitt were making a $20 million commitment toward the completion of the facility that is expected to open in 2026.
That contribution brings the total raised to 75 percent of the $180 million fundraising goal for the project.
Zoe Kahr, the Brooks’ executive director, said she was confident that the museum will reach its goal. “Memphians invested $100 million in their new art museum before seeing a single rendering,” she said. “Tennesseans committed another $35 million to their oldest and largest art museum before construction began.”
Groundbreaking for the Brooks on the Bluff, June 1st. Photo by Jon W. Sparks
Four years ago, the museum had an event on the site to announce that renowned design firm Herzog & de Meuron of Basel, Switzerland and New York, would collaborate with Memphis-based archimania, the architect of record.
Occupying the site that day was a fire station and parking garage. In recent months, those have been razed and plans are proceeding to do seismic work and construction.
The new 122,000 square-foot building will feature nearly 50 percent more gallery space than the museum’s current home in Overton Park. The space will be used to to exhibit Memphis’ growing permanent art collection, as well as new spaces for education and art-making for all ages. Officials said the new Brooks will include “600 percent more art-filled public spaces than the current facility.”
The new Brooks will have a restaurant and gift shop, highlighting Memphis markers and artists. A community courtyard in the heart of the building will be 10,000 square feet, the size of two full NBA courts. The rooftop will provides visitors with an expansive green-space: an art park in the sky with an event pavilion. The courtyard and the rooftop will be open to the public without museum admission.
The museum campus will include a new pedestrian plaza shared by the museum and Cossitt Library as well as connecting the Bluff Walk, which now ends behind Cossitt Library, and the River Walk on Union Avenue.
The museum’s wide open areas will afford views of the Mississippi River. Pedestrians on Front Street will have a view into the gallery level. The other side facing the river will be more closed off to minimize the effects of sunlight, but there will be two windows.
Brooks executive director Zoe Kahr faces the media at the museum groundbreaking on June 1, 2023.
“Our architects did a beautiful job of thinking about the site and how to optimize that pedestrian experience where you look into the museum and you understand what’s in there so you’re not intimidated,” Kahr said.
She also noted that the entire rooftop will be a garden. “It will have art, it’ll have programs, it’s going to have a beautiful event pavilion. I think it’s going to be the best place to get married in Memphis, but I may be biased.”
Kahr said that the museum is intentional about its art spaces. “We’re creating discrete moments where you’re immersed in the art and then you’re brought back to the river. Its public spaces are all about the river.”
When she arrived to take over at the Brooks last November, Kahr knew that changes and challenges would be in the mix, and she was looking forward to it.
“It’s so unusual to get the chance to reexamine and reinstall your permanent collection,” she said. “I’d say we’re leading with that as a set of projects, and our curatorial team has really been spending a lot of time thinking about what stories we can tell from our collection.”
They’re also looking at what objects are not in the collection. “What do we need to tell those stories that we think are important? That’s been a primary focus. But then we’re also thinking about what will be on view here in terms of loan exhibitions.”
Ernest Withers’
photographs illustrating
Memphis in 1968. (Photo: Abigail Morici)
Last month, to honor the 55th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the National Civil Rights Museum unveiled “Waddell, Withers, & Smith: A Requiem for King,” an exhibition highlighting three Memphis-based artists whose work responded to King’s assassination and the Civil Rights Movement: self-taught sculptor James Waddell Jr., photojournalist Ernest Withers, and multimedia artist Dolph Smith.
“It goes to show the levels of Dr. King and how many people he impacted,” NCRM associate curator Ryan Jones says of the exhibit. “He didn’t just impact people who were civil rights leaders and human rights activists; he impacted people who were artists. And so this goes to show what he meant as a man and that people here in this great community of Memphis have channeled and responded to something that has been a dark cloud over the city in the past 55 years. Dr. King impacted the hearts and minds of so many citizens.”
Each of the three artists were born and raised in Memphis, Jones says, and all served in the military, with their respective services being turning points in their artistic careers. Withers, a World War II veteran, learned his craft at the Army School of Photography. He would then go on to photograph some of the most iconic moments of the Civil Rights Movement, including King’s fateful visit to Memphis, the priceless images for which line the exhibition’s walls.
“We can’t tell the story of the modern Civil Rights Movement without the role of photography,” Jones says, and truly, Withers played one of the most significant roles in documenting that history, capturing approximately 1.8 million photographs before his death at 85 years old in 2007.
At the same time Withers was documenting King’s Memphis visit and the aftermath of his assassination, James Waddell (who happened to later be photographed by Withers) was serving in the Vietnam War and didn’t learn what had happened in Memphis until weeks later. For Waddell and his family, King’s death marked a period of pain and grief — “His relatives compared the assassination to a death in the family,” reads the exhibit’s wall text.
“[Sculpture] was his way of reacting to the tragedy that had happened,” Jones says. “He said that living in Memphis and being a native Memphian and not doing the work would be something he would never be able to get over.” So when he returned home, Waddell channeled this grief in the work now on display — an aluminum-cast bust of King and Mountaintop Vision, a bronze statue of King kneeling on a mountaintop with an open Bible. “It shows he’s humbling himself to God,” Waddell said of the sculpture in a 1986 interview in The Commercial Appeal with Anthony Hicks.
James Waddell’s Mountaintop Vision (Photo: Abigail Morici)
Initially, as the 1986 article reveals, Waddell planned to create an eight-foot version of Mountaintop Vision as “the city’s first statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” “The time is right, because Memphis is beginning to voice an opinion that there is a need for a statue,” Waddell told The CommercialAppeal. “This will be a tool for understanding.”
Waddell, who has since passed, said he hoped “to see the finished piece placed at the proposed Lorraine Motel Civil Rights Museum, Clayborn Temple, or in Martin Luther King Jr. Riverside Park.” Though that eight-foot version never came to fruition, at long last, the smaller version of Waddell’s Mountaintop Vision can be seen not only in a public display for the first time, but also at the National Civil Rights Museum as he once had envisioned.
Dolph Smith’s The Veil of the Temple Was Rent in Two (Photo: Abigail Morici)
Meanwhile, Dolph Smith, who had long since returned home from the Vietnam War, was in Memphis the night of King’s assassination. As Memphis was set ablaze that night, he and his family stood on the roof of their home, watching the smoke rise around them. He vowed to never forget that date — April 4, 1968. In his personal calendar for that day, he wrote, “If this has happened in Memphis, then now I know it can happen anywhere. It is so hard to believe a man’s basic instinct is to be good.”
In response to what he called “an unspeakable tragedy” and the public uprising that arose from it, Smith took to the canvas. For one piece on display at the museum, titled The Veil of the Temple Was Rent in Two, the artist ripped an American flag, placing photographs of the Civil Rights Movement in between its tears, as Jones says, “to show the extreme divisiveness that the assassination caused.”
In all, Jones hopes the exhibit will show the reach of King’s legacy extending beyond April 4, 1968, all the way to the present day. In one of the videos projected on the exhibition’s walls, Smith, now at 89 years old, speaks on the importance of witnessing artwork like the pieces on display. “If you make something and it just sits there, it’s unfinished,” Smith says. To him — a painter, bookmaker, and educator — in order for a work of art to be “finished,” it has to be shared, for the mission of the artist is not simply to create but to spark conversation, to encourage self-reflection, and in cases like that of Withers, Waddell, and Smith, to activate progress.
“Waddell, Withers, & Smith: A Requiem for King” is on display at the National Civil Rights Museum through August 28th.
