Art between the Avenues at the Arcade
At the historic Arcade in Downtown Nashville, Arcade Arts is hosting their collaborative art event Art Between the Avenues. We attended the launch party on June 20th (great popsicles!) and the shows will remain open on Fridays and Saturdays from 1pm to 6 pm through the Art Crawl on July 6th.
Arcade Arts was founded in 2023 with the idea of building on the “…well-established presence and history of Nashville’s Arts District to create and sustain a well-supported home for the visual arts in the heart of downtown Nashville.” The Arcade will be home to a collection of 11 working artists’ studios and galleries, in a community in which visitors can engage with artists as they create their work during open hours and curated events. It isn’t intended to be a one-stop shop for artistic work, but rather a gateway which encourages the public to visit some of the amazing local galleries too.
A complete list of the galleries that are participating is available here, and below includes descriptions of a select few that we have highlighted:
Ce Gallery is a Nashville based organization that seeks collaborations with artists, partnering with commercial real estate companies in “Space Activations” that offer the community contemporary and avant-garde experiences. Other services include Set Designs (designs for immersive experiences, live music performances and social gatherings) as well as coloring workshops and space activations. In a recent event Textile Scroll giant projections of flowers transform a white-washed space into a bright, iridescent world. Link here: https://cegallery.com/textile-scroll
Galerie Tangerine, perhaps one of the brightest exhibitions in the Arcade, is currently presenting Sunshine and Shadows by the Chestnut Group; a group of more that 200 members whose work seeks to preserve “fragile local environments, threatened habitats, protected natural areas and historic properties.” The iconic works in the exhibition are beautiful in a sort of neo-impressionistic nostalgic way, (the Nashville skyline, the Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge) but the images (in my opinion) that are less specific in terms of geographic subject are much more powerful in terms of emotion.
The Red Arrow Gallery has merged its annual Nashville Hot Summer multi-artist and multi-edition exhibition (in two parts) with the Arcade event. The point of the exhibition is a survey of works from artists they admire and whose works excite them. As such, the exhibition is eclectic and quite interesting in its nature. One work that I found particularly striking was LeXander Bryant’s A Brother’s Vow (2022), for the way it captured the emotion and sincerity of a childhood moment, when purpose and idealism predated cynicism. Nashville Hot Summer Part II is scheduled for August.
Tinney Contemporary Art Gallery was present with a solo exhibition, Drinking Tears, by Kimia Ferdowski Kline. Kline’s abstract works are powerful, playing on anthropological ideas (and ideals) of alienation and primordial connection, in a subtly dark connotation of “…loss and mourning, an act of intimacy or of self-effacement.” The photos don’t do the art justice, it needs to be seen.
Chauvet Arts is presenting Harmony in Contrast: Bridging Generations through Art, which they describe as “a harmonious interplay of opposites as captured by visionary artists.” Highlights include stunning works by artists Carlos Gamez de Francisco, sweet imagery of hyper-realism by Denise Stewart-Sanabria, and Jorge Yances’ visual interpretation of the literary tradition of magical realism. Note: Jorge Yances Beauty Within is the featured image of this article.
There are so many works to experience already, and yet still seven other galleries are hosting exhibitions at the Arcade, including: Forge, COOP Gallery, Random Sample, curated by Evan Roosevelt Brown, Electric Shed, the Elephant Gallery and TSU’s Hiram Van Gordon Gallery. It’s a good thing that the event continues until July 6th, because it is certainly going to take one or two more trips for me to even come to terms with a few of these amazing works! You should go, and replace that old print over your mantle!
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Joseph E. Morgan is a father of two, husband, teacher and recovering guitarist in Middle Tennessee.
