Nashville for Free

The first Thursday of every month is a great day for art lovers. It’s the night of Art After Hours and the Hillsboro Village Art Crawl, two of the best monthly art crawls in Nashville. Art After Hours takes place in and around The Arcade downtown where there are several fantastic galleries that sell different styles of art. There is also plenty of free wine and cheese and great people to talk to.

The Hillsboro Village Art Crawl focuses more on the neighborhood. There aren’t as many galleries, but so many of those businesses, including The Belcourt and Jackson’s, have rotating art collections by locals. There are also areas where vendors can set up and sell you things like paintings and beautiful aprons (great holiday gifts). I can’t find my press release for this month, but they also feature a specific local business every month, usually a restaurant.

Enjoy your art.

-Emily

Alright, y’all ready to get krrrazy?! Not even kidding, Art After Hours is basically the equivalent of a rave for fine arts. All the hottest galleries around town are staying open extra, extra late (5 – 8pm) for all of you party-holics, and they’re sure to celebrate with some special events, food and/or drink and even some new openings. This is Nashville’s finer culture at it’s best, and just a great opportunity to engage with a remarkably impressive community while the sun sets.

Art After Hours, presented by the Nashville Association of Art Dealers, takes place all around town with several prominent galleries, including, but not limited to: Cumberland Gallery (Green Hills), Gallery One (Belle Meade Galleria), LeQuire Gallery (Charlotte Avenue/Green Hills), Local Color (on Broadway), Midtown Gallery (on Broadway), Zeitgeist (Hillsboro Village), Bennett Galleries (Green Hills), Richland Fine Art (Green Hills), and Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery. Emily suggests checking out the Arcade downtown or Hillsboro Village for some art crawl fare, but I also want to highlight a very special event going on at Belmont University’s Lou Center for the Visual Arts.

A special exhibition, “Quick Read, Message Received: The Poster as a Vehicle for Social Commentary” from Nashvillian Kristina Graham has been on display for several weeks now, and her closing reception will be a part of this months Art After Hours event. In addition to a series of works by Graham, the exhibition also features celebrated artists Milton Glaser, Luba Lukova, Kelsey Freeman, Favianna Rodriguez and Jorge Arrietta. From Kristina’s artist statement: (more…)

I haven’t written a post about Art After Hours since they either changed publicists or got rid of them completely. So now I sadly don’t get a bunch of pretty pictures in my inbox that I can send along to you.

However, I still wanted to tell you all what’s up.

Art After Hours is a basically an art crawl. You walk or drive around to different art galleries, visualize what that awesome painting will look like above your TV, drink some free wine, socialize, and repeat. This happens every first Thursday of every month. It goes from 5-8pm and it’s always a lot of fun. Even I sometimes buy things when I go on art crawls.

So, where does this happen? The easy answer is “all over the city” but it’s mainly focused around the Arcade downtown and in Hillsboro Village. Here’s a list of some of the bigger galleries participating:

• Cumberland Gallery (Green Hills)
• Gallery One (Belle Meade Galleria) 
• LeQuire Gallery (Charlotte Avenue/Green Hills)
  
• Local Color (on Broadway) 
• Midtown Gallery (on Broadway) 
• Zeitgeist (Hillsboro Village) 

I would mostly just stroll around those areas. After all, art galleries tend to be grouped together. However, if you want a map of all the galleries, here it is!

Have fun, be safe, stay warm.

-Emily

FINER THINGS - Laughing Skeleton by Matthew Cox

By now I’m sure most of you know the drill. On the first Thursday of every month the art dealers in Nashville leave their galleries open late and give you free wine. You get to walk around and look at cool and not so cool artwork. You may even find something you want to buy, but it’s not just about buying stuff, it’s about enjoying local art with your community. The event takes place from 5-8pm. Here are some of the higlights.

• The Cumberland Gallery (Green Hills) presents Artist Interview: the irreverent Robert Durham. The second installment in an ongoing series, this event features a discussion with the long-time Nashville painter, in an interview format, exploring the theories and processes of his work.  The discussion will begin at 6:30PM. Gallery One (Belle Meade Galleria) will showcase several new works by figurative sculptor Chad Await, a third-generation wood carver with works in the collections of Disney, Caesar’s Palace, entertainer Usher, and the Alabama Supreme Court
• LeQuire Gallery (Charlotte Avenue) is hosting Finer Things Gallery with a special benefit event during its “on the road” tour. Many of the artists represented by Finer Things have donated their work to be sold and 100% of all sales of work by Finer Things artists will go to support rebuilding the gallery.
• Local Color (on Broadway) celebrates the Fourth of July weekend with a Mexican Fiesta night including Sangria refreshments
• Zeitgeist (Hillsboro Village) opens the second of three summer ensemble exhibitions, entitled Right to Assemble. The exhibits showcase luminaries from the Nashville artist studio, university, and independent art scene. This month’s show features diverse artwork by Derek Cote, Todd McDaniel, Kristi Hargrove, Andrew Smaldone, and Ruth Zelanski.
• LeQuire Gallery (Green Hills) work by master potter, Tom Turnbull
• Parthenon, East & West Galleries (Centennial Park) continues the exhibition Hidden Gems: A History of Collecting at the Parthenon. Artwork from its permanent collection, the exhibition tells the story of art collecting at the Parthenon, which has its roots in the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition.
• Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Downtown) offers free music in the Grand Lobby. This month, Fuzzmuzz, a.k.a. Winston Harrison, is an electro-acoustic, ambient artist who will be recording this performance for a new CD

And, as always, some samples of what you’ll see in the galleries this Thursday.

CUMBERLAND GALLERY - Tall by Dane Carder

Again, it’s time for Art After Hours, which is held the first Thursday of every month at the various art galleries around town from 5-8pm. It’s always a great time, with lots of art, wine, and company. What else could you want on a Thursday evening?

There is a little spin on things this month. Just like so many other events have done, Art After Hours will be doing what they can to help victims of the recent flooding. 10% of all art sales will go towards helping the community.

Here are the highlights of Art After Hours:

• The Cumberland Gallery (Green Hills) will host a series of discussions with artists in an interview format during the summer months.  The various artists will be exploring the theories and processes of their work, beginning with Nashville painter Dane Carder.  The discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m.
• Gallery One (Belle Meade Galleria) will be showing the surrealist paintings of California artist Jeff Faust.  His acrylic on canvas paintings feature odd juxtapositions – a combination of clouds, ropes, leaves, eggs, and other objects and settings that hint at some form of narrative
• LeQuire Gallery (Charlotte Avenue) continues its exhibition, Influences of White, featuring paintings and sculptures inspired by the color white from Maggie Rose, Lori Putnam, Somers Randolph, Ben Caldwell, Alan LeQuire, Marti Jones Dixon, and Joshua Bronaugh. Tom Turnbull also joins the group with a new collection of porcelain pottery featuring a special white-on-white glaze created exclusively for this exhibit. As a special treat, hors d’oeuvres en blanc will be served.
• LeQuire Gallery (Green Hills) will be featuring handmade paper books in all sizes (starting with 1” books) by Claudia Lee
• Local Color (on Broadway) continues its exhibition of new works by Sandee Sander and Anita Westerberg.  In addition, artists Charles Cox, Lee Hamblen, and Emily Miller will be featured.  These artists lost their homes in the Nashville flood and for this evening, 100% of their art sales will go directly to these artists
• Zeitgeist (Hillsboro Village) opens the first of three summer ensemble exhibitions, entitled Right to Assemble.  The exhibits will showcase luminaries from the Nashville artist studio, university, and independent art scene.  This month’s group show features diverse artwork by Nicole Baumann, Mark Bynon, Shannon Clarke, Joe Saunders, and Patrick Schlafer.

And some images:

LOCAL COLOR - Road Less Traveled by Brenda Hasty

Just like every first Thursday of every month (unless there’s a crazy snowstorm) it’s time for Art After Hours. From 5-8pm art galleries will be open, serving refreshments while you check out some incredible art. Here are the highlights:

• The Cumberland Gallery (Green Hills) continues its exhibition of new works by Ahren Ahrenholz and collages by John Fraser
• Gallery One (Belle Meade Galleria) celebrates the gallery’s fifth year anniversary showcasing a selection of work by many popular gallery artists, including Rebecca Ruegger, Thomas Monaghan, Jean Hess, and Lorraine Glessner
• LeQuire Gallery (near Sylvan Park) continues Haitian Contemporary Art featuring the artwork of Haitian artists Guidel Presume, Armond Fleurimond, Emales Delis, Telfort, Rosaria, Estevenson, and Metellus.  A second shipment of work has just arrived!  The gallery is donating 75% of sales to the artists and to the NGO (Lambi Fund or Fonkoze)
• Local Color (on Broadway) is featuring new works from local artists Leslie Gilbert and Brenda Hasty
• Zeitgeist (Hillsboro Village) opens Terraform, Harry Gold’s latest body of bronze, steel, and concrete work continuing his exploration of balance/imbalance and human relationships to planet Earth
• Tennessee Art League & Galleries (Downtown) presents dual exhibitions Color Through Time by Nashville artist Noriko Register featuring 23 vibrant works in oil and acrylic, and Shouts and Whispers, works in oil by Nashville artist Stephanie Helmey
• Auld Alliance Gallery (Westgate Center, Hwy 100) offers artist Jennifer Padgett, who will present a painting demonstration and discuss her approach to composition.  Refreshments will be served
• Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery (near Hillsboro Village) celebrates the opening of Vanderbilt’s newly renovated and expanded galleries by presenting Eye & Mind:  A Legacy of Art Collecting at Vanderbilt University, illustrating the breadth and depth of the collection, now in its 53rd year

For more information visit www.ArtAfterHours.net

Click the link below to see a sneak-peek of the art in the galleries

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I’m sure you’ve noticed that in the past every once in awhile I’ll tweet about an event called Art After Hours, where many of the art galleries in Nashville keep their doors open later than usual. This occurs on the first Thursday of every month, and it’s always a blast. It’s a great event full of wonderful art, free wine, and good company, and this month our friend Tinnin though that Nashville for Free should write a little feature on it, so here we go.

Art After Hours is brought to you by The Nashville Association of Art Dealers (or NAAD, as we so lovingly call them), and boy oh wow do they have some great things planned for you this Thursday. Here’s a list of some of the highlights straight from the press release…

• LeQuire Gallery, near Sylvan Park, celebrates its annual New Figurative Artists show and the Grey Gardens series of paintings by Marti Jones-Dixon.  LeQuire will host a fun Grey Gardens Trick or Treat, featuring seven different Big and Little Edie’s handing out treats throughout the gallery spaces. Guests are encouraged to dress in their favorite Edie costume, from a headscarf and white shoes to your best 40′s bathing suit!
• Local Color on Broadway presents “Nashville, Artistically Speaking,” featuring the painterly perspectives of Nashville through the eyes of the gallery’s celebrated local artists.
• Midtown Gallery on Broadway continues Susan Graves’ “Naked Chefs,” a series of pottery sculptures of male and female chefs with bare backsides peeping out from their aprons!
• Zeitgeist in Hillsboro Village continues its discussion series Oblique Strategies with nuclear physicist Victoria Greene, Ph.D.
• The Arts Company, downtown, previews “Nashville’s Architectural Treasures,” large-scale photographs by Bob Schatz, selected from a new book soon-to-be-released.  Schatz will be available to discuss the locations and the photographs with guests throughout the event.
• Cumberland Gallery, in Green Hills, presents paintings by Michael Greenspan and James Lavadour.  Special speaker will be Jochen Wierich, PhD, Curator of Art, Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art. He will be discussing Northwest art, American Indian Art and landscape painting, as well as the work of James Lavadour at 7pm.
• Finer Things Gallery, near the Fairgrounds, continues its exhibit of Bell Buckle artist Sherri Warner Hunter.  The artist will be discussing her recently completed large-scale work for the Governor’s Mansion.
• Gallery One in Belle Meade presents “Intersections:  Between Dreams and Memories,” a collaborative exhibition featuring the mixed media works of Laura Schiff and imaginative photo-encaustic images by Maggie Hasbrouck

As you can see, this event isn’t just about looking at art, it’s about learning about it too. I’d recommend checking out at least one of the speakers while you’re out.

Other participating galleries include Bennett Galleries, Estel Gallery, HA Gallery at Hanging Around, Hiram Van Gordon Memorial Gallery at Tennessee State University, The Parthenon, Richland Fine Art, Rymer Gallery, and Tinney Contemporary, among others.

You won’t be able to get into the Frist or the Parthenon for free if you aren’t a member, but the Frist Center will be participating by setting up some free music in the lobby.

This event is set for Thursday, Oct. 1st from 5-8pm. Don’t miss it. For even more info check out their site at www.ArtAfterHours.net Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.