And Now A Word From Our Sponsors

Museum to Feature Tennessee Art in New Exhibition

NASHVILLE, TN, December 5, 2006 -- A selection of art acquired during the past decade through corporate underwriting opens at the museum later this month in advance of Governor Phil Bredesen’s second inauguration in January. The exhibition, entitled “And Now A Word From Our Sponsors: Acquired Taste, Recent Art Acquisitions at the Tennessee State Museum,” opens December 14 and continues through January 16, 2007.

The exhibition is the result of a partnership with three Tennessee corporations that have contributed more than $200,000 since 1995, enabling the museum to add contemporary paintings, sculpture and fine craft to its permanent collection. Since the creation of The Bridgestone/Firestone Trust Fund Painting Collection, the museum has built a significant body of work (55 paintings and photographs) by contemporary Tennessee artists.

The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Contemporary, Traditional and Quilt Collections provided a substantial source of funding to allow the museum to amass more than 112 objects, representing the magnificent skills of Tennessee craft artists, while the BellSouth Sculpture Collection offered an opportunity for acquiring seven outstanding three-dimensional works from sculptors across the state.

Museum Executive Director Lois Riggins-Ezzell noted that “through our corporate partners’ extraordinary support, the museum’s holdings of up-to-the-minute craft, sculpture and paintings have been greatly elevated, and are now far more reflective of the artistic environment in Tennessee at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.”

An oil on canvas, by Memphis artist Hamlett Dobbins, is the most recent Bridgestone/Firestone Trust Fund Painting Collection purchase.  Nashvillian Victoria Boone’s oil, acrylic, pastel, and graphite work, “THI” (Fire), Smithville artist Richard Painter’s Vanitas #3 and Changeling, an untitled landscape by Memphian Kurt Meer, two landscapes by Sewanee artist Brett Weaver, and two abstracts by Nashvillian Gal Oglander have all been purchased during the past two years.

The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Collection has also had numerous additions in the past two years.  New works included are: three red, glass vessels by Chattanoogan Chris Mosey, a glass sculpture by Masako Onodera, formerly of Smithville, a small wooden chest by Ashland City’s J. Scott Thompson, a wooden bowl by Cookeville’s Brad Sells, a vase of stainless steel flowers by Ben & Andrew Ferrin of Lebanon, a rocking horse by Sparta’s Russ Jacobsohn,  a clock made of found objects by R. Michael Wimmer of Chattanooga, a cherry bench with woven leather webbing by Marcella and Alberto Toro of Maryville, three oversized ceramic vessels by Smithville potter John Windus, and a hickory-burl bowl by Dowelltown wood sculptor William Kooienga.

The most recent additions to the BellSouth Sculpture Collection are sculptures by two former Tennesseans: an alabaster work by Somers Randolph, and a ceramic and steel sculpture by Stoney Lamar.

The Tennessee State Museum is a free attraction and is located at 505 Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is closed on Monday.