Black Bodies Making Form: 100 Years of Tennessee African American Artists
Middle Tennessee State University Todd Art Gallery
March 1 – March 23, 2024
Curators:
Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay, Director, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University
Karen LeBlanc Sullivan, UMOJA Board Member as well as Advisory Board Member for the McKinney Center
Bodies Making Form: 100 Years of Tennessee African American Artists features influential and contemporary Black Craft artists from across Tennessee including historical figures like William Edmondson, Bessie Harvey, Greg Ridley, Fritz Massaquoi, and Sammie Nicely. Governor’s art awardees Hattie Marshall-Duncan and Bill Capshaw are also included in the stellar line up of this unprecedented project. Sullivan describes the project as, “works memorializing history, celebrating protest, venerating faith, and honoring family. We came across works that encompassed, celebrated, elevated, and revealed Black Life through craft.” The exhibition was on view from March 9 – March 23, 2024 at the Todd Art Gallery at Middle Tennessee State University, with a public reception on March 19.
Artist Listing
- Akintayo Akintobi
- Ludie Amos
- Lynn Bachman
- Jane Buis
- Bill Capshaw
- Tina Curry
- Kimberly Dummons
- Samuel Dunson
- William Edmondson
- Arthur Eubanks
- Pam Faw
- Jason Flack
- Forms Meet Function Collective
- Lurlynn Franklin
- Cynthia Gadsden
- Dexter Greenlee
- Bessie Harvey
- Willard Hill
- Barbara and Leroy Hodges
- William ‘Bill’ Johnson
- Doniqua Joyner
- Elise Kendrick
- Rahn Marion
- Jerry Machen
- LueElla Marshall
- Hattie Marshall-Duncan
- Wokie Massaquoi-Wicks and Tobertha Jackson
- Michael McBride
- Aundra McCoy
- C.E. McGruder
- James McKissic
- Janaya Meredith
- Elisheba Israel Mrozik
- Jimmy Mumford
- Althea Murphy-Price
- Sammie Nicely
- Donna Olujani
- Jernicya Onyekwelu
- Shai Perry
- Greg Ridley
- Jackie Schlicher
- Dawn Smith
- Roger Smith
- Viola Spells
- Andrew Travis
- Shamek Weddle
- Gary White
- Carlton Wilkinson
- Nija Woods
CRAFTING BLACKNESS 