• Collection of Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
• Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrikvan BalenI, A Bacchanal, about 1608-1616.

Yesterday marked the official beginning of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens’ ambitious showing of master paintings from the distinctly dramatic and stylized Baroque and Neoclassical periods in European art. A great turnout came to hear Ruth Cloudman, Chief Curator of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, speak about art in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the arts flourished in Europe amidst war, revolution, and the relentless tides of change. The exhibition comes courtesy of the Speed’s permanent collection, on display at the Dixon until April 15th.

The oldest and largest fine art museum in Kentucky, the Speed will also showcase 55 pieces from the Dixon’s permanent collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings along with about 30 other works from their own collection and various Kentucky collections, beginning in February. The Dixon’s executive director, Kevin Sharp, will lead an excursion of dedicated art lovers to Louisville in the spring to take in the exhibition.

The museum opened in 1927, founded in 1925 by Hattie Bishop Speed as a memorial to her husband, James Breckinridge Speed, a prominent Louisville businessman and philanthropist. Although the Speed Museum’s first paintings were mainly 19th century European and Western works, the museum began seriously collecting old master paintings in the 1950s, mostly thanks to a bequest that made possible the purchase of works such as a piece by William Hogarth, an English painter and social critic who has been credited with pioneering Western sequential art.

When Franklin Page became the museum’s second director in 1963, he and key patrons had a meeting of the minds, and together made a concerted effort to acquire master paintings at a very high level. Page was also gifted at engaging supporters to buy works of art for the museum, such as the wonderful oil sketch by Peter Paul Rubens, and the magnificent, enormous court portrait by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard.

Then in 1977, a remarkable outpouring of civic pride and ambition from corporations, the state of Kentucky, numerous individuals, and literally, schoolchildren who donated their pennies, led to the purchase of the museum’s prized Rembrandt portrait.

But the Speed has become much more than an old master collection. The museum touts exquisite 19th century American and European works, such as a portrait by James Peal, a painting by Claude Monet, and a collection of decorative arts including tapestries and silver. The Speed is also currently readying construction on a new addition to house its contemporary collection and special exhibitions.

We can’t wait to see what else they have to offer from this exciting exchange. Pick up this week’s copy of the Flyer to learn more about “Rembrandt, Rubens, and the Golden Age of Painting.”

• Collection of Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
• Adelaide Labille-Guiard, Portrait of Madame Adelaide, about 1787.

Memphis is rife with iconic imagery, from Graceland to the Lorraine Motel, but with "This Must Be the Place," the Dixon's latest foray into the world of photography, artists explore their unique relationships to the Mid-South through less conventional means.

The works consider the interconnection of one's developing identity with their environment. The diverse mix of wholly captivating images depict the different experience of each artist through nature, popular culture, and psychology, to offer an entirely new understanding of what our town can represent.

• Tommy Kha
• Wetlands, Frayser

Tommy Kha had his first solo show at Five in One Memphis in October 2008, and has since been exhibited in galleries across the U.S. and China. Kha received his BFA in Photography from Memphis College of Art, where he was awarded the Jessie and Dolph Smith Emeritus Award, and is currently a graduate photography student at Yale University's School of Art.

Michael Darough received a BFA in photography from Arizona State University, and then came to the University of Memphis for his MFA in both photography and printmaking. Darough's work has evolved to focus on storytelling, creating imagery to become a visual narrative whether composing a structured scene or documenting aspects of daily life.

• Frances Berry
• Caster Garner

Frances Berry received her BFA in photography and digital media from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. After graduation, Berry started working as a freelance graphic designer and photographer, and now calls Memphis home.

Jordan Hood bases her work on her childhood growing up in the Mississippi Delta, directly questioning the rigid expectations of the traditional, conservative, southern society she was born into. Hood received a BFA in photography from the Memphis College of Art and now lives and works here.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Ian Lemmonds moved to Arkansas with his family at the age of 12, attended college in Louisiana, and then lived in Seattle. After seeing the movie, Mystery Train, he came to live in Memphis and has remained ever since with his wife and two daughters.

• Anna Hollis
• Hybrid 1

Anna Hollis explores alternate realities and fantasy through her photographs using images, objects, and people from her past presented in an unnatural way, to communicate a distorted perception and extraordinary qualities. Hollis received a BFA in photography from the Memphis College of Art in 2011.

Born and raised in Shanghai, Yijun Liao is a fine art photographer who currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Liao originally came to Memphis in 2005, knowing nothing of what the city would be like in her very first journey outside of China, and lived here for three and a half years. "I now think that I was super lucky in choosing Memphis as my destination among a long list of unfamiliar American city names. Memphis has a unique beauty that is untouched by time," Liao says of her experience.

Meet the artists tonight at the opening reception for "This Must Be the Place - Contemporary Photography in Memphis" at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The Stax Music Academy Band will perform classic soul and R&B straight from Memphis during the event, which is open to the public with free admission, a cash bar, and complimentary hors d'oeuvres.

Alpha Newberry, native Memphian and documentary photographer, recently came home from South Korea due to legal troubles resulting from his activities chronicling the sensitive politics surrounding construction of a naval base there.

Jeju, a volcanic island 50 miles southeast of South Korea’s mainland comprises three UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Natural Heritage sites - places of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity - including an extensive system of lava tubes. For more than four years, island residents and peace activists have put up a determined resistance to the creation of a naval base there, in the village of Gangjeong.

In January 2011, the South Korean Navy began construction of the $970 million base, to be completed in 2014. The navy says that the base will be used to protect shipping lanes for South Korea’s export-driven economy, and also provide a new outlet for tourism. It will host up to 20 American and South Korean warships, including submarines, aircraft carriers and destroyers, several of which would be fitted with the Aegis ballistic-missile defense system.

But many villagers and activists from the Korean mainland suspect that the naval base will serve less as a shield against North Korea than as an outpost for the U.S. Navy to project its power against China, as the Defense Ministry will permit American ships cruising East Asian seas to temporarily visit the port. Opponents of the base also claim that it will cause environmental degradation on the beautiful island.

"Exile: Photographs by Alpha Newberry" will showcase Newberry's photos at the Joysmith Gallery in the South Main arts district, with an opening reception on January 13th from 6:30-9 p.m. Originally shown in Korea, the exhibition will run until January 28th. The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center will take place in the opening as part of their 30th anniversary celebration. Dr. Noam Chomsky, political theorist, activist, and institute professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is scheduled to speak at the First Congregational Church on Cooper St. the next day, and, having written about the issue himself, hopes are high that he will also be in attendance.

• Elmwood Angel

Bruce Meisterman is advertising director for Flyer sister publication MBQ magazine. He’s also a gifted photographer with a show opening on Friday at Eclectic Eye and a book Arn? Narn. due out this fall.

While he’s currently working on a show featuring color images, Meisterman, thus far, has concentrated solely on black-and-white photography. The Eclectic Eye exhibit, “New Works,” is his first of all-digital photos.

“It’s a diffrent mode of capture — electronic versus film,” says Meisterman, who got rid of his in-house darkroom last year.

He says he does not manipulate the images in any way. “The image stands on its own.”

“New Works” features three bodies of works: floral images, a series from Elmwood, and what Meisterman describes as “his take” on Memphis ... photos that include graffiti, manhole covers, etc.

“People always say, ‘I love your work, but you never photograph Memphis,’” Meisterman says. “So here it is.”

As for the book Arn? Narn. — it’s a documentary of sorts. “Arn? Narn.,” says Meisterman, is the Newfoundland’s shortest conversation. In the early ’90s, the fish population was dangerously low. A moratorium was placed on fishing, but the fish have not returned. “Arn?” means “Any fish?” “Narn.” means “No fish.”

The book records the cultural implications of this situation.

BTW, some 40 odd years ago, when Meisterman was an art major, he wanted to be a painter.

Meisterman admits he wasn't very good. “My hands would not cooperate!”

Arn? Narn. blog

Tomorrow will mark the beginning of the Memphis Botanic Garden's exciting new art exhibit, Incognito, running until January 31st. The show will feature 80 Mid-South artists in a collection of original, unsigned works, open and free to the public and available during regular hours in the Visitors Center Gallery. The exhibition will culminate in a dual Gala and Silent Auction on January 20th, which will give admirers and buyers the opportunity to meet with the artists, on hand to sign their work for winning bidders. Tickets to the gala event are $25 for members and $35 for non-members, benefiting the Botanic Garden's educational and outreach programs, carried out over its 96 acres with 23 specialty gardens including My Big Backyard Children's Garden, the first nationally certified Nature Explore Classroom in Tennessee. Please call 636-4131 for tickets or further information.

We are now accepting submissions to transform a Flyer box into art (without disassembling please)!
A group of artists will be selected and notified around February 8th, and each will have one month with their box to decorate as they see fit within certain stipulations, outlined below. A materials stipend will be provided for all selected artists courtesy of our sponsor, The Art Center supply store and frame shop.
A photo shoot of the artists with their work will take place once all boxes are completed and returned. The boxes will be unveiled within the March 29th, 2012 edition of The Memphis Flyer, and artists will be honored at an event on Wednesday, March 28th, with further details to come.
Boxes will then be put into commission around the city of Memphis as working public art throughout 2012. Flyer readers will also vote on "Best in Show," the winner of which will receive a $500 cash prize.

Rules:
The box must say "Memphis Flyer" and "Free" in a visible and obvious way.
All paints and other materials must be weather resistant.
No puncturing the box.
No painting over the see-through "window" on the front side.
No disrupting the door.
No offensive language or symbols.

The Memphis Flyer Art Box Project is open to the public, regardless of background or training, but to give us more insight into what you can do, we request simple information such as name, email, daytime phone, occupation, artistic interests, and examples of previous work via website, jpg or gif image. Submissions will be accepted through Monday, January 16th.

Go here to enter the contest!

Dwayne Butcher presents his "Memphis Connections" exhibit tonight from 6-9 p.m. at the Marshall Arts Gallery for one night only. He chose eight artists including himself to seek out a partner in a collaborative project of their choosing in the hopes of initiating new dialogue between artists in the area, and also outside of it.

• Melissa Dunn & Brian Pera

Painter Melissa Dunn and filmmaker Brian Pera are among the featured pairings, creating images of women grooming projected from a muted-homelike background, inspired by their mutual love of 50s film magazines. The other collaborations are just as intriguing and beautifully executed, with mediums spanning printmaking, sculpture, and paint. Let's hope this joining of forces leads to more and more great works and shows.

National nonprofit, Artspace Projects Inc., has chosen the former United Warehouse building at 138 St. Paul Ave. for the creation of live/work units which will be made affordable for artists. The site was specifically chosen for its close proximity to the historic South Main Arts District in an effort to further cultivate the creative area, which is also home to the National Civil Rights Museum. Plans are being developed to renovate the property, built in 1904, and expand the space with additional new construction. The organization works to provide space for artists in cities all over the country at a low cost, coming to Memphis in 2010 to aid with the city's receipt of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The NEA looked to the promise of South Main particularly with the relocation of the Memphis College of Art's Nesin Graduate School to the heart of the district at 477 S. Main. ArtSpace will apply to the state of Tennessee for low-income housing tax credits in 2013 and then begin construction with the hope to open in late 2014.

“The idea really isn’t new, and it really isn’t mine,” says Judith Dierkes of her five-day Pop Up Art Gallery. She launches the gallery, which is in the Hickory Hill area, on Monday at noon.

On sale are works priced from $5 to $1,000, and Dierkes is having a giveaway each day at 4 p.m., and on Friday she’ll amp it up with a giveaway each hour.

• Monday Giveaway

The works range from unframed drawings and paintings to sculptures and quilts. The $5 pieces are based on the art she’s created for the Artists in Cellophane project, which sells cigarette pack-sized works for $5 in repurposed cigarette machines.

Dierkes is using Facebook as her primary marketing tool, posting images of the pieces of each day’s giveaway as a way to build anticipation. “Social media is the way to go,” she says while admitting, “I’m making this up as I go along.”

Of Friday’s giveaway bonanza, Dierkes is keeping mum. “That’s part of the hype,” she says.

She will allow that Friday’s events involve, intriguingly, “nourishment combined with sales,” a strategy she says she picked up from department stores.

“Using department store tactics to sell art is quite scary,” she says, “But these are tough times.”

• Gallery Shot

Pop Up Art Gallery, 3967 Hickory Hill Dr. (795-6777), noon to 4 p.m. through Thursday, and noon to 8 p.m. Friday. On Facebook, search Judith Dierkes Pop Up Art Gallery, or click the above link.

• Sarah Perkins
• Red Tripod, 2011

The National Ornamental Metal Museum unveiled its latest "Tributaries" artist, Sarah Perkins, with her lecture last night at the Memphis College of Art, soon to be available on the museum’s website and YouTube channel thanks to the WRUG MEDIA group. Perkins’ work is now on display through February 19th, with the exhibitions’ opening reception set for this coming Sunday, December 11th, from noon to 5 p.m., in a combined celebration with the museum’s Holiday Open House. The absolutely free event will feature a bake-off, hands-on activities and blacksmith demonstrations, holiday music by pianist Hayley Roth, and discounted items in the museum store with 10 percent off of purchases for non-members and 20 percent for members.

Perkins is also set to teach a course offered through the museum in April. Enamel on copper will instruct students of all levels in making a series of samples using different enameling techniques on copper sheet, and then designing and constructing a light switch plate or simple jewelry piece to take home at the end of the weekend.

• Sarah Perkins
• Enamel on Copper

She received her BA from San Diego State University and MFA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and has held a position as Professor of Art at Missouri State University, teaching within the medium of jewelry and metals since 1994. Perkins’ exhibition will consist of small, lidded containers made of enameled metal with an interest in how delicate differences in shape can affect the meaning of a piece. In her work as both a maker of hollowware and an enameler, the properties of metal and glass function together to make a whole, with materials complementing and completing each other.

Also on display are new exhibitions “Fresh,” from the pages of Metalsmith magazine (a publication of the Society of North American Goldsmiths), and “Weighed in the Balance,” a showcase of Akan gold weights from the Canadian Museum of Making.

• Luna Perri
• Sondra Sherman, 'Listen to the Wind' pendant, 2010, sterling silver, (Sienna Gallery, Lenox, MA)

• Fulani Iron Bar Currency, 19-20th c.

Despite the awful weather and bitter cold, plenty of folks came out to the parking garage of the Sears Crosstown building last night to try their hand at letterpress in Kyle Durrie’s incredible workshop on wheels. Durrie’s project, Moveable Type, employs the system of printing by the same name, using variable pieces of type to reproduce elements within a document, invented in China but popularized by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440. Such a system allowed the widespread reproduction of printed materials, inevitably leading to the broad distribution of information and knowledge.

Durrie came to love letterpress in 2006 after receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin College with a focus in drawing and printmaking and then attending the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She explored her interest through taking classes at the Pratt Fine Arts Center and the Independent Publishing Resource Center, then developed her skill in the art with apprenticeships at the Blue Barnhouse and Wolfe Editions. Durrie subsequently created her own business in 2009, Power and Light Press — a studio based in Portland, Oregon that specializes in letterpress packaging, posters, custom stationery, and, of course, quirky greeting cards. She then began to conceive of a plan to share her uniquely old-fashioned passion with the rest of the world, by bringing a fully functional letterpress print shop right to their doorstep. The fundraising campaign began in November 2010 through the popular project start-up website, Kickstarter.com, raising more than double the original financial goal, an impressive feat considering the nature of the beast. Check out the thoughtful video she initially made.

Durrie has since converted a 1982 Chevy step van into a mobile workshop, outfitted with built-in cabinets and workspace, a sign press from the mid-20th century, and an 1873 Golding Official No. 3 tabletop platen press. She set out in June driving all over North America to come to farmers markets, group workshops, and basically anywhere and everywhere that would have her, inviting visitors to tour the truck and make their own charming prints with her careful instruction.

It was truly inspiring to see an artist with such passionate vision succeed in a project based entirely on the love of an art form and the desire to spread that love around, perhaps inciting genuine interest for the craft here and there in an excellent demonstration of the hopeful possibilities intrinsic to the creation of art. The Amurica photo booth and wonderful food trucks were a great addition to the Moveable Type festivities, and Crosstown Arts did a fantastic job of showcasing interesting artistic ideas.

The graduating class of the Memphis College of Art will have the opening reception for their BFA exhibition tonight in the main gallery at Rust Hall from 5-7 p.m., including works by: Jessica Rae Ajoc, Jason Doggett, Jill Exley, Adam Farmer, Hayley Haddad, Marie Lauver, Evan Leggoe, Amy Beth Rice, Jesse Richardson, Vincent Tabor, Devin Taylor, Megan Snider, Deanna Szwarc. The exhibit will be on display through December 14.

Then, go check out the University of Memphis senior thesis exhibition at the Marshall Arts Gallery from
6-9 p.m., with works by Holly Cole, Cody Dalrymple, Renée Embry, Christina Frey, Andrew Guerieri, Toy Houseman, Stacee R. Knouse, Rachel Lin, Clark Matthews, Amanda Stoughton, Rachel Underhill, and Nikki Wade. The show will be open on Saturday by appointment only.

Stop by the Beauty Shop in Cooper Young afterwards for some post-show celebratory drinks, food, and music. The Sheiks and The Warble will be playing from 10 p.m. - 2 a.m.

The Dixon Gallery and Gardens will host a free family day event next Saturday, November 12th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in honor of its current exhibition of works from renowned children's book author and illustrator, Brian Selznick. From Houdini to Hugo: The Art of Brian Selznick, features over 100 pencil illustrations, pen and ink drawings, acrylics, and models displaying the artist's proficiency with the world of imagination. The exhibition, organized by the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas, also contains The Room of Wonders in the Dixon's Children's Interactive Discovery Room. The gallery will engage kids through Hat Stories, an activity in which a character is drawn at random out of a hat for the child to then illustrate in its own narrative, as well as the Illusions Stage, complete with props and costumes. Family day will feature art activities, games, and demonstrations by local artists. Brian Selznick will also be on hand for a virtual Q&A session via Skype. Refreshments will be provided along with live music from The Wuvbirds.

• Selznick's cover art for Frindle by Andrew Clements.

Selznick received a 2002 Caldecott Honor for illustrating The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley, and took the 2008 Caldecott Medal for his groundbreaking work, The Invention of Hugo Cabret - which has since been adapted for the screen by director, Martin Scorsese, to be released at the end of this month. The massive novel blends words and pictures in such a way that Selznick's drawings don't simply illustrate his story, they help to tell it, in an endeavor that goes beyond both picture book and graphic novel. Inspired by Gaby Wood's Edison's Eve and the story of French filmmaker, Georges Méliès' lost collection of automata, Hugo's tale threads cinematic technique into the magically complex world of a Paris orphan with a knack for mechanical clockworks; exposing a new generation to the world of silent film, science-fiction, and all the possibility that lies beyond.

• From The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Selznick began his career after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design as a humble bookstore attendant at Eeyore's Books for Children in Manhattan. While developing an understanding and supreme fondness for the world of children's literature, he would paint the stores' windows for holiday displays and big events, and also published his first book, The Houdini Box in 1991 - two years before the beloved store was forced to close forever. He has since illustrated 19 books written by others, and five books of his own - including the exciting recent release, Wonderstruck.

• From Wonderstruck

This Saturday and Sunday, Memphis will host it's very own Day of the Dead celebration, courtesy of the Brooks Museum of Art, the University of Memphis, and Danza Azteca Quetzalcoatl de Memphis - an independent project created in 2002 by Noe Ramirez to preserve the ancestral tradition of sacred, pre-Hispanic, Aztec dances and rituals. The event - which usually takes place on Novmber 1st and 2nd, corresponding to the Catholic holidays of All Saints Day and All Souls Day - aims to convey the cultural importance of Dia de los Muertos, as well as reinforce the Latino community's heritage in Memphis. The free celebration will follow the traditional customs of the long-established Mexican holiday meant to honor the souls of those who have passed away. Altars known as Ofrendas are lavishly decorated with offerings to the dead, and everyone is welcome to participate by bringing along a photo of a lost loved-one to place on a community altar, on display at the university's Art and Communication Building throughout the celebration.

On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Brooks will feature music from Mariachi Guadalajara, elaborate sugar skull face painting, screenings of animated short films, and many skeleton-like Catrinas - made widely recognizable by José Guadalupe Posada. The museum will also hold its own exhibition of ofrendas made by area students, in the education gallery, and volunteers from the Latino community will hold a papel picado workshop in the Brooks' education studio. The classic Mexican folk art of delicate tissue paper cut into intricate designs is central to Dia de los Muertos decoration. CazaTeatro - the first Hispanic theatrical group in Memphis, founded in 2006 - will perform two shows in the Dorothy K. Hohenberg Auditorium at 10:30 a.m. and noon, and Danza Azteca Quetzalcoatl de Memphis will perform on the Brooks Plaza at 1 p.m. to close the day's activities. The celebration will continue on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. at the University of Memphis, with more performances from CazaTeatro, Danza Azteca Quetzalcoatl, and female mariachi group Las Palomas.

The Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA) 2011 Fall Conference, entitled ‘Celebrating Diversity Through Common Ground’ will be held on Oct. 27-29 at the Memphis College of Art (MCA) in cooperation with the college, the University of Memphis and the Brooks Museum of Art. The event is also sponsored in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission. Festivities will commence with the opening keynote artist, Carrie Mae Weems, on Friday, 9-10:30 a.m.

Weems has worked as an award-winning photographer and artist for 25 years, and continues to address struggles of empowerment and oppression. She has exhibited in both solo and group shows at The Museum of Modern Art, the International Center of Photography, the J. Paul Getty Museum, The High Museum of Art, The Walker Art Center, and The Whitney Museum. The Frist Center for the Visual Arts in dowtown Nashville will exhibit the first retrospective of her work from September 21, 2012-January 13, 2013.

• Carrie Mae Weems, from her Kitchen Table series.

Workshops and essential hands-on presentations will educate instructors and novices alike on video game design, bookmaking, teaching spatial concepts through watercolor, and developing studio art programs, to name a very few highlights, and the TAEA will present awards in a ceremony on Saturday the 29th from 1-2:30 p.m. at MCA. The nonprofit organization has chosen Jenny Hornby, Assistant Curator of Education at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, as its 2012 Art Educator. Given to recognize excellence in professional accomplishment and service by a dedicated art educator, those honored epitomize the highly qualified individuals active in Tennessee’s art education field. Hornby earned a B.A. in Art Education from the University of Montana in 2008, and an M.A. in Art History from the University of Memphis in 2010.

The Tennessee Art Education Association maintains a mission to advance visual arts education through advocacy, development, and leadership, and to promote and streamline the professional community of arts educators. The organization is made up of elementary, secondary, middle level, and high school art teachers across the state, with representatives from major art museums, the State Department of Education, arts councils, and colleges and universities.