The Memphis College of Art, gone since 2020, was celebrated Wednesday evening at the opening of the latest exhibition at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. “Memphis College of Art: An Enduring Legacy 1936-2020” is a farewell to the institution, faculty, staff, and students that made it a formidable cultural and educational force in Memphis for decades. Because it closed with its final graduating class in the pandemic year of 2020, it never had a proper sendoff. But with this exhibition, conceived by Brooks executive director Zoe Kahr and curated by Marina Pacini, the contribution of the college is at last being acknowledged.
The exhibition also ends a chapter for the Brooks, which plans to move to its new facility Downtown at the end of this year where it will also assume a new name: Memphis Art Museum.
Wednesday’s reception included a media tour that included interviews with several of the faculty and students who have works on display, from drawings to paintings to prints to sculptures, to videos and more. For more on the exhibition, see the upcoming March issue of Memphis Magazine.
