One Answer for All Your Important Questions

Roy Pace, Artists at Work

Setting up for for our annual avant-garage sale at The Arts Company is a daunting task, with a particular challenge: how to make sense of such a large variety of art, books, decor, furniture, and just plain off-the-charts crazy. It always turns out to be fun. We figure it out as we go along. There is no installation plan upfront, just how to make the mixed variety interesting and appealing.

Vintage cameras of various sizes

More important, how to make everything shockingly affordable. As it shakes down, it always turns out to be a good time for us and for our guests.

Come have fun with us on Saturday, August 7, 6-9 pm during our First Saturday opening. The avant-garage sale will continue upstairs through August 27, if supplies last that long.

And now for the answer:
At The Arts Company's 14th Annual Avant-Garage Sale

Here are the questions: Where can I find the neatest Beethoven socks in town?
Are there any remaining Obama Hot Flop beach shoes still available?
Do you have any Teenie Harris photographs?
How about lots of miscellaneous neat paintings -- all sizes, different artists, from various collections?

Billyo O'Donnoll, Last Light of the Shermerhorn Construction, 16 x 20''

Where could I find a fabulous old wooden ironing board that would make a great bar?
Where could I find a few pieces of artwork by two legendary Nashville area artists -- Roy Pace and Vannoy Streeter?
How about vintage books, art books, and lamps to read by?
Where can I find great buys on vintage and collectors' posters?
How about a couple of antique tables and a vintage drafting table (also doubles as a bar)?
Where can I find some oriental rugs? A Gee's Bend rug? A rug made of cigarette package wrappers?
Where can I find some vintage tins and jars and boxes to use with my ironing board bar?

Do you have a lot of miscellaneous neat art-related stuff that is shockingly affordable?

YES. At this year's 14th Annual Avant-Garage Sale Saturday, August 7, 6-9 pm
Preview some of the pieces on OUR WEBSITE.

Marek Bohemus, Four, 16 x 20''

And while you're here, don't miss all of the Summer Fresh Art that will surround you upstairs and down at 215 Fith Avenue of the Arts, featuring Marek Bohemus' dramatic photographs of "The Majesty of the Horse." Preview his work HERE.

The Necessity of Summer Fresh Art: Commentary by Anne Brown

And now we come to the middle of a long hot summer. After a week in Texas in 100 degree heat, Tennessee feels like Alaska. Though I grew up in Texas, I had forgotten that Texas heat is very hot heat. Nevertheless, I dragged my mother, now approaching her 97th year, out in it every day, taking her for lunch, supper, and shopping. She is frail, of course, but still ready to go when the going is good. It was sheer pleasure just to walk beside her, knowing that she is well cared for and still has spunk.

Judy Nebhut, Raspberries in Silver, archival photograph

At best, I have a hard time with summertime. It's not my favorite time of year. The heat is unforgiving. I'm always looking for something fresh to divert my attention, some kind of adventure that can take my mind off how hot it is. That's how the July show of SUMMER FRESH ART came to be.

We could call the artists the Summer Four, a group showing of artists who have never met each other and apparently don't have a lot in common, except...their emerging passion for making art.

Chris Beck, Kellie, painted metal

The artists and their artwork being presented are all over the map in variety of mediums, materials, and subjects - from outside materials and self-taught aesthetic to mosaics in glass; from photography in the tradition of modern still life paintings to paintings that explore the space/time continuum through ordinary objects and images.

Altogether, this is a group of artists that offer different flavors of art, each distinctive and passionately pursued. There is laughter and great pleasure for guests who see this exhibit. Check out the front and backside of Chris Beck's sculptural clothes hanging on the wall. Check out the elegance of Judy Nebhut's photography. You don't often get to see such elegant and calming work. Don't miss Deborah Wait's glass mosaic concoctions that continue to grow more ambitious in the sense of movement and shapes she creates. Tony Breuer is in the midst of making a transition from a long and successful career as a neurologist into life now as a trained and skilled artist taking on the ambitious challenge of making time and space stand still so we can contemplate them through regular objects.

Deborah Wait, mosaic

This exhibit calls for chilled wine or ice cold lemonade and a cool state of mind. The work of the Summer Four will make a believer out of you - that life can have freshness and that artistic enterprise offers relief from the harsh heat of summer. Artists have a way of turning the harshness and static nature of materials and the ordinariness of life into refreshing insights, into new ways of seeing and thinking. It's all about well-made work delivered personally by people who truly love to make the art they make and are eager to have others see their work.

Tony Breuer, Space Magnolias #6, oil on canvas

Artists often begin their work in a maze of sorts. Sometimes working on an idea or a technique without a clue in advance as to why and where it might lead them. In the early part of an artist's career, an artist is often simply driven to test certain materials and ideas that attract them. Typically, they have a hard time verbalizing what or why. Without exception, the four artists in this exhibit are driven by an almost blind passion for the materials and subjects of their work. Upfront, they kind of know where they want to go. They have a direction, but also lots of questions and no answers. That's part of what makes this exhibit presentation summertime fresh. There is a sense of discovery in the work of each of the artists, and they hook the viewer into their journey. We get to see where they started and sense of where they are going. And there is a lot of joy in the going. Joy is not exactly an art word, but it fits. Artistic discovery is a joyful thing. When you engage in the new worlds these artists have created for you, some of it inevitably rubs off on you. That's a lot of what this exhibit is about - encountering new work you haven't seen before and wondering how and why it all came about, and what makes it appealing.

So, psych yourself up to come to this particular exhibit prepared to see four worldviews that you haven't seen before. If you come prepared to have an adventure, you will have one cool summer evening.

We ART Nashville Wristbands

At The Arts Company, we will continue to provide a commemorative wristband to every person contributing $10 to the Community Foundation Flood Relief. As a thank you, we will offer each person wearing the wristband a 10% discount on any purchase in the gallery through the month of July. All of us have many friends whose lives have been impacted seriously by the recent flood. We ae proud to have sent several thousand dollars from our gallery alone to date to the Community Foundation. With your help, we can do more. Our gallery discount is our way of saying thanks back to our customers for their help.

The Art of Brother Mel Continues...

The Art of Brother Mel exhibit continues though July, with lots of new work by this popular gallery artist whose work ethic and new ideas never waver and never cease. We have already set to work on a documentary on Brother Mel's life and thoughts as an artist, one who lives and works in a community of religious brothers, but whose work is totally modern. He is truly one of a kind. His views about the art world and his work merit documentation, and The Arts Company Press has set out on this new journey.

Spirit of Nashville and Art & Soul of America

The Arts Company introduces Joel Anderson's signature poster collections, Spirit of Nashville and the newest one, Art & Soul of America. The gallery will be the only venue featuring limited-edition signed prints of images from both of these collections. The Spirit of Nashville series are well-known to Nashvillians, but now the Art & Soul of America is giving a new iconic personality to major American cities and national parks, all places familiar to travelers.

So don't forget your wristband - which is to say, don't forget our many friends who are still working their way out of the Nashville flood - and come on down to The Arts Company on Fifth Avenue of the Arts for First Art Saturday, July 3, 6-9 pm.

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Brother Mel: A Niche All His Own - A Commentary by Anne Brown

It's that happy time of year at The Arts Company, when Brother Mel comes to Nashville to celebrate his birthday, bringing with him new artwork and signature pieces to keep us updated on what his interests are at the moment.

This year his visit is both literary and artistic--the literary part is a book-signing at Davis-Kidd Booksellers on Friday, June 4, 7:00 pm to talk with me about how his life and art came together in a book-length presentation of the variety and depth of his work. This occasion offers an unusual opportunity for collectors and friends of Brother Mel to have time to ask questions and talk to him in depth. We have created a commemorative bookmark to mark this special occasion.

The next day, June 5, we will celebrate his actual birthday and the art part of his trip--his latest exhibit at The Arts Company opening during First Art Saturday, 6-9 pm. Our gallery will be chock full of Brother Mel artwork--literally from floor to ceiling in a particularly dramatic and theatrical presentation. Some of the larger sculptures featured in the book about his work, Brother Mel: A Lifetime of Making Art, made it to Nashville for his exhibit at The Arts Company this year, including Art 101 and a fresh new version of Don Quixote, complemented by new oversized watercolor abstracts; bicycles and guitars in his new style, new approaches to his signature series of icons, and new pieces mixing dalle de verre with steel sculpture.


As Brother Mel and I were nearing the end of putting the book together last fall, he noted that it was hard for him to tell when the book would reach its final end. His lifetime of energetic art-making drives him always to think that "the best is yet to come." The book might end, but his best work might still be coming. The book has now been out just five months or so, and he continues to do what he does best--make art 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year, "bringing beauty to space to lift up spirits."


This year is Brother Mel's 82nd birthday--over 60 years as a Catholic brother in the Marianist order and over 50 years as a working artist. Preview the book about Brother Mel HERE. Better yet, put Brother Mel's visit in your schedule this week. Artists like Brother Mel don't pass our way often. He is a rare phenomenon, an art saint, if ever there should be one. He would seriously scoff at that, but it is an observation with merit. Come see for yourself. He occupies a niche all his own.

We ART Nashville: Helping Make Nashville Whole Again

First Art Saturday participating galleries in downtown Nashville are launching an arts initiative, We Art Nashville, designed to benefit flood victims through the Community Foundation Disaster Relief Fund.

We ART Nashville is scheduled for Friday, May 21, 6-9 pm in the galleries on Fifth Avenue, the galleries in the Arcade, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, and the Tennessee Art League. The Downtown Partnership will provide free transportation between all of the participating galleries.

There is no admission fee, but each gallery will have commemorative wristbands available for $10 each, with all proceeds going directly to the Community Foundation Fund. The wristbands will also offer other special benefits at each gallery location.

Notice that this is a Friday night event, not the usual Saturday gallery event. This occasion gives guests the opportunity to view what was on exhibit during the canceled First Art Saturday that was originally scheduled on the weekend of the historic flood. We wanted to distinguish it from a regular First Saturday night opening to emphasize that this is a significant time when Nashville's arts industry can help our fellow Nashville citizens affected by this historic weather catastrophe that has impacted so many lives.

We are all in this together. We look forward to seeing you and doing our part to help make Nashville whole again. We can always rely on the arts to help us make sense of the important things in life.

Connect immediately with We ART Nashville on Facebook and Twitter @weartnashville. You will get regular updates on plans for the event.

A Celebration of The Art of Design: Jane Davis Doggett at The Arts Company

The Tennessee State Museum organized a retrospective exhibit of Jane Davis Doggett's artwork last fall, which has since traveled to Yale University Art Gallery, where its stay has been extended through July 11, 2010. Ms. Doggett, a Nashville native, was a distinguished graduate both from Newcomb College and then the Yale University of Art and Architecture in the 1950's. Her prime artistic mentor at Yale was Joself Albers, whose groundbreaking books-- The Interaction of Color and Homage to the Square are considered landmark works in modern art.

Concord Installation

She learned her lessons from Albers as well as from other mentors including Louis Kahn and Alvis Eisenman, and then began to blaze her own trails. She is now known by her artistic peers as a pioneer in wayfinding graphics, designing signage for some 40 international airports, among other achievements in her field of design art. She has singularly been instrumental in bringing the primary concepts of modern design-- initiated by the influential Bauhaus school of thought in the 1920's--into the practical world of large public spaces.

I Came, I Saw, I Conquered

In the past decade, she has created her own new approach to combining art, philosophy, and literature in creating affordable contemporary artwork conceived and produced through the latest technologies and materials of the computer and internet mediums of the 21st century.

Ms. Doggett's exhibit opening at The Arts Company May 1st is focused on her recent series of signed, limited-edition wall panels and prints based on selections from proverbs and various cultures, rethinking literary and philosophical ideas in her own visual idiom of graphic design. The panels and prints have been developed by Ms. Doggett to make affordable designs of the highest quality available to the public, using the latest printing technologies and papers, to assure a long life for her visual interpretations of philosophical precepts of cultures of the world. Her visual interpretation of each line in the 23rd Psalm in a series of 12 graphic panels is a case in point.

23rd Psalm

She labels this new work IconoChrome Images, and notes that these images are graphic statements that form a language on their own. They are not illustrations. Each design is based on a combination of iconic shapes and bold colors that present a simple visual way of communicating ideas familiar to lots of people in a fresh new way.




















Make it a point to see the array of Jane Davis Doggett's compelling artwork that speaks in color and form to the viewer. You can meet Ms. Doggett personally on Friday and Saturday nights (April 30 / May 1) at The Arts Company as part of "A Celebration of the Art of Design." It's an encounter that will connect you directly with the world of modern art, how it works and how it makes meaning. You can take the opportunity to put Ms. Doggett's book on Talking Graphics side by side with Josef Albers' Interaction of Color.

A Celebration of The Art of Design: Bill Johnson and Rolling Stone Magazine at The Arts Company

Bill Johnson's story is a Nashville story of the best talent and creativity often attracted to Nashville, ultimately adopting Nashville as his home town and bringing his outstanding artistic credentials with him.

Annie Leibowitz original photos and finished spread designed by Bill Johnson for Rolling Stone

Bill's distinguished career as a Grammy Award-winning art director for CBS Records/Nashville began first in the early heady days of Rolling Stone magazine where he began as art director when their offices were still in California. He worked with all of the big guys in music, pop culture, photography, and politics featured in the magazine in the 1970's; redesigned the original magazine logo to the one still in use today; and went along with the move of the offices from California to NYC. He enlisted artists and photographers such as Annie Leibowitz and Andy Warhol to work with the trend-setting magazine.

In the 1980's in NYC, Bill became art director for CBS Records, eventually coming to CBS Nashville, where many of his album covers won Grammy Awards.

Chakra Series: Green/Blue

Some five years ago, Bill joined The Arts Company roster of artists with his own original artwork, rendering subjects of interest to him in the characteristic clean, exacting, and bold style of his career as an art director. The gallery gravitates to presenting his work in January through spring time because his bold palette breaks through winter doldrums. His technique is accomplished and meticulous-- suggestive of the work of Alex Katz.

Original Andy Warhol contact sheet and spread it was used for in Rolling Stone

As we celebrate the art of design at The Arts Company, we asked Bill to bring samples of his work for Rolling Stone, including vintage tear sheets with accompanying original photographs by Annie Leibowitz and Andy Warhol. The viewer will see the pre-computer processes required for magazine layouts side by side with Bill's recent paintings. It's a trip worth taking. Plus, it's lots of fun just to talk with him about some of the folks he has worked with over the years. He might even bring along some of his award-winning Nashville album covers.

A Celebration of The Art of Design: Joel Anderson and The Spirit of Nashville

Joel Anderson's design art not only speaks for itself, it speaks for Nashville. His popular series of iconic posters, The Spirit of Nashville, is an artistic success story. Over the last decade, Joel has developed a series of iconic posters that symbolize the institutions, venues, and concepts that make Nashville Nashville.


All of this he has done through the art of design, creating affordable high quality poster art that is attractive to both residents and visitors alike.


For the celebration of the art of design at The Arts Company, Joel has brought in three original composites of his poster icons that demonstrate the effectiveness of the icons he has created for Nashville. As both artist and art director, Joel has selected different artists to help create the icons that speak for Nashville. Currently, he is working with some students at Watkins School of the Arts, encouraging them to find fresh ways to speak for Nashville's sense of itself.



Joel will be available to talk with in person during First Art Saturday at The Arts Company, May 1, 6-9 pm.