History can be an artist’s muse. The artist’s largest series to date, Charlotta Janssen’s portraits of 1956 Bus Boycotters and 1961 Freedom Riders are based on mug shots of these jailed heroes and other historic photos of the period.
Envisioning a Great Library June 2 - December 31, 2011
Main Library Art Gallery, first floor
This exhibit highlighted the influences of other historic buildings on the architectural style and details of the Main Library.
Visions & Voices presented photographs from the Nashville Sit-in Movement.
Art Makes Place October 17, 2009 - March 26, 2010
Main Library Art Gallery, first floor
Encouraging Partnership between artists and the public, ART MAKES PLACE was a year-long project whereby seven artists made seven temporary, community and performance-based artworks for public spaces in Nashville.
This exhibit chronicled the creation of The Plan of Nashville, a community-based, fifty-year vision of how the urban core of Nashville should look and work in the future.
Telling the Story: Letterpress Printing and Community
July 1 - September 27, 2009
Main Library Courtyard Gallery
This exhibit highlighted the Franklin printing press at Middle Tennessee State University and Goldsmith Press at Austin Peay State University.
John Adams Unbound
May 16 - June 25, 2009
Courtyard Gallery, second floor
Artist DeLoss McGraw has been inspired by many authors to create artwork exploring themes from their writing. For this series, celebrating the centennial of the birth of James Agee, he focused on Agee's evocative essay "Knoxville: The Summer of 1915" and two additional poems.
Alan LeQuire’s bronze doors welcome our patrons to the Main Library on Church Street. This exhibit is a series of oversized portrait heads. The five people currently represented in the sculptures so far are Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Leadbelly, Paul Robeson, and Woody Guthrie. A new portrait will be unveiled at a reception on February 19.
Open to the Night: Drawings by Sue Mulcahy
September 27, 2008 – January 4, 2009
Main Library Art Gallery, first floor
Sue Mulcahy has taught art and exhibited her abstract drawings for more than 35 years, most recently as part of the Shades of Gray exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. This solo show of Mulcahy’s drawings explores a rich visual world rendered in black and white.
Carol Barton is a book artist, teacher, and curator whose work is exhibited internationally and is in numerous collections, including the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, the Getty Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Beyond the Page is an exhibit showcasing Carol Barton’s beautiful books alongside books by local artists who have studied with her.
Works with Words
March 15 – June 22, 2008
Main Library Art Gallery, first floor
A juried show of Tennessee artists incorporating text and image. Artworks chosen for the exhibition represent a broad range of ways that text can be used in works of art.
Wilson Limited Editions Collection Purchase Award Winner: "Green X," by Claudia Lee.
