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The Arts Company
presents
The 11th Annual Holiday Arts Market
Opening during
FirstArtSaturday / December 1, 2007
featuring
April Street’s
“Elastro Pops,” a new painting series
Jim Hubbman’s
“Staged Narrative Paintings”
David Sokosh’s
“Vintage Christmas Ornaments,”
A series of contemporary tintypes
Plus lots of fresh, original artwork, selected art books and art gifts
throughout The Arts Company galleries
Opening December 1, 2007
during FirstArtSaturday reception 6-9 PM
Gallery open 10 AM – 9 PM
Exhibits continue through December 22
Once again, The Arts Company has fully stocked two floors of galleries chock full of art for the holidays—headlined by April Street’s new series of paintings, a new series of paintings by Jim Hubbman—introducing to Nashville a series of vintage Christmas ornaments as the subjects of contemporary tintypes produced by David Sokosh, a NYC DUMBO-based artist—and adding selected art books to the artistic repertoire of the gallery. All of these special features are part of this large-scale holiday arts market that opens during downtown’s FirstArtSaturday, December 1, 6-9 pm, and continuing during regular gallery hours, 10-5pm through December 22.
About The 11th Annual Holiday Arts Market
The Holiday Arts Market is a big deal every year at The Arts Company. This is the 11th annual market that is chock full of artwork that typifies what this gallery is all about—fresh, original, and contemporary artwork brought to the marketplace in full force for this exciting time of year.
This year’s line-up includes: special new exhibits by April Street and Jim Hubbman; introductions to new artists such as David Sokosh, whose artistic specialty is making vintage photographic techniques come to life in contemporary ways; additions to the company’s artistic repertoire through selected art books; and continuing to showcase classic black and white photography and a variety of other artwork through the holidays.
About the Featured Artists
Artist / April Street
“Elastro Pops” is the new series of canvases April Street has produced for her annual exhibit of new work at The Arts Company. They combine both of her worlds of figurative/representational and abstract by focusing on the sheer energy of the shapes and forms of movement, focusing on an underlying patterns of dance movements. Her technical mastery of her subject and materials is part of the great pleasure her work communicates to the viewer. As always, her canvases are typically large scale, which the visual movement she creates requires.
April Street is from the coal mining region of the Appalachian Mountains. She currently lives and makes her work in Los Angeles, CA and Bristol, TN. She has exhibited her painting and sculpture in Chicago, Austin, Santa Monica, Los Angeles' Chinatown, as well as, in Nashville, TN where she exhibits with The Arts Company and annually shows during “Artrageous” – a benefit for AIDS education and services.
Artist / Jim Hubbman
“Staged Narratives,” a new series of watercolor and graphite on paper, presents an expansion of Jim Hubbman’s ongoing interest in stretching the limits of his interest in producing very detailed and intricate watercolor paintings. In his new work, he adds bold strokes of graphite to enhance his watercolor technique. He stages his visual ideas as suggested narratives, but the viewer still has to figure out what the story lines are.
St. Louis-based watercolorist Jim Hubbman completed a fine arts degree at Maryville University in Saint Louis. He has spent several years as a commercial illustrator and graphic artist along with raising a family. Over the years, he has gathered stories and observations which he has incorporated into his paintings. Currently, he is working on a master’s degree in fine art at St. Meinrad’s in Indiana.
Artist / David Sokosh
 “Vintage Christmas Ornaments,” a series of contemporary tintypes of vintage ornaments, is one of the projects of vintage photography techniques being revived by Brooklyn-based artist David Sokosh.
In the era of digital photography and mural-sized color enlargements, Sokosh is part of the renaissance in hand-crafted photography, on an intimate scale. In our world of digital, mass-produced photography, Sokosh is drawn to the hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind nature of early photographs. Sokosh says: “I’m a 21st Century person, living in a self-created 19th Century world full of period objects of all kinds. This authentic process lets me explore the mindset of the early photographer/scientist/collector. I’m drawn to the quality of photograph-as-object,,,and excited by the hands-on aspect of the process.”
Sokosh uses original lenses from the period, on cameras of his own design and fabrication. The chemical mixtures are identical to those used in the 19th century. HIs images on metal could be referred to as tintypes, but in a departure from 19th century techniques, Sokosh uses aluminum rather than tin plates. Some are calling these images Aluminotypes
In addition to his own work, Sokosh owns an art gallery in DUMBO Brooklyn, NYC.
About The Arts Company:
Happy 11th Gallery Birthday on December 1
FirstArtSaturday has been one of The Arts Company’s signature events throughout 2007, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits curated from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen by a group of nearby galleries to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. On FirstArtSaturday, The Arts Company opens at 10am as usual, but remains open until 9pm, with the opening reception scheduled from 6-9pm.
The Arts Company is completing its eleventh year as a prime destination in downtown Nashville for fresh, original, contemporary and vintage artwork in photography, painting, and sculpture, by artists from emerging to legendary. The Arts Company continues to house a photography showcase as one of 14 galleries in the country selected to represent legendary photography from the LIFE Magazine Collection. The Company’s various gallery spaces—over 6000 square feet on two floors in a historic building—include an extensive backstage inventory space housing a vast array of artwork available for businesses and individuals to fit their needs. The gallery website, www.theartscompany.com, is available 24/7 for reviewing and previewing artist portfolios and gallery and satellite exhibitions sponsored throughout the year by the gallery. Regular gallery hours are: 10-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday.
The Arts Company will launch its twelfth year in January 2008 with a new series of exhibits, events and special guests to be announced.
The Arts Company
presents
FirstArtSaturday / November 2007
presenting
Classic Black & White Photography
Amalie R. Rothschild, “Woodstock & Rock ‘N Roll”
Bill Steber, “Mississippi Blues Culture”
Bob Kolbrener, “Yosemite Landscapes”
Opening November 3, 2007
FirstArtSaturday reception 6-9 PM
Gallery open 10 AM – 9 PM
Exhibits continue through December 22
At The Arts Company, three November exhibitions will feature three master black and white photographers--Amalie R. Rothschild, Bob Kolbrener, and Bill Steber. A dramatic variety of traditional black and white photographs covers the Rock 'n Roll golden era, Yosemite landscapes directly inspired by Ansel Adams, and the Mississippi Blues Culture, respectively. The opening reception for these exceptional exhibits is scheduled for November 3, 6-9 pm, during FirstArtSaturday. The exhibitions will continue through December 22, open during regular gallery hours, 10-5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday at 215 Fifth Avenue of the Arts, North.
About the Exhibits
Each of these three master photographers shares a passion for black and white photography, including making their own limited-edition prints, based on their own high standards. They have each produced a large and distinctive body of work that showcases their individual aesthetic styles, as well as a wide range of subject matter and technical expertise. The photographs included from each photographer in these exhibits are based on a highly selective group of images from each that speak to the outstanding accomplishments of each photographer. For Rothschild, seventeen images were selected to reveal intimate moments on stage and backstage of historic rock and roll concerts in the late 60s and early 70s. For Kolbrener, seven images from his landcapes, Yosemite, and nude series are included. For Bill Steber, Steber himself has been asked to select 15 images from his Mississippi Blues series that best speak to him of the beauty and artistic excitement of black and white photography.
The Arts Company is introducing Rothschild and Kolbrener to Nashville for the first time. The gallery continues to encourage Steber to select, make special print series, and present new work from his Mississippi Blues series.
About the Artists
Artist / Amalie R. Rothschild Amalie R. Rothschild's star-studded photographic exhibition at The Arts Company is an extravaganza of musical icons from the golden era of Rock 'n Roll 1968 - 1974. Starting in 1968, Ms. Rothschild photographed such seminal cultural events such as Woodstock, the 1969 Newport Jazz festival, the American premier of The Who's rock opera Tommy, The Isle of Wight Festival, and numerous concerts at Tanglewood, Madison Square Garden; and the night-to-night events at the Fillmore East. Photographers had relatively unfettered access to performers onstage and backstage.
Some of the selections for this exhibit include a large format image of Tina Turner and Janis Joplin performing together in 1969, plus Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, John and Yoko, a Jimi Hendrix rehearsal, and a large crowd shot from Woodstock, among others.
As of 2006, Rothschild began printing limited editions of images from her impressive personal archive. She prints her black and white photographs in her own darkroom using traditional archival methods and chemistry.
Amalie R. Rothschild has a multi-faceted background in graphic design, photography, computer imaging, motion picture and video production. She has a BFA in graphic design from Rhode Island School of Design where she studied photography with Harry Callahan, and an MFA in motion picture production from NYU's Institute of Film and Television where she also studied photography with Paul Caponigro. Her book, “Live at Fillmore East,” documents Rothschild’s intimate and immediate access to musical legends. Most recently, Rothschild was included in this past summer's Whitney Museum exhibit, “Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era.” Rothschild currently lives in New York City and Italy. In addition to The Arts Company, her work is also represented in New York, Denver, Culver City, CA, and Santa Fe.
Artist / Bill Steber
 Bill Steber’s photography is well-known to Nashvillians through his years as a key staff photographer for The Tennessean, beginning in 1989. When Steber set out on his own to begin documenting the Mississippi Blues Culture. In 1997, he received a year-long grant from the Alicia Patterson Foundation. In 1999, he returned to The Tennessean, and remained there as a senior photographer until 2004. By then, his documentary photography and related writing took on a whole new passionate dynamic for him. His project combines portraits of blues musicians playing at home and in clubs with images that describe what remains of the rural African-American culture that gave rise to the blues. Examples include juke joints, cotton farming, sacred music, rural church services, river baptisms, folk religion and superstition, African fife and drum music, penitentiary life, and more.
Steber established close friendships with the people he photographed, friendships that remain today when he as both a photographer and musician continues to return to the Mississippi Delta. This exhibit at The Arts Company is designed to spur him on to publish a book of his very intimate and up close look at a revered part of the southern musical heritage. Steber graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with degrees in both English and Photography. It is a natural for him that his passion for the Mississippi Blues Culture is well-grounded in a historical as well as an artistic and musical perspective. In addition to The Arts Company, Steber’s work has been featured at the Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago.
Artist / Robert Kolbrener
 Robert Kolbrener had a lifelong commitment to traditional, analogue photography that became a professional commitment when he encountered the photography of Ansel Adams in Adams’ gallery in Yosemite National Park in 1968. Within the next ten years, he became a student of Ansel Adams and in 1977 was invited to be an instructor, along with Yousuf Karsh, at Adams’ Yosemite workshop. Since then, Kolbrener’s commitment to the tradition of “straight” photography has never wavered. His focus is on the “inherent qualities of space, scale and quietude of the Great American West,” especially in Yosemite National Park.
In the meantime, Kolbrener and his wife set up a photography business in St. Louis, structured to allow them to work five months and take the next month off to return to Yosemite and the Great American West. He has noted that these nomadic experiences allowed him ample time to develop an ongoing body of work of substance and diversity.
Kolbrener is quick to point out that there is no use of computers or multiple imagery, and no print or negative enhancement such as bleaching or intensification. He wants it understood that all of his photographs “are made in the Great American West using 2 ¼” and 8 x 10” cameras. I print up to 40 x 50 inches the “old fashioned way” using fiber based paper, tray processing and selenium toner. My goal is to produce prints which truly celebrate those most exciting photographic moments!”
Kolbrener has retired to live in California and to continue full time his photographic quest in the Great American West. In addition to The Arts Company, his work is represented in the Ansel Adams Gallery, where he just completed a one-man exhibit, as well as recent exhibits in the Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta and the Mosko Fine Art Gallery in Denver.
About The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday is one of The Arts Company’s signature events, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits curated from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen by a group of galleries to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. On FirstArtSaturday, The Arts Company opens at 10am as usual, but remains open until 9pm, with the opening reception scheduled from 6-9pm.
The Arts Company continues in its eleventh year as a prime destination in downtown Nashville for fresh, original, contemporary and vintage artwork in photography, painting, and sculpture, by artists from emerging to legendary. The Arts Company currently houses a photography showcase as one of 14 galleries in the country selected to represent legendary photography from the LIFE Magazine Collection. The Company’s various gallery spaces—over 6000 square feet on two floors in a historic building—include an extensive backstage inventory space housing a vast array of artwork available for businesses and individuals to fit their needs. The gallery website, www.theartscompany.com, is available 24/7 for reviewing and previewing artist portfolios and gallery and satellite exhibitions sponsored throughout the year by the gallery. Regular gallery hours are: 10-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday.
FirstArtSaturday/November 2007
at
The Arts Company
Exhibition Opening Reception
November 3, 6-9 pm
Gallery open 10am until 9pm
Exhibit continues through December 22
Presenting
Classic Black & White Photography
Amalie R. Rothschild, “Woodstock & Rock ‘n Roll”
Bill Steber, “Mississippi Blues Culture”
Bob Kolbrener, “Yosemite Landscapes”
THE ARTS COMPANY
215 Fifth Avenue, North 615-254-2040
www.theartscompany.com
Regular gallery hours: 10-5 Tuesday-Saturday
(Hours extended until 9pm on FirstArtSaturdays)
The Arts Company
presents
FirstArtSaturday / October 2007
Paintings & Sculpture:
The Frenzels, Meagan Kieffer, Brother Steve
Opening October 6, 2007
Artist reception 6-9 PM
Gallery open 10 AM – 9 PM
Exhibit continues through October 26
The October exhibition at The Arts Company features three kinds of artwork from four artists—Kristen and Mason Frenzel, Meagan Kieffer, and Brother Steve. The opening artist reception is scheduled for October 6, 6-9 pm during FirstArtSaturday, which features extended gallery hours until 9 pm. The exhibitions will continue through October 26, during regular gallery hours, 10-5, Tuesday through Saturday at 215 Fifth Avenue of the Arts.
About the Exhibits and the Artists
This October exhibition is a pairing of four distinctive artists working in sculpture and/or painting, presented as three different exhibits. A lot of additional new artwork to be presented in exhibits later this fall will be previewed as well. The Frenzels (Kristen and Mason) wanted to have some fun, and they have. They caught onto the idea of Nashville Crowns—Nashville Royalty through Nashville Hair—portraits of ten different Nashville legends, but the hair looks familiar in all of them. Theirs is a sophisticated take on part of what we love about our Nashville icons. The surfaces of their jointly-produced mixed-media approach on wood shimmers and pleases the eye. This Murfreesboro-based husband and wife team work on each canvas together, literally at the same time--no mean feat in itself.
Meagan Kieffer loves horses. You cannot keep her away from them. She spends summers in South Dakota working with them on her family’s ranch. The rest of the time she’s hand-building horses, always in clay, and fires them up and brings them from Watertown to Nashville. She loves to read, and she reveres the important role of horses in history. She mixes horses and books in neat ways in her clay sculpture.
Brother Steve produced lots and lots of clay sculpture in the 1980s in the Marinanist Studios, leaving some pieces behind when he transferred from the Marianist order to the Benedictines. We are presenting a small selection of his work which we have dusted off and made ready for presentation for our friends and guests who simply enjoy having access to rare but fantastic work. A few pieces of his Matisse-like cut paper pieces are included, as well as painted ceramic pieces in the style of Picasso. This work is not replenishable, because his many talents are now focused on producing contemporary stained glass.
About The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday is one of The Arts Company’s signature events, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits curated from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen by a group of galleries to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. On FirstArtSaturday, The Arts Company opens at 10am as usual, but remains open until 9pm, with the opening reception scheduled from 6-9pm.
The Arts Company continues in its eleventh year as a prime destination in downtown Nashville for fresh, original, contemporary and vintage artwork in photography, painting, and sculpture, by artists from emerging to legendary. The Arts Company currently houses a photography showcase as one of 14 galleries in the country selected to represent legendary photography from the LIFE Magazine Collection. The Company’s various gallery spaces—over 6000 square feet on two floors in a historic building—include an extensive backstage inventory space housing a vast array of artwork available for businesses and individuals to fit their needs.
FirstArtSaturday/October 2007
at
The Arts Company
Exhibition Opening Reception
October 6, 6-9 pm
Gallery open 10am until 9pm
Presenting
Paintings & Sculpture:
The Frenzels, Meagan Kieffer, Brother Steve
Regular gallery hours: 10-5 Tuesday-Saturday
(Hours extended until 9pm on FirstArtSaturdays)
The Arts Company
presents
FirstArtSaturday / September 2007
“Posthumous Fame”
Paintings by Wes Sherman
Opening September 1, 2007
Opening reception 5-7 PM
Gallery open 10 AM – 9 PM
Exhibit continues through September 28
The fall season at The Arts Company begins with a new series of paintings, “Posthumous Fame,” by Wes Sherman, a Tennessee native who currently resides and works in the NYC area, featuring abstract paintings based on master paintings, including selections from The Stieglitz Collection, as well as Caravaggio, Delacroix, Boudin and others. The opening reception for the artist is scheduled for September 1, 5-7 PM during FirstArtSaturday, which features extended gallery hours until 9 p.m. The exhibition will continue through September 28, during regular gallery hours, 10-5, Tuesday through Saturday. Wes Sherman is one of those emerging artists whose work continues to attract wider attention from galleries and museum collections around the country. This year’s exhibit at The Arts Company holds special interest for Nashvillians, since three of his abstract paintings are based directly on paintings included in the Steiglitz Collection from paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe (“The Radiator Building”), Charles Dumuth (“Calla Lilies (Burt Savoy)” 1927), and Cezanne (“Bathers at Sainte Victoire”). In addition, one painting is based on a photograph of the Nashville skyline, and one is based on one of Sherman’s own painting of his wife, called “Southern Woman.” (Painting on left: “The Radiator Building” by Georgia O’Keeffe; painting on right: “O’Keeffee 1927-2001 I” by Wes Sherman) Posthumous Fame / Wes Sherman
Sherman’s style and materials are organic, appealing, and original. He takes his cues from the elements of space, light and color he finds within the original work, and adds his own antagonistic element to the painting he selects. When placed side by side with an image of the original painting, his work makes obvious reference to the original and yet makes its own case as an original painting.
Sherman sees painting as a timeless language. His paintings engage in an historical conversation with other paintings. Typically, he selects the paintings he abstracts because of their relevance to contemporary common experience, be it spiritual or political. Because experiences are seldom without struggle Sherman adds tension in his paintings. Tension is part of the style and substance of his work. (Painting on top: “Beach Scene, Trouville, 1864” by Eugene-Louis Boudin; painting on bottom: “Boudin 1864-2005” by Wes Sherman) About Wes Sherman
Wes Sherman has been painting since 1992. In 2001 he returned to school to get his graduate degree and to study under Thomas Nozkowski at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. While at Rutgers he received the TA/GA Competitiveness Pool Funds Award, the Andrew W. Mellon Colloquium from the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum and was an alternate for the Space Program of the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation.
Sherman has been showing his work and receiving special awards and acquisitions since graduating from Rutgers. His most recent successes have been two simultaneous solo shows in Chicago, Illinois (2005), a nomination for a Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award (2005), his first solo show in New York City at Baumgartner Gallery (2006) and an acquisition of work by the Hunterdon Contemporary Art Museum in Clinton, NJ (2007).
While in Nashville for The Arts Company exhibit, Sherman will be a visiting artist at the Watkins School of the Arts on Tuesday, September 4. He has recently been a visiting artist at Calumet College (Chicago, IL), Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA), and Freed-Hardeman University (Henderson, TN).
About The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday is one of The Arts Company’s signature events, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits curated from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. Several other downtown galleries are open until 9pm as well for the monthly gallery crawl. On the first Saturday, The Arts Company opens at 10am as usual, but remains open until 9pm, with the FirstArtSaturday reception scheduled from 5-7pm.
The Arts Company celebrates its tenth year throughout 2007, continuing as a prime destination in downtown Nashville for fresh, original, contemporary and vintage artwork in photography, painting, and sculpture, by artists from emerging to legendary. The Arts Company currently houses a photography showcase as one of 14 galleries in the country selected to represent legendary photography from the LIFE Magazine Collection. The Company’s various gallery spaces on two floors in a historic building are complemented by an extensive backstage inventory space housing a vast array of artwork available for businesses and individuals to fit their needs. Regular gallery hours are: 10-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday.
The Arts Company
presents
FirstArtSaturday / August 2007
“White Pony Cadillac: Old Love and New Blues”
Paintings by Jonathon Kimbrell
Plus music-related paintings, photography and sculpture and additional new work from other gallery artists
And
The 10th Annual Avant-Garage Sale*
The popular gallery sale of art, posters, furniture, and miscellaneous props from the gallery, presented in the gallery garage
Opening August 4, 2007
Opening reception 5-7 PM
Gallery open 10 AM – 9 PM
Kimbrell Exhibit continues through August 24
* Garage Sale One Week Only—through August 11
“White Pony Cadillac: Old Love and New Blues,” a new series of paintings by Jonathon Kimbrell, and the “10th Annual Avant-Garage Sale” will highlight the August FirstArtSaturday exhibition series at The Arts Company, with the opening reception scheduled August 4, 6-9pm. The Kimbrell exhibit focus on music will include new paintings by this Texas-based artist, as well as other paintings and photography from selected gallery artists. One of the gallery’s special annual events--the “10th Annual Avant-Garage Sale”—will be presented in the gallery’s parking garage and will continue for one week only—through August 11. The Kimbrell exhibition will continue through August 24 during regular gallery hours, 10-5, Tuesday through Saturday. The Avant-Garage Sale will continue for one week only—through August 11. The gallery is closed on Mondays. Call 254-2040 or preview the exhibits on the website at www.theartscompany.com for additional information.
About the Exhibits / Summertime at The Arts Company
Summertime at The Arts Company always includes a focus on music-related artwork to showcase Music City to summertime Nashville visitors and guests who check out what’s happening in downtown Nashville. Jonathon Kimbrell is a young artist who, like many others, is enamored with legendary musicians of our time. His newest original paintings will be complemented by selected musical pieces by various other gallery artists. Summertime at the gallery is also identified with the gallery’s popular annual avant-garage sale, held in the gallery garage, and featuring props and selected artwork from gallery archives. Music, props and artwork from gallery archives, accompanied by ice cold lemonade offer a great way to celebrate summertime at The Arts Company.
White Pony Cadillac: Old Love and New Blues / Jonathon Kimbrell
The new series of paintings by Jonathon Kimbrell will feature rock stars, blues gods, corporate identities—the subject matter of most of his work. But according to Kimbrell this new series of paintings will also feature “ghosts of my past, blood, sweat, tears and pain.”
The 10th Annual Avant-Garage Sale / Gallery Archives & Props
Always a feast for the eyes and pocketbook, the 2007 Annual Avant-Garage Sale will feature artwork and props from the gallery’s backstage storage area, as well as vintage artwork and other items selected for this event. This year’s sale and show will include a variety of vintage art posters, books, and miscellaneous artwork selected for this event; furniture and memorabilia; vintage photographs, folk art, and lots more. This popular gallery event continues for one week only--August 4-11--during regular gallery hours, 10-5pm Tues.-Sat., and will open as part of FirstArtSaturday on August 4.
About Jonathon Kimbrell
At a young age, Texas-based Jonathon Kimbrell took a great deal of interest in modern art and music, allowing both aspects to greatly influence his own art. While developing his style in college, Kimbrell took a nod from 1960s Pop Art. He preferred the works of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Eduard Ruscha. Kimbrell graduated in 2004 from McMurry University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in painting and graphic design.
Kimbrell quickly began gathering attention for his portraits of musicians, film stars and personal friends and family. He is owner of Napkin Art Studios, a company that produces graphic design, photography, paintings and stained glass windows. His motto is: “Swell art for a swell price!”
About The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday is one of The Arts Company’s signature events, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits curated from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. Several other downtown galleries are open until 9pm as well for the monthly gallery crawl. On the first Saturday, The Arts Company opens at 10am as usual, but remains open until 9pm, with the FirstArtSaturday reception scheduled from 5-7pm.
The Arts Company celebrates its tenth year throughout 2007, continuing as a prime destination in downtown Nashville for fresh, original, contemporary and vintage artwork in photography, painting, and sculpture, by artists from emerging to legendary. The Arts Company currently houses a photography showcase as one of 14 galleries in the country selected to represent legendary photography from the LIFE Magazine Collection. The Company’s various gallery spaces on two floors in a historic building are complemented by an extensive backstage inventory space housing a vast array of artwork available for businesses and individuals to fit their needs. Regular gallery hours are: 10am-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday.
FirstArtSaturday/August 2007
at
The Arts Company
Exhibition Opening Reception
August 4, 5-7 pm
Gallery open 10am until 9pm
presenting
“White Pony Cadillac: Old Love and New Blues”
Paintings by Jonathon Kimbrell
Plus music-related paintings, photography and sculpture and additional new work from other gallery artists
And the
10th Annual Avant-Garage Sale
The popular gallery sale of art, posters, furniture, and miscellaneous props from the gallery, presented in the gallery garage
Regular gallery hours: 10-5 Tuesday-Saturday
(Hours extended until 9pm on FirstArtSaturdays)
The Arts Company
presents
FirstArtSaturday / July 2007
July Summer Art Market Opens
featuring “Deja vu Expo,”
Art, decor, and design from private collections and gallery archives
Opening July 7, 2007
Opening reception 6-9pm
Gallery open 10 AM – 9 PM
Exhibit continues through July 27
And continuing through July 27:
Brother Mel’s 8th Annual Artistic Pilgrimage:
“From Chartres to Nashville: 1957-2007”
The July Summer Art Market is scheduled to open July 7 during the monthly FirstArtSaturday exhibition series at The Arts Company. Extended gallery hours-- 10am-9pm—include an opening reception from 6-9pm in the gallery located at 215 Fifth Avenue of the Arts, continuing through July 27. The exhibit focus is on “Déjà vu Expo,” an annual gallery showcase of art, decor, and design from private collections and gallery archives. Work from a wide variety of artists will be included in the exhibition, from Andy Warhol to John Baeder to selected outsider art and miscellaneous Nashville artists from collections from the 1980s and 90s. In addition, the “Eighth Annual Brother Mel Artistic Pilgrimage” will continue through July 27 during regular gallery hours, 10-5pm, Tuesday through Saturday. The gallery is closed on Mondays.  About the Summer Art Market for July
Déjà vu Expo:
Art, Decor and Design
The Arts Company Summer Art Market opens with an annual gallery event, “Déjà vu Expo: Art, Decor and Design.” Selected artwork from private collections and the gallery’s own archives will be exhibited in presentations mixing artwork, antiques, furniture and more Upstairs at The Arts Company.
The Déjà vu Expo will include: “Happy 80th to Marilyn,” a special group of vintage and recently released Eisenstaedt photographs of Marilyn Monroe, who would have been celebrating her 80th birthday this year. Other selections include: an Andy Warhol self-portrait; an original John Baeder watercolor of Brown’s Diner; a Kostabi painting; selected outsider art, including a rug made from cigarette packages, a Gee’s Bend rug, a cow carved by legendary Kentucky folk artist Linvel Barker, remaining pieces from Joe Light’s estate; miscellaneous artwork by Nashville artists from the 80s and 90s; and various furniture pieces from different eras such as deco, mission style, and handmade wooden chairs, work tables, vintage tin shelving and decorative historic shelving, plus lots more.
 The Brother Mel Exhibit Continues Through July 27
From Chartres to Nashville: 1957-2007 / Brother Mel
This exhibition of the most comprehensive exhibit to date of Brother Mel’s artwork presented at The Arts Company will continue for an extra month. Brother Mel is an exceptional artist who just celebrated 50 years as a working artist, alongside 60 years as a Marianist monk. This year’s exhibition focuses on his recent work over the last year, but also includes selected pieces to indicate the comprehensive breadth of the kinds of artwork this prolific artist has produced over his lifetime, including small and large sculptures, abstract and other paintings, religious icons, and miscellaneous surprising combinations of materials and subjects for which this artist is known. Selected pieces from private collections will be included to indicate some of the chronology of his artwork.
About The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday is The Arts Company’s newest signature event, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits curated from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. Several other downtown galleries are open until 9pm as well. On the first Saturday, The Arts Company opens at 10am as usual, but remains open until 9pm, with an exhibition reception scheduled from 6-8pm.
The Arts Company celebrates its tenth year throughout 2007, continuing as a prime destination in downtown Nashville for fresh, original, contemporary and vintage artwork in photography, painting, and sculpture, by artists from emerging to legendary. The Arts Company currently houses a photography showcase as one of 14 galleries in the country to represent legendary photography from the LIFE Magazine Collection, and various gallery spaces on two floors in a historic building, all complemented by an extensive backstage inventory space housing a vast array of artwork available for businesses, designers and individuals to fit their needs.
The Arts Company
presents
FirstArtSaturday / June 2007
featuring
Brother Mel’s 8th Annual
Artistic Pilgrimmage:
“From Chartres to Nashville: 1957-2007”
Opening June 2
Gallery open 10am-9pm
Artist Reception 5-7pm
Birthday cake with Brother Mel 6pm
Exhibit continues through July 27
The June FirstArtSaturday at The Arts Company, scheduled for June 2, features one of the gallery’s most popular exhibits of the year: Brother Mel’s 8th Annual Artistic Pilgrimmage—“From Chartres to Nashville: 1957-2007.” The exhibit will feature a fifty year look at the life and artwork of Brother Mel Meyer, a Marianist monk from the St. Louis area. Bother Mel makes an annual artistic pilgrimage to The Arts Company every year, but this year the exhibit promises to be even more special. This year marks Brother Mel’s 79th birthday—his 60th year as a Marianist monk, and his 50th year as a working artist
The FirstArtSaturday Series at The Arts Company is a monthly exposition of artwork downtown on Fifth Avenue of the Arts, featuring extended gallery hours on the first Saturday of every month—10am-9pm—with an artist reception from 5-7pm, including birthday cake with Brother Mel at 6pm. The June exhibition will be extended through July 27 during regular gallery hours, 10-5pm, Monday-Saturday, at the gallery located at 215 Fifth Avenue, North. Call 254-2040 for additional information.
About the Exhibition
From Chartres to Nashville: 1957-2007 / Brother Mel
This exhibition will be the most comprehensive exhibit to date of Brother Mel’s artwork presented at The Arts Company. The gallery will host a 79th birthday party for this exceptional artist who will be celebrating 50 years as a working artist, alongside 60 years as a Marianist monk. This year’s exhibition will focus on his recent work over the last year, but will also include selected pieces to indicate the comprehensive breadth of the kinds of artwork this prolific artist has produced over his lifetime, including small and large sculptures, abstract and other paintings, religious icons, and miscellaneous surprising combinations of materials and subjects for which this artist is known. Selected pieces from private collections will be included to indicate some of the chronology of his artwork.
 About the Artist
Brother Mel
Brother Mel, a Marianist monk, has worked as a resident artist in the Marianist order for fifty years. After joining the “Marianists” (Brothers of Mary) in 1947, he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Dayton. As a talented young artist, he was selected to work with “Yoki” Aebischer in Fribourg, Switzerland and Jacques le Chaveillier in Paris, France during 1958. In 1960 he earned his Master of Arts at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, studying under the internationally renowned artists Ivan Mestrovic and Jean Charlot. Today, Brother Mel’s works not only reflect numerous travels, but also an ever-expanding ability to create art in a variety of media, such as metal, stone, watercolor, fresco, acrylics and handmade paper.
Brother Mel has traveled throughout the world sketching and painting. He has been commissioned to design and outfit churches and chapels; Adam’s Mark Hotels in San Antonio, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Charlotte; and his large indoor and outdoor sculptures and stained glass windows are featured throughout St. Louis in such places as The Barnes Hospital Interdenominational Chapel and the Monsanto International headquarters. The 1999 exhibit at The Arts Company was the first Nashville-area showing of Brother Mel’s work. The gallery has presented his new work each year since then.
About The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday is The Arts Company’s newest signature event, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits curated from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. Several other downtown galleries are open until 9pm as well. On the first Saturday, The Arts Company opens at 10am as usual, but remains open until 9pm, with an exhibition reception scheduled from 5-7pm to meet the artists.
The Arts Company
presents
FirstArtSaturday / May 2007
featuring “A Mirror in the Landscape:
A Young Man’s
Journey as an Artist”
A new series of photographs by
John Nikolai
&
“Limited-Edition
Museum Art Posters”
Hand-pulled letterpress block prints
designed by Kevin Bradley,
Bryan Baker, & Adam Ewing
For The Phillips Collection &
The National GalleryOpening May 5
Gallery open 10am-9pm
Artist Reception 5-7pm
Conversation with John Nikolai 6pm
Exhibit continues through May 25
The May FirstArtSaturday at The Arts Company is scheduled to open May 5. The exhibit will feature two new presentations: one, a new series of photographs by Nashville-based John Nikolai chronicling his life as mirrored in the landscapes of his travels in Ireland. The other presentation is a small selection of limited-edition museum posters commissioned by two museums—the National Gallery of Art and the Phillips Collection—from Knoxville-based designers Kevin Bradley, Bryan Baker, and Adam Ewing. Additional museum and art posters from The Arts Company archives will be featured as well.
The FirstArtSaturday Series at The Arts Company is a monthly exposition of artwork downtown on Fifth Avenue of the Arts, featuring extended gallery hours on the first Saturday of every month — 10am-9pm — with an artist reception from 5-7pm, including a conversation with John Nikolai at 6pm. The May exhibition will continue through May 25 during regular gallery hours, 10-5pm, Monday-Saturday, at the gallery located at 215 Fifth Avenue, North.
About the Exhibitions
A Mirror in the Landscape:
The Journey of a Young Man Becoming an Artist / John Nikolai
This new series of photographs by John Nikolai chronicles the journey of a young man becoming an artist, based on images he captured during his trips to Ireland. Nikolai’s exhibition tells not only a visual story, but documents in his writing that accompanies the images his evolution as a young artist, focused on the medium of his choice--photography. Aided and encouraged by his Nashville photographic mentor Jim McGuire, John is now working full time as a photographer. This is his first solo exhibit.
Limited-Edition Museum Art Posters /
Kevin Bradley, Bryan Baker, and Adam Ewing
The hand-pulled letterpress posters by Kevin Bradley, Bryan Baker and Adam Ewing are part of a Tennessee story played out in Washington, D.C. Kevin Bradley, founder of Yee-Haw Industries in Knoxville, learned the technique of hand-pulled letterpress printing at the University of Tennessee, and after a brief period at Hatch Show Print in Nashville, settled finally on Knoxville as the place to develop his own artwork and printing style for a variety of clients. He and his colleagues at Yee-Haw Industries were commissioned in 2005 and 2006 to design posters for two major art exhibits- The Societe Anonyme at the Phillips Gallery and Dada at the National Gallery of Art--both major art museums in Washington, D. C. This exhibit is about those commissions. Additional art posters from The Arts Company archives will be included in this exhibit of special art posters.
About the Artists
John Nikolai
John Nikolai began his life journey in NYC, completed his degree in English literature at Princeton, and took on two professional journeys—one as an intern stock broker in Manhattan, followed by a lengthy stint as a manager for a corrections company that brought him to Nashville. Once here, he discovered photography and apprenticed himself to Jim McGuire, whom he credits for offering aesthetic and technical guidance in his new field of choice. He has been drawn to Ireland for personal reasons on more than one occasion and has used the images he discovered there to document his evolution as a young artist.
Kevin Bradley, Bryan Baker, and Adam Ewing /
Yee-Haw Industries
Kevin Bradley, Bryan Baker, Adam Ewing, along with their associate Julie Belcher, have worked as a team developing new techniques and designs based on using hand-pulled letterpress materials for posters. Yee-Haw Industries was established in 1997 in Corbin, Kentucky by Bradley and Belcher, whose associates have joined in their exploration of contemporary applications of hand-produced techniques and images made from antique wood and metal type and hand-carved woodblocks. It is not a technique readily associated with contemporary art and museum exhibits, but this exhibit shows that in their hands they succeeded in doing that—using design, fine paper, and hand-pulled printing in a contemporary style of their own.
About The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday is The Arts Company’s newest signature event, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits curated from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. Several other downtown galleries are open until 9pm as well. On the first Saturday, The Arts Company opens at 10am as usual, but remains open until 9pm, with an exhibition reception scheduled from 5-7pm to meet the artists.
The Arts Company
presents
FirstArtSaturday / April 2007
Featuring two exhibits
“Whispers from the Ridge”
A series of paintings dedicated to the Carter family by Teresa Robinette
&
“Pairs: Two Artists with Stories to Tell”
A new series of paintings by Kristen Frenzel & Mason Frenzel
Opening April 7
Gallery open 10am-9pm
Artist Reception 5-7pm
Exhibit continues through April 27
The April FirstArtSaturday at The Arts Company is scheduled to open April 7, headlined by three artists—Teresa Robinette, Kristen Frenzel, and Mason Frenzel. All three artists are figurative painters and all three paint of the history of place and people past and present with whom they are intimately acquainted. They each embellish the background and circumstance of the relationships between people, place, and the ongoing narrative of history that they have each experienced.
About the Exhibitions
The three painters in these two exhibits use figurative narratives set in backgrounds that reflect a shared interest in personal histories from specific southern places.
Whispers from the Ridge / Teresa Robinette
This new series of paintings by Teresa Robinette is filled with figures and landscapes drawn from the personal history of the artist’s home in Appalachia. She paints of the land and the people. Each painting stems from and is named for phrases taken from the legendary first family of country mountain music—the Carter Family; songs such as “Can the Circle be Unbroken.” Backgrounds of flat-patterned landscapes with traditional folk imagery and symbols provide depth and balance for the large, realistically-portrayed figures that have become the focal point in her paintings. She considers her work a documentary in progress, recording for posterity the vanishing culture of her ancestors in Appalachia. “For me I paint memories,” says Ms. Robinette. “I paint stories. I paint the ghosts that walk through my life and house. It is those distant images and voices of the mountains that bid me to paint them.”
Pairs: Two Artists with Stories to Tell Together / Kristen Frenzel & Mason Frenzel
Kristen and Mason Frenzel work together at the same time on each canvas to tell stories of relatives and relationships with which they are both familiar. This husband and wife duo comes from two different styles—Kristen’s with more embellishment and Mason’s with more focused symbols to reveal the characters in a sparse environment. Their simultaneous approach is somewhat new to both of them. Says Kristen: “Not only did we bring ideas together for concept and composition, but we also both physically painted on each piece, often at the same time.”
They simply discovered they could paint together and tell better stories, knowing that this approach might test styles, skills, and their marriage. In this case, all three challenges have clicked together more tightly. They tell visual stories with a sense of nostalgia combined with sharp insights into the current life of the figures they have created and the background they place them in. The canvases are rich with painterly strokes, acrylic, paper and other mixed media. For the viewer, each canvas looks like the work of one painter.
About the Artists
Teresa Robinette
Teresa Robinette was born in Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains just across the line from East Tennessee. After completing her BFA and MFA degrees in art at Virginia Commonwealth University, she left home to make her way as an artist in Los Angeles and Santa Fe. Her art can be found in major collections both here and abroad such as the U.N. Plaza Hotel, PBS, the Millenium Corp. (London), American Express, and Disney Headquarters, among others. Returning to the region after a 30-year absence, Robinette says she began to hear “the whispers from the Ridge,” and decided to make the area her home again and pursue a different style of painting—using a folk realism style to dramatize the aura of the places and the people she depicts.
Kristen and Mason Frenzel
Kristen Frenzel earned a BFA in Painting from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN. Since graduating, she has been a part of many invitational and juried exhibitions in the Nashville area. Mason Frenzel also earned his B. S. degree from MTSU in film and media production. He is also a singer-songwriter who heads up his own band, Sleeptalker. He has provided artwork for various CD covers. This is the first art show in which they have presented together. Some of the separate artwork from each artist will be included in their exhibit.
The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday
presents
“The Art of Film”
Featuring the Unveiling of the
2007 Nashville Film Festival
Commemorative Poster
by Animator & Gallery Artist
Jonathan Richter
Opening April 7, 2007
Gallery open 10am-9pm
Reception 5-7pm
Unveiling at 6 pm
Exhibit continues through April 30, 2007 The Arts Company FirstArtSaturday on April 7, from 5pm to 7pm, will feature The Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) and debut the new exhibit, The Art of Film. Highlighting the exhibit opening, the gallery will unveil the 2007 Nashville Film Festival commemorative limited-edition poster by painter, animator and gallery artist Jonathan Richter at 6pm. All proceeds from the sale of the poster will be donated to the Nashville Film Festival. Along with paintings by Richter, the exhibit will also include works from the gallery archives that focus on film history. Short films will be presented by NaFF in the gallery’s Avant-Garage from 6-8pm. The exhibit will continue through April 30.
This occasion will serve as a preview of the Nashville Film Festival, which takes place April 19-26, 2007 at the Regal Green Hills Cinema in Nashville. Jonathan Richter’s festival poster will show how animation works as an art form. Combining his skills as a sculptor and storyteller with his painterly skills as a gallery artist, Richter offers unusual insight into how an artist imagines a story line and gives it life on film using all the techniques of an artist. The Festival will open with the world premiere of My Secret Record or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Biz, a documentary focused on singer-songwriter and international recording star Rob Thomas. The world premiere of Americanizing Shelley, a film by director Lorraine Senna (Sopranos; Northern Exposure) that features Beau Bridges will close the Festival on Thursday, April 26.
The Art of Film/Nashville Film Festival
The Arts Company and the Nashville Film Festival are partnering to present film as a visual art form. In this exhibit, the gallery will present signature gallery artwork—paintings, drawings, and photography—related to the art of film, as well as a group of Jonathan Richter’s paintings. “We are proud to host the Nashville Film Festival at The Arts Company to unveil the key image that will identify this year’s film festival,” said gallery owner Anne Brown. “Through the visual arts, we will focus on the festival’s trademark theme of combining the genres of music, art, and film. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Nashville Film Festival for years to come.”
“We are extremely pleased to unveil our first annual commemorative poster art at The Arts Company,” said Brian Gordon, NaFF Artistic Director. “This year’s festival is our most diverse lineup yet, and we continue adding variety by presenting film through both the performing and visual arts.”
Jonathan Richter, painter and animator, premiered his work at The Arts Company in November 2005 as their featured artist for Artrageous. His series, /Pigments, Figments and Tremens/ consisted of 99 small works that were executed exclusively in pubs. Working discretely at a corner table with limited palette, brushes, lighting and scale, Richter completed multiple paintings per evening. To capture the spontaneity of the moment and the images of the people interacting, he experimented with color, form and concept. His paintings, like those of Lautrec, Degas and Glackens, are created in bustling peopled places rather than in sterile studios. Considering himself to be a public space painter, Jonathan was trained in fine art, illustration and animation at Otis Parsons in Los Angeles. Jonathan followed his painterly path to Nashville where he discovered the city’s most populous places—the sidewalks, the watering holes, the juke joints and diners—an abundant inspiration for his spontaneous portraitures. Jonathan’s current exhibit at The Arts Company is a continuation of the distinctive style in which he captures his subjects. Expect even more tiny, yet interesting portraits—each one a true conversation piece.
Nashville Film Festival is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation and receives funding from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, H. Franklin Brooks Philanthropic Fund, William N. Rollins Fund for the Arts of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, The Frist Foundation, The Memorial Foundation, Nashville Metro Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Ragsdale Family Foundation, Target Stores, Tennessee Arts Commission, The Cal Turner Family Foundation, and its generous patrons and sponsors.
FirstArtSaturday is The Arts Company’s newest signature event, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. Several other downtown galleries are open until 9pm as well. The Arts Company will open at 10am as usual, but will be open until 9pm, with an exhibition reception scheduled from 5-7pm
The Art of Film – Nashville Film Festival
April 7, 5:00pm – 7:00pm
6:00pm – Unveiling the Nashville Film Festival Commemorative Poster
6:00pm – 7:00pm – Jonathan Richter Signing Commemorative Poster
The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday
presents
“Guider Goes Platinum: ‘Noble Elements’”
Selected Photography Classics by John Guider
&
“Paint of Many Planes”
Abstract Paintings by Brad Wreyford
Opening March 3, 2007
Gallery open 10am-9pm
Reception 4-7pm
Meet the artists at 5 pm
Exhibit continues through March 30, 2007
The March FirstArtSaturday at The Arts Company is scheduled for March 3, headlined by two Nashville-based artists in two one-man shows--John Guider and Brad Wreyford. John Guider’s photographs selected for the show, “Guider Goes Platinum: Noble Elements,” will feature rare platinum prints printed by Guider. In addition, the gallery will introduce one of their new artists, Brad Wreyford, featuring a series of abstract paintings in his one-man show titled “Paint of Many Planes.”
About the Exhibit
Both of the artists this month are focused on the materials of their artwork—John Guider with platinum photographic printing and Brad Wreyford with a style developed from exposure to industrial materials. In both cases, these artists produce elegant contemporary artwork that comes out of the sheer manipulation of materials, whether chemical or industrial.
Noble Elements /John Guider
John Guider has developed a national audience as well as a Nashville audience for his fine art photography over the last decade. No stranger to The Arts Company, the gallery has presented his successful Italian and Paris series, as well as his rare platinum prints. Guider is known for creating his vision of photography by enhancing images through manipulation and printing techniques, as well as applying his painting abilities to his photographs. He is the consummate contemporary photographer, always experimenting with the aesthetic and the technical options available to him.
In this exhibit, Guider is focused on large black and white platinum prints, deliberately choosing this complex technique to give the images he selects as much depth of color as any black and white photograph can have. It is a rare thing to see platinum prints in any form, but especially so to see large prints such as these.
Paint of Many Planes / Brad Wreyford
 Although new to Nashville and to The Arts Company, Brad Wreyford has already made a name for himself as an emerging artist. His paintings are thought-provoking, but easy on the eye as well. His paintings often express his love of the art as well as his love of raw materials. Initially, he was aiming for a career in engineering and math, but once he took a drawing class “on a whim,” his life changed. Wreyford paints mostly on wood panels, because, according to him, the characteristics of the panels “allow him to build a history, a narrative, that canvas cannot.” His colors are rich and textured, complemented by lines and forms that organize the space in surprising ways.
About the Artists
John Guider
Spending the past thirty years in Nashville, Tennessee, John Guider has been a significant element to the city's creative community. Achieving award-winning success as a celebrated commercial photographer, he is the owner of John Guider Studio, General Manager of Guider-Boughton Digital, and been engaged by most of Music City's advertising agencies and artists. His talented vision communicating concepts and designs has garnered accounts with Jack Daniels, Nortel, and McDonalds, among others. He has earned numerous accolades and awards, including the Silver Medal by the Nashville Advertising Federation, a Certificate of Design Excellence from Print's Regional Design Annual, the Excalibur Award from the American Cancer Society, an Award of Excellence from the Communication Arts Photography Journal, and multiple American Advertising Federation Awards (Addy's).
Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Guider studied photography under Ernst Haas and Jay Maisel, and graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in mechanical engineering. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Nashville chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers and the Nashville Advertising Federation. He resides in Tennessee at his 1850s farmhouse in Franklin and at his 1850s federal house in the East section of Nashville.
Brad Wreyford
Brad Wreyford, originally from Shreveport, LA, earned his BFA in Sculpture from Louisiana Tech University. Although seemingly destined for a career in the science and technology industry, Wreyford was an engineering/math major when, on a whim, he took a drawing class and knew immediately that his life was going to change. Wreyford’s inspiration comes from the uniqueness of whatever environment he’s in. The changes in light and landscape, the pride and personality of different cultures, and his reaction to new surroundings are all elements that affect his work. His works are other-worldly. Wreyford doesn’t think of them as abstract or non-objective, but realism from another dimension or a planet yet discovered.
About The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday is The Arts Company’s newest signature event, designed to present a monthly exposition of new artwork, frequently adding special exhibits curated from the rotating inventories of the gallery. The first Saturday of every month was chosen to extend longer gallery hours each month to downtown residents and other gallery guests. Several other downtown galleries are open until 9pm as well. The Downtown Partnership offers a free trolley that has three stops convenient to all the galleries. It runs from 6-10 pm. The Arts Company will open at 10am as usual, but will be open until 9pm, with an exhibition reception scheduled from 4-7pm, and a Meet the Artist session at 5 pm. The former Salon Saturday series of conversations with artists will be incorporated occasionally into FirstArtSaturday events as special opportunities occur.
The Arts Company celebrates its tenth year throughout 2007, continuing as a prime destination in downtown Nashville for fresh, original, contemporary and vintage artwork in photography, painting, and sculpture, by artists from emerging to legendary. The Arts Company currently houses an artist-in-residence, a photography showcase, and various gallery spaces on two floors in a historic building, all complemented by an extensive backstage inventory space housing a vast array of artwork available for businesses, designers and individuals to fit their needs. The gallery website—www.theartscompany.com—is available 24/7 for reviewing and previewing artist portfolios and gallery and satellite exhibitions sponsored throughout the year by the gallery. Regular gallery hours are: 10-5pm, Monday-Saturday.
The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday
presents
“The Freshness of the South”
New paintings by Charles Keiger
&
“The Art of Romance”
Classic Valentine selections from gallery artists
The Arts Company announces the February exhibition of artwork for the 2007 FirstArtSaturday Series, a monthly exposition of artwork on Fifth Avenue of the Arts in downtown Nashville. The February FirstArtSaturday is scheduled for February 3 at The Arts Company, headlined by a one-man show of a new series of paintings, “The Freshness of the South,” by Atlanta-based artist Charles Keiger. In addition, the gallery will present a show themed for Valentine’s Day, “The Art of Romance,” which will include selections from gallery artists.
The FirstArtSaturday Series at The Arts Company is a monthly exposition of artwork on Fifth Avenue of the Arts, featuring extended gallery hours on the first Saturday of every month—10am-9pm—with an artist reception from 4-7pm. The February exhibition will continue through February 24 during regular gallery hours, 10-5pm, Monday-Saturday, at the gallery located at 215 Fifth Avenue, North. Call 254-2040 for additional information.
About the Exhibits
The Freshness of the South / Charles Keiger
What is going on in these paintings? The visual world Charles Keiger creates with careful precision matches people and environments with selected symbolic props that together are intended by the artist to reveal emotionally charged moments. According to gallery owner Anne Brown, “Keiger’s work is distinctly Southern—sophisticated and naïve at the same time. Nothing is left to chance—except what it all means. He engages the viewer visually, but leaves him alone to put the pieces together.” Keiger’s world is a world that continues to draw the viewer back to the canvas, revealing new visual clues each time. “Keiger would say that we all tend to reveal things about ourselves in simple ways,” Brown continues, “As an artist, he prefers to show us emotionally charged moments, using minimal elements, combining figures and landscapes and a few selected props—flowers, buildings, musical instruments, etc.--as backdrops for those moments in life when we sometimes by our actions reveal our emotional states unaware.”
The Art of Romance / Valentine selections from gallery artists
February is a time when our culture turns to thoughts of love and romance. Keiger’s world offers clues to romantic notions of our emotional lives. At The Arts Company, our thoughts turned to our extensive inventories. From them, the gallery has curated a themed show of romance, selecting varied artwork by gallery artists that clearly suits the broad theme of romance. Selections come from the gallery inventories, including: classic photographs by John Dominis, Alfred Eisenstaedt, and John Loengard, and Ed Clark; paintings by Bob McGill, Bill Johnson, Kristen Frenzel, and Teresa Robinette, April Street, and Jack Isenhour, among others.
This themed exhibition is planned as an engaging destination for those seeking what’s original, fresh, and inventive for the Valentine season. Guests are invited to participate in an interactive sculptural piece, “Spin the Bottle,” by Artist-in-Residence Herb Williams.
About the Artist / Charles Keiger
Equipped with a BFA from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, plus an MFA from the University of Georgia in Athens, Atlanta-based artist Charles Keiger began his professional life as an artist with a series of one-man and group shows presented at various Atlanta and New Orleans venues.
Keiger's work presents a fresh take on how precision in gesture, design, color, and sparse details can reveal tremendous depth of anxiety and emotion. His paintings symbolize feelings that we all experience and understand, feelings that connect at once with the viewer. His images are intended to linger in the mind's eye. Charles Keiger is an excellent artistic technician and provides a solid base for the visual magic he creates.
The Arts Company
FirstArtSaturday/January
presents
“11th Annual Gallery Artist Preview”
A preview of FirstArtSaturdays
featuring
“Radnor & Beersheba”
A new series of plein air paintings by
Cynthia Crook
&
“Musical MicroPops”
By
Jonathon Kimbrell
The Arts Company launches its second decade with a new Nashville tradition—FirstArtSaturday, a monthly exposition of artwork on Fifth Avenue of the Arts in downtown Nashville, featuring extended gallery hours on the first Saturday of every month—10am-9pm—with a reception from 4-7pm. The first FirstArtSaturday is scheduled for January 6, presenting gallery artists and new artwork in the gallery’s 11th Annual Gallery Preview, featuring a new series of paintings, “Radnor & Beersheba” by Cynthia Crook and “Musical MicroPops” by Jonathon Kimbrell, among others. The January exhibition will continue through January 26 during regular gallery hours, 10-5pm, Monday-Saturday, at the gallery located at 215 Fifth Avenue, North.
About the first FirstArtSaturday
The Arts Company has switched from its 10-year schedule of openings on third Saturdays every month to join other galleries and new residents downtown in extending gallery hours once a month on FirstArtSaturdays. In addition, The Arts Company is extending the reception for featured artists to include a monthly exposition of artwork and special mini-exhibits drawn from the gallery’s extensive inventories.
January at The Arts Company traditionally focuses on the Annual Gallery Preview, this year welcoming Nashville-based artist Cynthia Crook to the gallery and presenting new work by Jonathon Kimbrell, as well as artwork by many other new and continuing gallery artists.
About the Artists / Annual Gallery Artist Preview
Many gallery artists bring new work for the first show of the new year. Lots of surprises are in store beginning with the gallery’s first FirstArtSaturday for 2007.
Radnor & Beersheba / Cynthia Crook
Cynthia Crook’s passion for capturing the on-site beauty of Radnor Lake and Beersheba in the Cumberland Plateau has been evident for some time to enthusiasts of her plein air oil paintings of these natural attractions in Middle Tennessee. Her plein air impressions of the places she is drawn to in the Nashville area offer new and colorful portraits that translate landscapes into elegant still lifes.
Musical MicroPops / Jonathon Kimbrell
Jonathon Kimbrell, a Texas-based artist, joined with The Arts Company last year in producing a series of paintings of his musical icons—from Beck to Guthrie to Cash. As a January treat, he is sending small card-size special image transfers on wood to match some of the larger paintings.
Calendar Sketches / Elisa Cossonnet
French-based artist Elisa Cossonnet’s small popular daily sketches, one for each day of the year, continue to attract gallery-goers to search for particular dates or images that hold special interest for them. The gallery has an entire new year of 365 daily sketches that will be presented as part of the New Year celebration during FirstArtSaturday.
Mona Lisa and Don Quixote Continue / Mohamed Lekhleti
Lekhleti, another of the gallery’s French-based artists, has provided three large pieces, and a few small ones, which are his own interpretations of historic iconic personages and images, set in a distinctly contemporary context, particularly identified with Lekhleti’s artwork.
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