Faculty, staff, students and alumni help Frist Center for the Visual Arts open doors

 

by Jessica Hathaway

When the much-anticipated Frist Center for the Visual Arts opens its doors to the public Sunday, April 8, it will be with considerable input from Vanderbilt faculty, staff, students and alumni whose contributions include providing artistic and historical expertise, administrative leadership and coordinating all important community outreach efforts.

"From the very outset, Vanderbilt has been an enthusiastic partner going back to the initial discussions we had with then-Chancellor Wyatt and Provost Tom Burish," said Kenneth Roberts, president of Frist Foundation and secretary of the University's Board of Trust. The Frist Foundation, along with the family of Thomas Frist Jr., are the principal funders of the center. "Gordon Gee brings tremendous enthusiasm, and his wife Constance, who has joined our board, brings considerable expertise."

Roberts said that Vanderbilt's contributions will benefit the University and the Frist Center alike well into the future.

"There is a great mutuality of interest," said Roberts. "The Frist Center is not a collecting institution, but an exhibiting institution. Vanderbilt has an excellent collection, but doesn't have a major place to exhibit. We have already found instances where people want to make contributions of art to the University, but would like to have the opportunity to have it exhibited, which we can work in tandem with the Frist Center to do."

 

Photo by Neil Brake Michael Aurbach's architectural construction "The Administrator" will be the first solo art show at the Frist Center. Aurbach is a professor of fine arts. Marilyn Murphy, also a professor of fine arts, is a member of the Frist Center Artists Council, and was the only artist who actively worked on Nashville's Action Team for the Arts, which formed the plan for the Frist Center for the Visual Arts

 

The Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery joins an assortment of other local cultural institutions on the Partner Institutions Council of the Frist Center. Joseph Mella, art curator at the Fine Arts Gallery, has been working with the center to help develop cooperative programs and to raise public awareness of Nashville's cultural assets.

"It's a collaboration in every good sense of the word," said Mella.

Photo by Neil Brake A&S junior Lauren Tweel is an intern at the Frist Center.

 

For example, Vanderbilt has loaned art from its collections for the opening exhibition at the Frist Center, "An Enduring Legacy: Art of the Americas from Nashville Collections." Comprised of 145 works gathered from Nashville museums and private collections, the exhibit features works created throughout North and South America and includes art from prominent artists such as Georgia O'Keefe, Diego Rivera, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol. Vanderbilt's contributions range from a painting by a chief American exponent of Impressionism, Childe Hassam, to an ancient ceramic goddess figure from the Maya culture. Portraits of University founder Cornelius Vanderbilt and his son, William Henry Vanderbilt, will join the other nine works provided by Vanderbilt collections.

Although loaning these works to the Frist Center has been time-consuming, Mella said the benefits will be long term. In addition to participating in the inaugural exhibit at a major arts museum, the Frist Center funded the majority of the conservation costs for a John Chamberlain sculpture that the Fine Arts Gallery loaned for the "Art of Americas" exhibit. The center also paid the costs to appraise and insure works on loan by the various providers.

 

Photo by Neil Brake Work from Neil Brake, Vanderbilt senior information officer of photography and imaging, will be a part of an interactive exhibit called "The Photographer's Eye."

Vanderbilt is not only making available unique works of art, but its arts expertise as well. Several faculty members have joined Mella in sharing their analyses of a wide range of works included in the "Art of Americas" exhibit. Leonard Folgarait, professor of fine arts and chair of the department; Vivien Fryd, associate professor of fine arts; Amy Kirschke, assistant professor of fine arts; Robert Mode, associate professor of fine arts; and Mella have each written essays placing several works in an art historical perspective for a 168-page color catalog detailing the exhibit.

A number of Vanderbilt faculty and staff will serve on a variety of Frist Center boards. Constance Gee, associate professor of public policy and education at Peabody College, joined the Board of Trustees of the Frist Center at the beginning of this year. She has written extensively on the impact and consequences of public policy and programming on elementary and secondary arts education, and most recently, conducted an in-depth evaluation of the effects of arts advocacy on public perceptions about the nature and merits of arts education.

"Professor Gee's significant experience melds wonderfully with the center's commitment to arts education and brings an important dimension to the substantial support offered by the members of our board of trustees," said Chase W. Rynd, executive director of the Frist Center.

"The center's founding commitment to arts education is key to its identity and success as an institute of public service and edification," said Gee. "It is my personal ambition to encourage the Frist Center to work in support of Tennessee's elementary and secondary art educators, and to always stand firm in the primary importance of sequentially taught, school-based visual arts instruction."

Photo by Neil Brake Constance Gee, associate professor of public policy an dedication, serves on the center's Board of Trustees.

 

To address the center's goal of providing more educational opportunities for people of all ages to engage in the visual arts, Tam Gordon, communications director of the First Amendment Center, and U.S. Sen. Bill Frist -- on leave from his position as assistant professor of surgery and cardiac surgery at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center -- serve on the Frist Center Community Outreach Council. This group acts as the community's "eyes and ears" to help the Frist Center engage Nashville in the exploration of art. Members of this council work to make sure that the Center's exhibitions and programs are accessible, affordable, educational and engaging for all members of the Nashville community.

Another education authority at Vanderbilt, Steven Camarata, acting director of the John F. Kennedy Center and associate professor of hearing and speech sciences and education, serves on the Education Council of the Frist Center. He is assisting the center in establishing art programs to inspire and inform the community.

Marilyn Murphy, professor of fine arts, is working with the Frist Center Artists Council. These members, who work in a broad range of media and represent a variety of cultural backgrounds, play a key role in the center's interaction with the local and visual arts community. As artists themselves, these council members help to provide an original point of view relating to the Center's mission and programs.

Michael Aurbach, Vanderbilt professor of fine arts and nationally acclaimed sculptor, was chosen from nearly 150 submissions to be exhibited at the center's first solo show.

"We responded to people who use material in a new way and in a way that was very distinctive," said Mark Scala, the Frist Center's American art curator and one of five people on the selection committee. "We also liked people who not just use and transform materials, but really had some kind of artistic vision conveyed beautifully and directly."

Aurbach describes his sculptural tableau "The Administrator," as similar to a "period room at a museum." This architectural construction, scheduled to remain on display from opening day until Aug. 19, provides satirical commentary on secrecy and misuse of power by people in positions of authority. Inside walls covered with reflective steel sheets viewers will find the aphoristic "hot-seat" equipped with heating coils that awaits the victim of the administration.

"'The Administrator' is less about torture than it is a parody on how we portray people in power; the trappings of power, the folly," said Aurbach, who serves on the boards of the College Art Association, the Mid-American College Art Association and the Southeastern College Art Conference, and earned an Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award from the Southeastern College Art Conference in 1995.

In addition to several traditional galleries, the center features an interactive education gallery that challenges visitors to explore, discuss and create art. A wide-angle photograph of Memorial Gym during a Vanderbilt women's basketball game taken by Neil Brake, Vanderbilt senior information officer of photography and imaging, will be located at a station called "The Photographer's Eye." According to Carol Klahn, ArtQuest Gallery educator, it is an example of art in everyday living. Using a special lens, visitors play the part of photographer by zooming in and out of the image, focusing on the basketball players, the cheerleaders or the gym floor.

In keeping with its goal for arts education, the Frist Center offers an opportunity for Vanderbilt students to jump-start their career in the art world. Caroline Timmerman, a senior in the College of Arts and Science, and Lauren Tweel, an Arts and Science junior, have worked as interns at the Frist Center during its opening preparations. Timmerman has been collaborating with the curator for the show "European Masterworks: Paintings from the Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario," scheduled to remain at the center through July 8.

"I want to become a curator, so it was a great experience to see how a large art center works, especially at this stage," said Timmerman.

During her research and editing work for the exhibition catalogue, Timmerman has also been in close contact with other area museums such as Cheekwood and the Belle Meade Plantation.

Two Vanderbilt alumnae have been instrumental with planning the center's opening exhibitions and activities as well. Susan Knowles, who earned both a B.A. and an M.A. from Vanderbilt, is a guest co-curator for the "Art of Americas" exhibit. Christine Kreyling, who earned an M.A. from Vanderbilt, worked with Knowles and the center's curators to coordinate the panel discussion, "Transforming a Landmark into a Visual Center," scheduled to take place April 12. Knowles, with curators Candace Adelson and Mark Scala, will present an overview of the opening exhibitions. Kreyling, along with architect Seab Tuck, will discuss the history of the building, including its transition from post office to art center, and the architectural renovation process.

The planning for a cultural resource such as the Frist Center dates back more than three decades, when private and governmental institutions in Nashville first expressed the need for a major visual arts facility in the downtown area. In 1994, "Nashville's Agenda," a public planning initiative, issued a report that echoed the sentiments expressed years before of Nashville's need and desire for a comprehensive visual art museum. As a result, the Nashville Agenda Steering Committee appointed a diverse group of citizens to an "Action Team for the Arts," chaired by Roberts. The team reported that a new art institution did, indeed, need to be established in Nashville.

After scrutinizing the committees' analysis, Dr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Frist Jr., through the charitable Frist Foundation, decided that a new world-class art facility would become a key focus of their philanthropic support. Working through the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, the city purchased for $4.4 million the Art Deco-style building that, until recently, housed the downtown U.S. Post Office. As the new owner, MDHA provided an additional $16.5 million for basic renovation of the structure, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Along with his family, Thomas Frist Jr., Vanderbilt alumnus and former Board of Trust member, pledged a minimum of $25 million to transform the building into a first-class museum.

Dedicated to presenting visual art from local, state and regional artists as well as major U.S. and international exhibitions, the center represents the collective desire of a community to stimulate and nourish appreciation of the visual arts in Nashville. Vanderbilt plans to continue to work closely with the Frist Center to achieve that objective.

"There have been discussions about how the two institutions can cooperate in the use of people in the future in terms of staffing and curatorial work," said Roberts. "Vanderbilt has been a first-rate partner. We're very pleased."

Skip Anderson contributed to this story.

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