pARTisan Art Show
27-31 August
David Lusk Gallery Nashville
David Lusk Gallery is honored to present pARTisan, an exhibition exploring the intersections of art and politics in Tennessee. In partnership with Sarah Baer and Tennessee Rise, this project creates space for artists, activists, and community members to come together through a week of art, dialogue, and civic engagement.
pARTisan brings together a diverse range of media and perspectives united by a common purpose: addressing the challenges facing Tennessee with a vision for the possibilities of what we could be. must face our current realities and spark a debate about what vision we will fight for to change it. The exhibition highlights the power of art not only to confront injustice but also to inspire a vision for the kind of Tennessee we all want.
David Lusk Gallery will be open Wednesday and Thursday from 10 AM to 5 PM, Friday from 10 AM to 7 PM, Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM ,and Sunday from 10 AM to 2 PM.
Originally from Los Angeles, Nathan moved to Nashville at age 11 an abrupt shift that sparked a deep creative response. Navigating the cultural contrast between the two cities, he found expression through graffiti and exploration through skateboarding. These early outlets laid the foundation for a lifelong artistic journey. By the late ’90s, Nathan began channeling these experiences into visual form, developing a style rooted in bold color, shifting perspectives, and a blend of abstraction and street art. Over time, this approach expanded beyond sketchbooks and city walls to large-scale murals on multi-story buildings across the U.S. and Europe.
Before transitioning full-time into visual art, Nathan built an extensive career in experiential marketing—producing and promoting more than 5,000 concerts, festivals, and branded events over 15 years for Live Nation, Goldenvoice (Coachella), AEG Presents, Disney and many agencies. This background combined with his history of skateboarding and graffiti sharpened his ability to tell stories, engage audiences, and create unforgettable moments—skills that now feed directly into his mural practice.
To date, Nathan has completed over 150 commissioned murals for nonprofits, city initiatives, and major brands including Red Bull, Wrangler, Patagonia, Topgolf, WeWork, Google, and Spotify. His mission has always remained the same: to bring people, places, and communities together through impactful public art transforming overlooked walls into meaningful, engaging spaces. Nathan is currently based in Chattanooga, TN, where he continues to produce large-scale public artworks and private commissions across the country.
When public art is defunded, the consequences extend far beyond economics they are cultural, emotional, and deeply communal. Public art is not mere ornamentation; it is a mirror to our collective experience, a vessel for shared stories, and an accessible entry point to meaning within the spaces we all inhabit. It revitalizes neglected areas, fosters connection, and provides purpose, not only to communities but to the artists who help shape them.
This painting was created in the aftermath of several cancelled projects, each a casualty of recent cuts to public arts funding by our current administration. The composition’s sharp gradients and layered geometries speak to the tension between structure and vulnerability, between what was envisioned and what was lost. Bursts of vibrant color collide with muted tones in a visual clash that embodies protest, resilience, and the echo of murals that were never allowed to come to life. What you see here is not simply abstraction, it is a response. A call to attention. A refusal to let the voice of public art fade without resistance.
Lindsy Davis (b. 1990, Mahwah, NJ) is an artist living and working in Nashville, TN. After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2014 from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts
University, Lindsy spent time in South Africa studying papermaking and printmaking at the University of Johannesburg.
In New York’s Hudson Valley, she studied organic farming and while working with the land Davis realized the necessity of sustainability, community, and skill sharing in her practice. Lindsy has been included in notable group museum exhibitions with the Parthenon Museum in Nashville, TN, the Cleve Carney Museum of Art in Chicago, Illinois and with the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is featured in Soho House’s permanent collection, Four Seasons Hotel Nashville permanent collection, and several private collections throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and South Africa. Recently Lindsy was an artist in residence at Vermont Studio Center and received a Robert J Spring Endowment for sculptors micro grant.
My work in Partisan, “Homage to ACT UP” is an oblique reference, using the pink triangle as a symbol of strength and resistance. Materials include reclaimed and dyed cardboard, with references to where we live our lives (stenciled loops from a basketball net, silver metal from a car’s grill). All of these places are pedestrian ways we live and play, and yet, have been made sinister as ICE threatens kids on baseball fields and takes immigrants from cars on Nolensville.
Jodi Hays is an internationally exhibiting artist who builds collaged surfaces from bleached and dyed cardboard. Her use of these materials accesses a relationship to resourceful labor which encompasses the rich visual vocabulary of quilting, piecing, and abstraction. The work evokes weathered boards, found patterns, and Modernist painting. Her work can be found in notable collections and has been mentioned in the New York Times and ArtForum International. She is the recipient of several awards including from NYFA/Rauschenberg Foundation, Tennessee Arts Commission, and Foundation for Contemporary Art. Residencies include Yaddo, Stoveworks, and Cooper Union.
Briena Harmening uses text to explore autobiography, politics, and southerness. Employing sewing and quilting techniques, Harmening transforms everyday materials like quilts, tablecloths, and yard tarps into canvases for her screen-printed narratives and commentary. Harmening is a Florida Gulf Coast University alumna and later received her MFA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2010. Recently, her work has been exhibited in Coined in the South: at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC and in Ancestral Lines at the Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, FL. Currently, she resides and teaches art at James Lawson High School in Nashville, TN.
Recently my work has centered around merging flora from the American South and Puerto Rico where I was born. As a form of radical acceptance in a traditionally conservative region.
Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico in 1992 and migrating to Tennessee in 2002. Yanira Vissepo is an artist living and working in Nashville, TN. She is a multi-disciplinary artist creating vibrant collaged textile paintings using techniques such as stain painting, printmaking and hand embroidery. Her work is heavily influenced by her experience of living in the Puerto Rican diaspora and examines the ecosystem of her culture through the natural world.
Vissepo has shown in at Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, Lipscomb University, ZieherSmith, 21c Museum, Open Gallery, and has had solo shows at Lyndon House Arts Center in Athens, GA, Sheet Cake Gallery in Memphis, TN, Elephant Gallery, The Electric Shed, Fort Houston, and Coop Gallery.
Shepard Fairey, born Frank Shepard Fairey on February 15, 1970, in Charleston, South Carolina, embodies the essence of contemporary artistry. His journey into the artistic realm began during his academic years, graduating from the Idyllwild Arts Academy and later obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992. His foray into art took root through an amalgamation of interests skateboarding, punk music, and the vibrant street art culture. Immersed in the skateboarding community, Fairey's artistic expressions first graced T-shirts and skateboards, marking the inception of his graphic explorations. The allure of street art and graffiti beckoned, catalyzing his affinity for pasting homemade stickers across urban landscapes, with Andre the Giant's visage emerging as an iconic representation.
Fairey's creative arsenal spans a myriad of mediums screen-prints, stencils, sculptures, murals, and more—infused with a distinctive palette favoring black, white, and red. His artistic versatility transcends boundaries, seamlessly navigating between fine art, commercial ventures, political commentary, and street art, merging graffiti, pop art, and Marxist theory into thoughtprovoking creations.
Renowned for his impactful works, including the Obey trademark and the iconic Barack Obama propaganda poster, Fairey's artistry has earned international acclaim, gracing galleries, museums, and even transcending into graphic design and signature apparel. His notable exhibitions across the globe, such as the Capsule in Birmingham and the Merry Karnosky Gallery in Los Angeles, serve as testaments to his far-reaching influence in the contemporary art world. Fairey currently resides and continues his artistic endeavors in Los Angeles, California, leaving an indelible mark on the canvas of modern art.
I am drawn to the aesthetic qualities of jewelry. This interest stems from the color, texture, variety, and the association with the female body that jewelry contains. I experiment with various manipulations of paint in which the paint strays away from the picture plane and becomes a threedimensional form. For this piece, I have molded paint into small rainbow square bead forms. While the molds themselves remain consistent, the paint allows each bead to have individuality. These pieces are then meditatively collaged together to create a quilt of paint. The rainbow is a celebration of color as well as love. This piece celebrates LGBTQ+ rights and everyone's right to love.
Natalie Harrison was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She received her BFA with a concentration in Painting from Middle Tennessee State University in 2009 and her MFA with a concentration in Painting and Drawing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2013. She has shown in Alabama, California, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
Natalie currently lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband Alex and chihuahua Ginger.
A male sun and a female moon figure are separated by an angel floating above them. Both figures are barely touching the earth below them, representing a tangible common cause for them. The scene is framed by stars and African symbols representing community, internal strength, wisdom, and knowledge. The Separation is an allegory for the relationship between masculinity and femininity during a crisis under tyranny.
Xavier Payne received a BFA from Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, concentrating in Graphic Arts and Illustration. After graduating, Xavier worked during the day as a graphic artist for corporate clients. By night, he worked as a painter and illustrator, cultivating an audience and gaining the attention of high-profile clients. Today, Xavier has worked as a full-time artist and designer, highlighting social and existential topics. He has been part of group shows and live engagements since 2014 nationwide, and has had projects featured in The Source Magazine, HBO, and Complex.com.
Elisheba Israel Mrozik, a Memphis native with a BFA from Memphis College of Art, is renowned as a multidisciplinary artist and Tattooist. Influenced by a foreign exchange to Japan in high school, her personal work explores black identity. In Nashville since 2007, she became Middle TN's first licensed black tattoo artist, opening One Drop Ink Tattoo Parlour. Her art has been featured at The Frist Art Museum and the National Museum of African American Music. Known for public art engagements enhancing Nashville's cultural landscape, Elisheba founded QueenBeeInk, LLC an arts agency to elevate black women through community-engaged fine art. This initiative underlines her commitment to diversity in art. Elisheba's accolades include InkMaster and appearances on BET’s About Her Business. Her collaborative installation "Blood at the Root" at The Frist Art Museum, coloring books, award winning tattoos, sculptures and large scale murals underscore her artistic range. A leader in the North Nashville Arts Coalition, she's dedicated to fostering emerging artists of color and integrating art with social purpose. As a mother of two, leaving the world better than she found it is her ethos.
David Onri Anderson is a French-American Tennessee-born artist, musician and curator of French-Algerian ancestry. He believes in angels and will sometimes communicate with them in order to make paintings. He has had solo exhibitions at Patrick Painter Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, Blaa Galleri in Copenhagen, DK, Harpy Gallery in Rutherford, NJ, David Lusk Gallery in Nashville, TN, Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, and Institute 193 in Lexington, KY amongst others. He has shown at the Atlanta Contemporary Museum and the Alabama Contemporary Museum. His work has been reviewed, exhibited and collected internationally.
The Sacrifice is a painting meant to come across as simple, but asking something complex, what is the meaning of a sacrifice? What does it mean to give? What does it mean to serve? Would you lay down your life for someone you know? What about someone you don't know? The pain and humility of what a leader must give to truly serve their people, requires sacrifice of some kind. This painting is a prayer: I long for the day when humility and service enter back into the top priorities of world leaders. Self sacrifice opens new doors to new ways of life.
Heinsohn holds a B.F.A. in painting and drawing from The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, and an MFA from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Primarily focused on painting and wall reliefs in his early years, his work has more recently evolved to embrace a range of disciplines including photography, sculpture and video. Heinsohn also plays writes and performs music.
In 2016 everything changed with the presidential election. It became clear that our democracy had been dealt a devastating blow, that the threat of global chaos loomed ominously large, that innocent people around the world would suffer.
There are 7 works in this series so far. They all reference Thomas More's 1516 fantastical story about an island society where there is no conflict, a perfect place. The work is satire: the word Utopia translates to "no place." This is an even smaller version of that fantasy.
These works all rely on the fictional nature of mid-century American postcards (several hundred of them) airbrushed to perfection. They are postcards for places that don't exist – there is never any reference to the struggles America faced then, with racial tensions and the cold war and other general cultural realignments. There is also no life in those postcards: no people, none of the messy facts of human existence.
All the buildings in this collage are made from bricks – in this case also a reference to the lifeless city being built of the handwork of blue-collar workers, many of them presumably the descendents of slaves.
I grew up in Birmingham, AL. I attended Auburn University (BFA, Visual Communications) and the University of South Carolina (MFA, Drawing). I teach drawing and illustration at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN.
My work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions, including solo shows at The Cumberland Gallery (Nashville, TN), Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Arts (New Orleans), Vanderbilt University, The University of Kentucky, The Tennessee Arts Commission, and the Galerie Neue Raume (Berlin, Germany). I am represented in several permanent collections, including The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Kiwanis Club International, The Tennessee State Museum, and The College of Notre Dame, Baltimore.
In addition to gallery exhibitions, I have worked with many clients on illustration assignments, including SouthWest Airlines, How Magazine, Vanderbilt University, Klutz Inc., Strategy & Business, The River Styx, Poems and Plays, and Rigby Publishing.
Ashley Seay is the owner of The Relief Studio, which offers original art with a focus on woodblock printing, custom logo woodblocks, wood sculpture and design, pattern design, and fabric printing. The studio’s motto is to produce “relief you can see and feel”. She has over 10 years of experience in the printmaking medium.
Woodblock printing is done by reversing an image, carving it on a piece of wood by leaving the image's outline on the wood, and then the block is inked and printed on a substance like paper or fabric. A printing press is used to reproduce prints with even pressure. Hand printing is the traditional way; however, she prefers to use the printing press to ensure that ink is applied evenly on each print. Woodblock printing is how the first newspapers, books and Bibles were produced.
Ashley's artwork is inspired by family, history, culture, nature, Ancestry, and the world around her as she sees it. Seay states:
“Creating is an emotionally intense process for me. Art is not just an image on paper; it is an extension of the soul. I start by contemplating all my inspirations, such as nature, current and past events, family and friends, life experiences, etc. The compositions and themes of my work depend on how I want my audience to experience it. Abstract geometric symbolism is a common trait in my pattern designs, which creates a different interpretation and experience for all who encounter the pieces. I want people to learn something new, raise questions, and acknowledge any feelings or thoughts that are inspired by looking at the artwork. It gives me a sense of completion and gratitude to know that I have touched others with this great gift of art that I was blessed with”.
Vadis Turner’s (b. 1977, Nashville, TN) first solo museum exhibition was at the Frist Art Museum in 2017, followed by the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in 2018.
Turner had solo presentations at the Huntsville Museum of Art in 2022 and the Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts at the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 2023. Current and upcoming presentations are scheduled at LongHouse Reserve (NY), Zuckerman Museum of Art (GA) and Frist Museum of Art (TN).
Turner’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Arts and Design (NY), Brooklyn Museum (NY), 21C Museum (KY), The Bunker Artspace (FL), Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts (KY), Tennessee State Museum (TN), Huntsville Museum of Art (AL), the Hunter Museum of American Art (TN) and the University of Alabama, Birmingham (AL). She has exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum (NY), Andy Warhol Museum (PA), The Bunker Artspace (FL), ICA Portland (ME), Minnesota Museum of American Art (MN), Islip Art Museum (NY), Knoxville Museum (TN), Susquehanna Museum of Art (PA) and Cheekwood Museum (TN) amongst other institutions. Residencies include Corporation of Yaddo 2018 & 2024 (NY), Museum of Arts & Design (NY), Materials for the Arts (NY), Mildred Thompson Estate (GA) and the Vermont Studio Center (VT). Selected press includes Artforum, Art Papers, New York Times, Hyperallergic, Vogue, Widewalls, Bomb Magazine, Two Coats of Paint, Burnaway, Wallpaper*, Vanityfair.com, Observer, Artnet, and Whitehot Magazine. Turner was awarded the Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2016. Her projects have also been funded by the Barbara Demming Memorial Fund, Jenni Crain Foundation, South Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission and The Current Art Fund, a regranting program from the Andy Warhol Foundation. Turner received a BFA and MFA from Boston University. She teaches at Vanderbilt University.
Tess Davies is a studio artist and mural artist from Nashville, TN. Her practice includes latex painting with a focus on dualities, feminine tropes, and repeated motifs and patterns. The purpose of her work is to make light of darker themes and address the way in which we compartmentalize and apply order and structure to our days and the way in which we present ourselves despite life's challenges and inevitabilities.
My now eleven-year-old so dearly loves Greek Mythology and because of this, several characters have found their way into my work.
Sisyphus was condemned for eternity to push a boulder up a mountain each day, only to see it roll down again just as it nears the top. He’s often seen as a symbol of absurdity, performing a meaningless task over and over and over again.Gardening on our planet with the climate change we are experiencing can sometimes feel this way. And yet, each season, I plant more. I sow more seeds, grow more seedlings, and place them into the ground and this will be how I continue my days.
And despite the gravelly ground in this painting, we also see the shadow of an un-pictured tree. We can sense its dappled shade and imagine it’s presence. This is how it can feel to plant every winter, requiring imagination and visualization of what could be.
Karen Seapker (b.1982, Pittsburgh, PA) is a painter who navigates physical, emotional, and intellectual connections through use of bold color combinations, historical references, shifting lines, and disrupted spaces.
She uses both a dynamic, gestural style as well as observational techniques to create paintings and works on paper depicting imagery that alludes to the power of human relationships, our connections to nature, and the passage of time. She received her MFA from Hunter College in New York, NY. Her work has been exhibited in spaces including the James Cohan Gallery in NYC and Shanghai,
The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA, Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, and Sargent's Daughters in Los Angeles. Seapker was included in Crystal Bridges Museum’s survey of contemporary art, State of the Art 2020. Her work is in various private collections as well as the collection of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Reviews of her work have been in publications including Burnaway, Hyperallergic, and ArtForum. She lives and works in Nashville, TN.
Omari Booker, visual artist based in Los Angeles, CA and Nashville, TN, began his journey as an artist his senior year of high school at Montgomery Bell Academy. While attending Belmont University, Omari studied Mathematics and other more traditional curricula before he finally focused on studio art and graphic design. He later earned his B.S. in Graphic Design from Tennessee State University.
Oil paintings are Omari's predominant medium, but mixed media including charcoal, ink, and found objects are essential building blocks of his work, and are used to create finished pieces. Large scale work has been a constant creative outlet for Omari, and murals have also become a consistent part of his creative practice.
Omari takes a process-oriented approach to his art, embracing it as a therapeutic modality through which he is able to express his passion for the freedom and independence that the creative process allows him to experience. His art is his personal therapy, and his desire is that those viewing it will have personal experiences of catharsis. The philosophy that undergirds Omari's work is FREEDOM THROUGH ART and he aspires to create work that communicates to his audience their unique and intrinsic ability to be free
I attended a protest that resulted in Justin Pearson and Justin Jones reclaiming their legislative seats. The reference photo for the painting was taken that day. A father was walking with two children to the Capitol. The three protestors were particularly striking because of the young children involved. The title is inspired by Justin Pearson, Justin Jones, and Gloria Johnson, the "Tennessee Three"
My art practice is an extension of my meditation practice. I create as a means of liberation—first for myself, then for anyone who carries the burden of being human, being different, being neurodivergent, being a father, being a son. Each piece is an offering, a question, a portal. It is my deepest hope that when someone encounters my work, they don’t think they feel. They feel themselves. They feel seen. They feel the possibility that they are not alone.
Though I’m best known for my use of acrylic on canvas, my current work lives in experiment and intuition. I build sculptures using nails, inspired by the Nkondi traditions of Central Africa, adorned with painted flowers—gardens of muscle memory and emotion. I collect objects from my backyard and the hardware store. I soak canvases in water to watch control dissolve. Chaos has become a collaborator. Lately, I’m working with water, sound, and light to create meditative environments that lead viewers into altered states of awareness toward Jhana, toward presence.
My themes circle around the volatility of the human heart and the profound truth of impermanence. Everything we cling to—names, roles, identities, even memory—will slip away. And in that slipping, there is something sacred. There is beauty in the groundlessness. My work is not here to preserve the illusion of solidity. It is here to show us how to let go.
I am Black, and I long for a day when this identity is irrelevant but until then, I honor the ancestors that brought me here. My art includes them. It includes my children. It includes the unknown gods, the animals, the future ones. And yet, I create to dissolve even these identities, to remind myself and others that what we are is not fixed.
I want you to experience my liberation and know that yours is possible, too.
XPayne is a storyteller concerned with the Black American narrative. Through art XPayne creates work that pushes back against the marginalized narrative of Black experiences. His creative goal is to exalt the culture in it entirety through establishing new Black iconography, while conversing with past and contemporary art influences.
Xavier’s creative skill-set is ever-growing as he strives t bring all of them together harmoniously through his wor While every piece employs different techniques used in seamless manner, most pieces begin with drawing on paper. Then he transfers his drawings to wood or simpl renders them them as digital illustrations. If a drawing i transferred to wood he uses acrylic paint, marker, and c paper to make a picture. He often uses Adobe Illustrator to create “digital paintings” and “digital blueprints” to plan color schemes and composition.
A male sun and a female moon figure are separated by an angel floating above them.
Both figures are barely touching the earth below them, representing a tangible common cause for them. The scene is framed by stars and African symbols representing community, internal strength, wisdom, and knowledge. The Separation is an allegory for the relationship between masculinity and femininity during a crisis under tyranny.
Tad Lauritzen Wright, born in 1972 in San Angelo, Texas, is a mixed media artist known for his experimental approach to art-making.
Growing up in San Angelo, Lauritzen Wright was immersed in a rich tapestry of cultural influences, including rodeo, punk rock, and Mexican border town aesthetics. These early experiences shaped his creative vision, leading him to explore themes of mythology, personal history, and societal narratives in his work.
Lauritzen Wright earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1994 and later obtained a Master of Fine Arts from the Memphis College of Art in 2002. Since 2000, he has exhibited his work extensively across the United States.
In his current practice, Lauritzen Wright combines symbolism, abstraction, poetry, painting, and collage to create mixed media installations that invite viewers to engage in personal discovery. His work is characterized by a playful interplay between fine art, craft, and contemplation. This approach reflects his belief in generating impromptu reactions to ideas, thoughts, or experiences, aiming to elevate everyday observations through art.
In 2021 I ceased using figurative imagery in my work believing personally that exploring feeling and concept was more important to my practice than illustrating events. I have developed a body of work that represents connectedness and contemplation over the past several years that addresses a vital recognition in the contemporary world. We are connected no matter the divisions that are presented. Connected to each other, connected to the environment, connected in an inherent sense of morality. Differences are too often the center of attention but connections remain intact. For this exhibition I will create a large scale table that conceptually represents togetherness and visually is created from one connected line that runs throughout the table emphasizing a continual connection. The table is chosen as the vehicle of presentation because it is a place of gathering, decision making, and contemplation. It is a familiar object that we often take for granted that has deep metaphorical meaning that allows the viewer an entry point into the piece of comfort and and exit point of contemplation of possibility.
Much of my work presents serious subject matter with a sense of sardonic humor. This piece would pull inspiration from President Trumps idiotic display during his birthday celebration. The piece would be comprised of 28 sheets of heavy duty watercolor paper, each depicting the same M1Abrams tank silhouettes that were used in his parade. Each one has been reduced down to a few inches tall, and is made from drawn floral elements pulled from fabrics and wallpapers. These tiny tanks are meant as a mockery of something that terrifies me, a way of coping with and documenting the unprecedented things we're seeing. This is what I do to survive in Trump's America.
James Worsham is a Nashville based artist focusing on installation, sculpture, drawing and collage. His work uses a system of symbols, objects, iconography and everyday objects to challenge our expectations of human interactions and use of space. Worsham draws us in with attention to detail and craftsmanship, and rewards viewers who take the time to look closer with subtle elements that add to the narrative.
Herb Williams is a contemporary American artist renowned for his vibrant sculptures made entirely from Crayola crayons. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Williams uses crayons as both medium and message, exploring themes of childhood, identity, and culture. His intricate works often blend playfulness with deeper social commentary, transforming a familiar tool of creativity into unexpected fine art. Williams is one of the few individuals authorized to purchase crayons in bulk directly from Crayola, allowing him to create large-scale, color-saturated installations. His work has been exhibited internationally and continues to challenge perceptions of material, memory, and imagination through a uniquely colorful lens.
My family has been directly impacted by gun violence. It is bananas that we cannot come together and end this violent epidemic like so many other countries worldwide.
This portrait is part of a triptych created in collaboration with Karen Elson, each named for a phase of the moon to mirror the waxing and waning of the personal female divine. The cycle of light and shadow becomes a metaphor for the shifting states of womanhood—fluid, cyclical, and unbound by singular definition.
As a larger body of work, the series debuted in SEE YOU ME at The Parthenon in 2023, a visual reclamation of the feminine gaze. By invoking archetypes of maid, mother, and crone, the portraits seek not to confine women within these roles, but to expand and complicate them—provoking questions about feminine power, vulnerability, beauty, and transformation.
In this piece, the gaze is both tender and commanding, a reminder that the divine feminine is not linear but eternal, forever waxing and waning like the moon.
Emily Dorio is a photographer based in Nashville, TN but working globally. Her work focuses on evocative storytelling often centering on the perspective of the female experience.
Donna Woodley’s works discuss the relationship between Black culture and American culture. Exploring black significance, presence, and navigation within American spaces is what primarily represents her themes. Informed by stereotypes, cultural similarities and differences, perceptions of beauty, mental and physical health, and esteem, Donna’s work often includes humor representing her use of the coping tool to manage trauma.
Donna was named Nashville’s Best New Artist in 2016 by the Nashville Scene’s annual “Best Of” issue. She was a featured artist for the Representative John Lewis Mural project installed in downtown Nashville, TN. Donna has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her achievements include the awardwinning group exhibition We Count: First Time Voters at The Frist Art Museum. And she has commissioned works in the Vanderbilt University’s Trailblazers Initiative collection and the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center collection. She is a resident of Nashville, TN where she teaches at Tennessee State University and maintains her studio practice.
Charlotte Straus is a film photographer based in Nashville, Tennessee. Her work explores the profound relationship between humans and nature, seeking to capture the subtle interactions and emotional landscapes that define this bond. Through large black-and-white darkroom prints, Straus creates timeless images that evoke a sense of quiet contemplation. The tactile process of film photography allows her to preserve the essence of her subjects, highlighting the raw beauty and complexity of the natural world.
I'm inspired by the relationship between people and the natural world. Specifically, the small instances in which these worlds seem to collide at the edges of civilization. Like whole flocks of birds nesting on power plants in the fall to stay warm before flying South for winter. Or a tree continue to grow on either side of a power line even though it's branches have been chopped off in the middle. I'm also interested in more lyrical images that serve as metaphors for the relationship between people and the natural world. Like someone drowning or two men, opposing forces, wrestling in the woods.
This piece grew from moments in the classroom, where the weight some children carry is felt in the quiet spaces between words. Their stories stayed with me, traces of fear, resilience, and the kind of maturity no child should have to learn too soon. As a Mexican/Chicano artist, these experiences are familiar. They shape the way I see and the way I paint. In this work, the figure stands in stillness, marked by forces that reach far beyond his control. The background is stripped down to essentials, a single teardrop running down the ice machine, crossing out the word “ICE.” It’s a deliberate mark where grief, protest, and resilience meet, meant to linger in the mind long after it’s seen.
Alfredo Gonzalez (Dofre) is a Mexican-American artist from Oxnard, California, whose practice bridges the precision of oil painting with the raw immediacy of graffiti. His work navigates the tension between structure and controlled chaos, using fractured forms and layered surfaces to reflect the resilience and vulnerability woven into lived experience. Drawing from his own history and the cultural fabric of his community, Gonzalez creates images that speak to identity, memory, and the weight of social realities, offering space for both personal reflection and collective resonance. He has collaborated with Shepard Fairey, MR.LA, and David Flores, and has released limited editions with Sugar Press. His paintings have been exhibited in Los Angeles, the East Coast, and are entering private collections internationally.
This is one of a number of pieces I have made in the past few years from Remington .223 shell casings - the caliber of ammunition used in AR style assault rifles. The imagery in composed of two flags. In the center is the nautical flag OSCAR which means “man overboard.” In my usage I take this to mean that man, mankind, men are going overboard in their use of guns of all kinds and especially the guns that fire these bullets. The square flag framing the center is the hurricane warning flag. When you stack these flags is communicates and even larger and more dangerous storm.
Alex Lockwood is a sculptor and the owner/director of Elephant Gallery in Nashville, TN. He works primarily with repurposed materials. Since moving to Nashville in 2011, his work has been featured in solo shows at Zeitgeist Gallery, Belmont University, Lipscomb University, Vol State, OZArts, and David Lusk Gallery Nashville and Memphis. Alex founded Elephant Gallery in 2017 to curate ambitious and off-beat shows of early and mid-career local and regional artists. He lives in East Nashville with his sons Roman and Oscar.
Whether your liberty is taken in an instant, or erodes over time, the end result is always the same. Be vigilant against those that aim to do so.
I draw inspiration from images both past and present, light and dark, often times combining the two in hopes of creating a counterbalanced symmetry. My goal is to take the seemingly unimaginable and make it a visual reality by blurring the lines between the real and the surreal, creating a story where final interpretation is open to multiple realizations. There are a number of paths in my work... which one is ultimately chosen is left for you to decide.
I made this image as Representative Justin Jones, a member of The Tennessee Three, led a march to the Tennessee State Capitol after the Metro Council unanimously reappointed him to his legislative seat. With his gaze on the horizon and the people walking hand in hand; it serves as a reminder that we can and will continue forward.
Madison Thorn is a Nashville-based music photographer with 15 years of experience capturing the energy, intimacy, and artistry of live performance. Her work spans from arenas to intimate clubs, with credits included in Rolling Stone and The New York Times. Rooted in her admiration of photojournalism, Madison’s instinctive, documentarystyle imagery has become a hallmark of her music photography and a guiding force in her growing documentation of activism and disaster relief.
