Veda Reed In Memoriam

Veda Reed In Memoriam 18 Nov - 20 Dec 2025

I was always a fan of Veda’s work and thought she was the perfect person to represent regional artists during the Brooks Museum’s centennial. Working with her on Veda Reed: Day into Night was a pleasure and a privilege. Besides the time spent talking to her about her life and her career, the visual feast I experienced in looking at so much of her art is something I will always treasure. Marina Pacini

I got to work with her again when organizing Memphis College of Art, 1936-2020: An Enduring Legacy, which will open at the Brooks in February 2026. To find artists to consider for the exhibition, I developed a questionnaire asking graduates who important mentors were. Not surprisingly, Veda was mentioned innumerable times. The exhibition pairs faculty and students and she was thrilled to be hanging next to James Little, BFA 1974. To this day, James acknowledges Veda’s importance to his practice. He asked me to film her so she could be a part of an award he was receiving from the Art Students League at the Museum of Modern Art in the fall of 2024. - Marina Pacini

A last thought is that her paintings continued to get better and better over the course of her career. Her late works are luminous celebrations of the beauty of nature. People who look at her paintings are transformed and see the sky in an entirely different way. I’m speaking from personal experience. I can’t tell you how often I look at the clouds and think of her, which is both fitting and keeps her close.

Artwork List 1) Untitled house, 1967 oil on canvas, gesso relief, 10 x 12 in 2) Sun Rays, 2001 oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in 3) Untitled mountain sky, 1990 oil on panel, 5 x 7 in 4) Iridescent Cloud for BW, 2003 oil on canvas,. 48 x 66 in 5) In Memoriam-Kche Gami Kwe: Garuda Flies Ocean Woman Home, 2015 oil on canvas, 36 x 84 in 6) Cumulis Humilis, 1999 oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in 7) Sunset 23 Jan 1975 5:43pm, 1975 oil on canvas, gesso relief, 12 x 12 in 8) Red Clouds, Red Sky, 2009 oil on canvas, 44 x 60 in 9) Taos Mountain Sky: 6.26.97, 1997 oil on canvas, 36 x 51 in 10) Lunar Corona, 2011 oil on canvas, 60 x 30 in

11) Night Forest #2, 1992 oil on canvas, 28 x 36 in 12) The Sharecropper, 1961 oil on canvas, 41 x 51 in 13) Spoleto, 1962 oil on canvas, 42 x 50 in 15) Rain Over Crow Butte, Ft. Robinson, Neb., 1994 oil on canvas, 28 x 36 in 16) Red Sun #2, 2003 oil on canvas, 28 x 36 in 17) Sunset 25 Jan 1975 #4, 1975 oil on canvas, gesso relief, 30 x 45 in 18) Untitled structure, 1960 oil on canvas, 26 x 30 in 19) Two Houses Near Mousetail #2, 1962 oil on paper, 13 x 10 in 20) Black Fox Hollow, 1981 oil on paper, 13 x 21 in

21) S.D. Sunset #1, 1982 oil on paper, 13 x 21 in 22) S.D. Sunset #2, 1982 oil on paper13 x 21 in 23) In Memoriam-Kche Gami Kwe: Garuda Flies Ocean Woman Home, 2015 oil on canvas, 36 x 84 in 24) A New Dawn #2, 1981 oil on paper, 13 x 21.50 in 25) Black Mesa Sunset, 1994 oil on canvas, 48 x 86 in 26) The Sharecropper, 1961 oil on canvas, 41 x 51 in 27) 7/21/90, 1990 oil on canvas, 11 x 9 in 28) Untitled home, 1975 oil on paper, 10.75 x 9 in 29) Spoleto Sketch #2, 1962 oil on paper, 13 x 9 in 30) King of Clouds, study, 2012 oil on canvas, 9 x 28.75 in 31) Untitled temple with star, 1960 c oil on paper, 8 x 5 in

Through large scale oil paintings, Veda Reed has had a long career of capturing the soul of luminescent landscapes. With a style adjacent to Georgia O’Keefe, Reed shares her commitment to the essential. She combines iconic landscape elements - moon, sky, clouds, hills with an understanding only achieved by sensitive observation. She spares us the details, but still the images are born of careful looking and feeling the light, color, and air in her marrow. Deceptively simple forms become simultaneously tied to the earth and otherworldly, steeped in the densely spiritual. Reed reveals the essence of these places; this sky, hill, moon could exist almost anywhere, and we feel their presence right in front of us.

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