NASHVILLE, Tenn. (February 20, 2018)—The Frist Art Museum presents Frist Friday: Across the Pond on Friday, March 29, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Inspired by the exhibitions A Sporting Vision: The Paul Mellon Collection of British Sporting Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Their Times: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the evening will offer visitors opportunities to experience art in new and unexpected ways with live performances, interactive gallery activities, and food and beverage specials.
Live Performances
English Country Dancing Lesson Led by Susan Kevra
Auditorium, 6:00–6:45 p.m.
Susan Kevra is an internationally recognized Nashville-based dance caller, musician, and singer who teaches contra, square dances, English country dancing, and French dancing. She is an accomplished clarinetist and a member of the band Old World Charm School, which performs French café music and English country dance tunes. She has choreographed a dozen English dances and counting, including “Trip to Provence” and “Moonflower,” which are making their way onto dance floors and ball programs in the US and England. She is also a professor of French and American studies at Vanderbilt University, where she teaches a class called “American Social History through Dance.”
Stick Horse Dressage Performance by Central Tennessee Dressage Association
Auditorium, 7:00–7:20 p.m.
The equestrian scenes of A Sporting Vision will come alive in this fun, interactive demonstration of the Olympic sport of dressage. Members of the Central Tennessee Dressage Association (CTDA) will use wooden stick horses to demonstrate the movements of the sport, which traces its roots to classical Greek horsemanship. The performance will include a four-horse quadrille and a discussion of the origins and principles of dressage.
Birdtalker
Auditorium, 7:30–8:45 p.m.
Birdtalker is a Nashville-based quintet of friends and family. Born from the marriage of Zack and Dani Green, the band formed in 2012 with members Brian Seligman, Andy Hubright, and Jesse Baker and quickly gained a wide national following with their approachable, harmony-laden acoustic folk songs. On their 2018 debut full-length album One, the band merges organic instrumentation and reflective lyrics with indie rock sensibilities.
Programs
Mini-Tours of Van Gogh, Monet, Degas and Their Times, A Sporting Vision, and Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing
Throughout the evening, Frist docents will lead brief tours through current exhibitions.
Gallery Talks with Iroquois Steeplechase
Marianne Byrd from the Iroquois Steeplechase will discuss the history of horse racing and the hunt in Nashville. Also, register to win a tailgating space at the 78th Iroquois Steeplechase! About the Iroquois Steeplechase: The iconic sporting event has been Nashville’s rite of spring since 1941. Held the second Saturday of each May at Percy Warner Park, the annual event attracts more than 25,000 spectators and is Music City’s celebration of time-honored traditions, Tennessee hospitality and Southern fashions. The event also supports several philanthropic causes with more than $10 million donated to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt since 1981. Learn more about Steeplechase.
“Docupoetry” Writing Activity with Vanderbilt Creative Writing
Join Vanderbilt Creative Writing for a hands-on activity in Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing.
Otis James Pop-Up
Learn to tie a bow tie with Otis James, maker of handcrafted neckties, bow ties, caps, and more.
Food and Beverage
In the lobby:
- VonElrod’s will offer complimentary “Bangers and Mash” tastings.
- TailGate Brewery will offer complimentary tastings of “Snakebite” lager/cider.
In the courtyard:
- Food Trucks: Bob’s Fish Fry, Il Forno Wood Fired Pizza, S’more Love Bakery, and Daddy’s Dogs will serve food and beverages, 6:00–8:30 p.m.
Admission
Admission to this Frist Friday is free for Frist Art Museum members and visitors 18 years and younger. General adult admission is $20 for not-yet-members and $15 for college students.
Advance general adult admission tickets for not-yet-members will go on sale Tuesday, March 5, at 10 a.m. at FristArtMuseum.org/FristFriday. Discounted tickets for seniors and military will be available only at the door.
Exhibitions on View during Frist Friday: Across the Pond
Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Their Times: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
February 2–May 5, 2019
Ingram Gallery
Offering more than seventy works by masters such as Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Henri Rousseau, and Vincent van Gogh, this exhibition celebrates Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon’s extraordinary gift of French nineteenth and early twentieth-century art to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. With its core of Impressionist paintings, the collection also comprises masterpieces from every important school of French art, from Romanticism through the School of Paris. These works represent more than 150 years of art and exemplify the Mellons’ personal vision and highly original acquisition strategies, which provide a context for understanding this unique collection.
Organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
A Sporting Vision: The Paul Mellon Collection of British Sporting Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
February 2–May 5, 2019
Ingram Gallery
With representative masterpieces of the genre—including works by Sir Francis Grant, John Frederick Herring, Benjamin Marshall, George Morland, and George Stubbs—this exhibition celebrates Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon’s gift of British sporting art to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and marks an opportunity to view the entire breadth of this outstanding and comprehensive collection. It also proposes a fresh look at sporting art within wider social and artistic contexts, including the scientific and industrial revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries, the transformation of the British countryside, the evolutionary history of the horse and other animals, and society’s changing habits and customs.
Organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Claudio Parmiggiani: Dematerialization
February 2–May 5, 2019
Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery
Italian artist Claudio Parmiggiani (b. 1943) resists classification. Though associated with the Arte Povera movement and conceptualism of the 1960s and ’70s, he works somewhere in between. His art evokes universal themes of time, absence, memory, and silence, while drawing on classical references as well as the subtle quietude of paintings by Giorgio Morandi. Parmiggiani’s signature process of delocazione (displacement) was originally inspired by the silhouettes of dust left behind after objects were removed. For more than forty years, Parmiggiani has created his own version of this effect by stoking the flames from controlled combustions, filling rooms with smoke and capturing the outlines of objects in the resulting soot. Mirroring the technical process of photograms, these haunting images record the paradoxical presence of objects now absent. This will be the artist’s first museum exhibition in the United States.
Organized by the Frist Art Museum
Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing
March 15–May 27, 2019
Upper-Level Galleries
Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) is recognized as one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century, and her insightful and compassionate work has exerted a profound influence on the development of modern documentary photography. With hardship and human suffering as a consistent theme throughout her career, Lange created arresting portraits with the aim of sparking reform. This is the first exhibition to examine her work through the lens of social and political activism, presenting iconic photographs from the Great Depression, the grim conditions of incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II, and inequity in our judicial system in the 1950s. The exhibition encompasses approximately 130 vintage and modern photographs and personal memorabilia, including a handwritten letter from author John Steinbeck. Portions of a documentary produced by one of Lange’s granddaughters will also be on view.
Organized by the Oakland Museum of California
Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing is supported in part by the Oakland Museum Women’s Board, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Susie Tompkins Buell Fund, Ann Hatch and Paul Discoe, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, and Peter Rossi/Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.
Sponsor Acknowledgment
Tasting Sponsors: TailGate Brewery and Von Elrod’s
Media Sponsors: Lightning 100 and the Nashville Scene
The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
About the Frist Art Museum
Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Frist Art Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art exhibition center dedicated to presenting and originating high-quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach activities. Located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., the Frist Art Museum offers the finest visual art from local, regional, national, and international sources in exhibitions that inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways. The Frist Art Museum’s Martin ArtQuest Gallery features interactive stations relating to Frist Art Museum exhibitions. Information on accessibility can be found at FristArtMuseum.org/accessibility. Gallery admission is free for visitors 18 and younger and for members; $15 for adults; $10 for seniors and college students with ID; and $8 for military. College students are admitted free Thursday and Friday evenings (with the exception of Frist Fridays), 5:00–9:00 p.m. Groups of 10 or more can receive discounts with advance reservations by calling 615.744.3247. The galleries, café, and gift shop are open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.; and Sundays, 1:00–5:30 p.m., with the café opening at noon. For additional information, call 615.244.3340 or visit FristArtMuseum.org.