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36 art exhibits you don’t want to miss in Nashville in 2023

Current and upcoming exhibitions in Music City

New art exhibitions coming the the Frist Art Museum and more.

View of Jeffrey Gibson’s “Red Moon, Desert Sky, Red Sunset” at SITE Santa Fe. | Photo by Shayla Blatchford courtesy of SITE Santa Fe

Table of Contents

Celebrate Nashville’s art scene this year by wandering through new exhibits and viewing paintings, sculptures, photographs, mixed media, and other artwork by local, regional, and international artists. We’ve compiled a list of current and upcoming exhibitionscategorized by museum or art gallery — to put on your calendar this year. 🖼️

This list is not comprehensive, and it’s possible new exhibitions will be announced as the year goes on. Did we miss an exhibit you’re looking forward to this year? Let us know.

Museums and more

Frist Art Museum

  • Jeffrey Gibson: The Body Electric | Feb. 3-April 23 | Artist Jeffrey Gibson’s paintings, sculpture, video, installations, and a large site-specific mural
  • Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature | April 7-Sept. 17 | Author and illustrator Beatrix Potter’s (“The Tale of Peter Rabbit”) letters, photographs, sketches, and watercolors
  • Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art | May 26-Aug. 13 | The guitar’s symbolism in American art from the early 19th century to present day
  • Ron Jude: 12 Hz | May 26-Aug. 13 | Large-scale photographs made in Oregon, California, Hawaii, and Iceland
  • The Power of Resilience | Aug. 25-Dec. 31 | Highlighting the work of adult artists with disabilities at five Middle Tennessee organizations
  • Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage | Sept. 15-Dec. 31 | 75 major collage and collage-informed works that explore Black identity
  • Raqib Shaw: Ballads of East and West | Sept. 15-Dec. 31 | Featuring the intricately-detailed paintings of Raqib Shaw
  • Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500-1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection | Oct. 20-Jan. 28 | Paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s collection of Spanish colonial art
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Grant Wood’s (1891-1942) “Fertility,” gift of the Estate of John and Margaret Hill from The Agrarian Spirit exhibition at Cheekwood | Photo courtesy of Cheekwood

Cheekwood Estate & Gardens

  • Spanning the Atlantic: The Arts & Crafts Movement in America | Jan. 28-April 2 | The second of a two-part series examining the international Arts and Crafts movement
  • The Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Ruralism and Regionalism in American Art | Jan. 28-May 14 | Highlighting agrarian imagery produced in the US between 1920 and 1950
  • LIGHT: Bruce Munro | May 4-Oct. 27 | Immersive outdoor light installations and indoor gallery experiences
  • Carmen Herrera: Estructuras | May 4-Sept. 3 | Colorful, geometric sculptures by artist Carmen Herrera

Centennial Art Center

  • Alphabet Soup | Feb 3.-March 23 | A collection of calligraphy, abstract painting, and ceramic art

Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art

  • The Parthenon | Jan. 27-May 7 | Featuring the works of painter Lakesha Moore, sculptor Desmond Lewis, and photographer Houston Cofield
  • Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery | Jan. 27-May 7 | Women scholars, curators, and visual artists showcase novel interpretation of the past
  • Fisk University Galleries | March 1-May 27 | Solo exhibition featuring work by Alicia Henry
  • Cheekwood | March 1-May 7 | Three aluminum sculptures by Elizabeth Turk for the Ann & Monroe Carell, Jr. Family Sculpture Trail
  • Frist Art Museum | Feb. 3-April 23 | Featuring the work of Nigerian Belgian artist Otobong Nkanga

Tennessee State Museum

  • STARS: Statewide Elementary Exhibition | Through June 11 | Art created by kindergarten-5th grade students in Tennessee
  • A Better Life for Their Children | Feb. 24-May 21 | Traveling photography exhibition showcasing the photography of Andrew Feiler of 105 Rosenwald schools
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Frank Brinkley & Charles Brinkley, Sr. — educators, brothers, and former Rosenwald School students. | Photo by Andrew Feiler courtesy of the Tennessee State Museum

Art galleries

Tinney Contemporary

  • Lunar | Through Feb. 25 | Immersive exhibition by lens based artist Carla Ciuffo
  • Tempter: A Group Show about Flowers | Through March 31 | Featuring the work of 18 artists
  • The Human Synthesis | March 4-April 15 | Works by multimedia artist Wesley Clark
  • Celebration | April 20-Sept. 9 | Group show for Bobby Hotel’s anniversary
  • Tiffany Calvert | April 22-June 3 | Selection of works by artist Tiffany Calvert

Red Arrow Gallery

  • Momentary | Feb. 4-25 | A group exhibition documenting life’s moments
  • Buket Savci | March 4-March 25 | Featuring the work of Brooklyn, New York-based painter Buket Savci

Chauvet Arts

  • Californian Art Invasion | Through March 25 | Featuring five distinctive California artists
  • Layers | Through March 25 | Showcasing local artist Terrell Thornhill and the engineering and art of screenprinting

Zeitgeist

  • Certainty | Feb. 4-Feb. 25 | Two dozen dynamically composed abstract paintings by artist Alex Blau

University galleries

TSU, Hiram Van Gordon Gallery

  • Faculty Triennial | Through Feb. 9 | Featuring works by 15 TSU faculty members
  • Crowning Glory | Feb. 20-March 30 | Exhibit highlights Black hair and the importance of individual expression across a range of mediums
  • Woven Wind | May 15-June 9 | Multi-layered research project drawing from artistic translations of the Lovell-Quitman archive at the University of the South

Belmont University, Gallery 121

  • Inherent Echoes | Feb. 6-24 | Solo exhibition celebrating the artistic career of alumna Mildred Jarrett
  • Convergence: A Personal Investigation of Color, Texture and Identity | March 13-May 26 | Highlighting Ashanté Kindle’s artistic process
  • 28th Annual Student Exhibition | March 13-April 7 | Professionally juried student art show
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