Painted during the Works Progress Administration (WPA) era of the 1930s, this scene reflects a broader American Regionalist interest in everyday life and community during the Great Depression. The Federal Art Project supported thousands of artists and encouraged depictions of local environments and ordinary people, sustaining artists while documenting American social landscapes. Born in Louisville and raised in Nashville, American artist Meyer R. Wolfe often depicted working-class and African American life in the city and the experiences he observed around him. In “The Conversation,” the simple act of two women talking beside a clothesline becomes quietly symbolic of domestic labor, neighborhood connection, and shared resilience he witnessed during the difficult Jim Crow era. Two Black women stand together in a yard beside a clothesline heavy with freshly washed garments. Their bodies lean slightly toward each other as if absorbed in quiet conversation. They are placed near the center of the composition, their dark silhouettes contrasted against the lighter cloth that hangs in soft shapes behind them. A wooden fence and modest buildings frame the space, while a church steeple rises in the background against a dim, evening sky. The setting suggests an ordinary residential neighborhood (likely Nashville, where the artist grew up). The women’s posture and proximity emphasize intimacy and trust rather than spectacle. We observe the moment almost as a passerby might, catching a private exchange at the end of the day. This painting was included in the Frist Art Museum’s survey exhibition “The Art of Tennessee,” where it illustrated Jewish American Wolfe’s role in portraying regional life in the American South.

“The Conversation” by Meyer R. Wolfe (American) - Oil on panel / c. 1930s - Frist Art Museum (Nashville, Tennessee) #WomenInArt #MeyerRWolfe #Wolfe #FristArtMuseum #AmericanArt #WPAArt #MeyerWolfe #artText #art #AmericanRegionalism #BlueskyArt #1930sArt #PortraitOfWomen #TheFrist #AmericanArtist

The title "April" depicts a person described by the American artist Elise Kendrick as a content creator, former podcaster, and bassist to place a specific person inside a painting that, at first glance, seems like only a universal icon of beauty and rest. Created during the pandemic as Kendrick began her “The Aunties” series, the portrait carries the feeling of finding community through screens with a face held close and a private breath made public. The close-up portrait shows a Black woman with medium-brown skin and a full, natural dark afro that fans outward like a halo. Her brows are thick and arched. Her eyes are closed, chin lifted, and deep plum lips part slightly to reveal white teeth, suggesting a moment of release. Kendrick renders her face and neck in radiant bands of orange, gold, green, and violet, with crisp highlights along the cheekbones and nose and cool shadows along the neck. She wears a plain white t-shirt. Behind her, a patterned field repeats jars labeled “Black Magic” in layered blues and purples, like wallpaper, with scratchy, hand-drawn lines. The repeated “Black Magic” jars fold the Black salon into the picture plane. They nod to the alchemy of modern haircare including oils, gels, edge control, and curl creams and likely to a reclaimed language of power, where “magic” names skill, inheritance, and self-definition rather than stereotype. April’s lifted head and closed eyes become an insistence on softness without apology to take up space, be seen, and choose ease. Shown in the Frist Art Museum’s micro-exhibition "Elise Kendrick: Salon Noir," Kendrick’s bright palette and graphic patterning extend her Nashville-based practice of honoring women of color and the cultural meanings carried in hairstyle, texture, and routine. The highlights and the repeating, label-like jars feel like they might be visual shorthand for the salon as both workplace and sanctuary, and for Black hair as culture, craft, and pride.

“April” by Elise Kendrick (American) - Mixed media / 2021 - Frist Art Museum (Nashville, Tennessee) #WomenInArt #EliseKendrick #Kendrick #MixedMedia #artText #BlueskyArt #AfricanAmericanArt #BlackWomen #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #BlackArtist #BlackArt #FristArtMuseum #WomenPaintingWomen

Elise Kendrick, a Nashville-based artist, created “Knotty by Nature” in 2022 at a moment when her work was gaining wider recognition for its focus on celebrating Black identity, natural hair, and cultural heritage. Working in acrylic on birch panel, Kendrick fuses traditional portraiture with modern textures, layering rich colors and carving depth into this close-up portrait of a young Black woman turned to face us. Her hair is styled in several small, coiled bantu knots across her crown, each carefully detailed. Her skin glows with layered tones of deep browns, ochre, and gold, blended with hints of blue and green that add depth and radiance. The woman’s large almond-shaped eyes look steadily outward beneath defined brows, while her full lips are almost closed. Light falls gently, highlighting her cheekbones and jawline, while shadows contour her neck. Enriching contemporary portraiture with authenticity, cultural grounding, and unapologetic self-expression, the painting reflects both personal and collective narratives for Kendrick’s lived experience as a Black woman navigating questions of beauty, resilience, and representation. By centering Black women in dignified, powerful portraits, Kendrick challenges narrow standards of beauty and affirms natural hair for creativity and pride. At the time, Kendrick was active in community art spaces in Nashville, participating in group exhibitions and contributing to conversations around representation in Southern museums. Her work resonated in the wake of broader cultural movements affirming Black identity and confronting systemic erasure in art history. “Knotty by Nature” conveys dignity and strength while celebrating natural beauty and cultural identity. It embodies Kendrick’s commitment to presenting Black women not as subjects of exoticism or stereotype, but as individuals whose presence commands respect and intimacy.

“Knotty by Nature” by Elise Kendrick (American) - Acrylic on birch panel / 2022 - Frist Art Museum (Nashville, Tennessee) #WomenInArt #WomanArtist #AcrylicArt #artText #art #WomensArt #WomenArtists #EliseKendrick #AfricanAmericanArt #Kendrick #Frist #AfricanAmericanArtist #beauty #FristArtMuseum

Baltimore-based American artist LaToya Hobbs carves stylized woodblocks of Black women with a perspective that rest is a fundamental human right. Hobbs described her professional focus on rest and relaxation as “The act of carving and its removal of material carries symbolic meaning related to the carving away of negativity and stereotypes needed to reveal the real version of oneself.” In “Erin and Anyah with Hydrangeas,” Hobbs’ young stepdaughter and niece, look directly at us with calm expressions of confidence and hope. Their bodies intertwined in a tender embrace, one rests her head on the other’s shoulder, set against a backdrop of stylized puffy white flowers and foliage decorating a pinstriped backdrop. The positioning and arrangement emphasize the closeness and shared connection between the two young Black women with gold color accents for their braided hair, necklaces, earrings, and bracelet. It’s a personal moment taken from an original photograph by the artist’s husband Ariston Jacks giving us a sense of the cousin’s closeness and empathy. Often using her family, friends, and even herself as subjects, Hobbs creates densely textured prints and paintings depicting quiet moments of affection and connection. Gouged with impeccably thin lines and delicate crosshatching, Hobbs’ works evidence the artist’s laborious process and profound admiration for the tactile, in both the tangible, ridged properties of her carvings and the connections elicited by human touch. She received her B.A. in Painting from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and M.F.A. in Printmaking from Purdue University. As we see in this beautiful piece, her work deals with figurative imagery that addresses the ideas of beauty, cultural identity, and womanhood as they relate to women of the African Diaspora.

“Erin and Anyah with Hydrangeas” by LaToya Hobbs (American) - Acrylic and collage on carved wood panel / 2023 - Frist Art Museum (Nashville, Tennessee) #WomenInArt #Art #WomanArtist #WomensArt #WomenArtists #AfricanAmericanArtist #BlackArtist #FemaleArtist #FristArtMuseum #LaToyaHobbs #CarvedArt

A high school student’s multimedia art work, showing a black&white drawing of a young lady holding a real pink dress, that has its hem coming out of a colored painting of a poor, young girl sewing in a sweatshop. Wow!

This amazing work of #art titled “The Price You Pay” by high school student Anna McDowell of Hendersonville, #Tennessee was 1 of 33 in the “Young Tennessee #Artists 2024” exhibit currently on display at the #FristArtMuseum in #Nashville.

There were other […]

[Original post on mstdn.science]

Went to a air museum a few weeks ago thought it was cool #fristartmuseum

A photo of an interior exhibition space showing a group of college students on the right and a woman with long golden hair and glasses on the left. The woman on the left is speaking to the group of students and stands in front of a large work of art in canvas form on the wall.

The Multiplicity #exhibition at the #fristartmuseum is a great show. Highly recommend it! We were lucky enough to get a tour from the curator (talking to my class here), exhibition designer, and director of education.