|
Dear Friends of the KMA,
I think we can officially celebrate the arrival of Spring…right?! With hopes there are no more surprise freezes to chill the burgeoning blooms, I send my warmest greetings to our friends of the KMA. I am now a few months clear of my one-year anniversary at the Museum, and Anita, Maija and I feel more like natives than ever before (any yet, I still need to find a proper Volunteer Orange three-piece suit :-). I last wrote you in Autumn 2024, and much has taken place as we said farewell to 2024 and welcomed a 2025 that has been filled with more bluster than we could have imagined. Regardless of the changing of seasons and cultural climates, I remain grateful to all of you who continue to support the KMA with such passion and resolve. We need to band together to preserve and propel what matters most, and a year in Knoxville has shown me just how much this community cares.
This past December presented my first opportunity to experience Holiday Homes Tour up close and personal, and I can now see why it has become a Knoxville phenomenon, with nary an unsold ticket to be had! This particular Tour marked the 30th Anniversary of the event, as well as the culmination of Barbara Apking’s legendary run as lead HHT Curator. Barbara has built Holiday Homes Tour into one of the city’s most anticipated and enjoyable events of the season, and I extend a standing ovation to Barbara for her dedication, passion, insight, and her extraordinary ability to find gem after gem in this city we call home. Alongside many pioneering thinkers and doers in the Guild, she has crafted a festive platform for us to better know our neighbors, discover new parts of the city, and embrace a breadth of architecture and design. Cheers to you Barbara, and thank you!
The dawn of a new year signals a time for both reflection and resolution as we contemplate fresh ways of growing and evolving. What better context to open 2025 with the exhibition States of Becoming, a group show of 17 artists thoughtfully organized by Ethiopian-born, Baltimore-based guest curator Fitsum Shebeshe. This show featured artists from across the African & Caribbean diaspora, including the multimedia Kenyan-Liberian artist Miatta Kawinzi who was born and raised in Nashville, TN. Miatta performed a resonant musical piece at the opening of the exhibition – an event which also integrated food by Tarik Becha’s North African Cuisine and the honey-lime elixir known as “Dawa” as our signature cocktail. This multi-pronged intersection speaks powerfully to the KMA’s unique capacity to place the local into conversation with national and global currents. I thank all of those who celebrated with us, and encourage members to come out for our next opening on May 15th, which will once again marry art, performance, food & drink into the dynamic launch of a group exhibition curated by the KMA’s Kelsie Conley.
Many of our guests love to create art as much as they enjoy observing and interpreting what the KMA presents. I invite you, and all of our members of all ages to visit the Museum’s newly refreshed creative space, now called Aubrey Jaye’s Art Play. Thanks to the generous philanthropy of a pair of longstanding donors, this dynamic hub reopened this past February – adding a new digital easel to our popular lite brite wall, and surrounding every aspiring artist with newly commissioned installations by Carl Gombert, Jean Hess, Annie Rochelle, Denise Stewart Sanabria, and Paris Woodhull. The KMA’s Education Department stewarded this process with kindness, rigor, and thoughtfulness and I want to pay special tribute to the KMA’s recently retired, and much beloved Director of Education Rozz Martin. In 2025 DeLena Feliciano has very ably taken on the mantle as our new Director, but Rozz leaves a singular legacy that can only be achieved through 30+ years of service. There will never be another quite like her; thank you Rozz for all you did to make this museum a better place.
I also want to sincerely thank Maggie Meyers, who invested 12 years of herself into the Development Department at the KMA. Over her tenure she became our database whisperer, staff mom, and was especially gifted in working with the Guild on their signature events. Maggie’s work ethic and attention to detail is matched only by her abundant Southern charm, and the ability to treat everyone she worked with like family. We will miss her dearly, but wish Maggie the absolute best in her new role at Keep Knoxville Beautiful.
Thankfully our Development team continues to excel and exceed, and I wholeheartedly congratulate them on so splendidly presenting yet another record-breaking L’Amour du Vin this past March. LDV has grown into a multi-month, multi-event extravaganza that translates an exquisite marriage of art, cuisine, and revelry into crucial resources for the KMA to operate. It truly takes a village to organize and succeed, led masterfully by Director of Fundraising Events Taylor Broyles at the helm, with stellar assistance by Executive Administrator Chelsea Lloyd and super-intern Brynn Eckmann. Our LDV co-chairs, Melissa & Randy Burleson as well as Tracy and Brian Krase also deserve heartfelt thanks, as do you – our patrons, members and supporters – who return year-after-year to blend a love of wine with love for the Knoxville Museum of Art. A massive cheers to you!
May will be a busy, vibrant month for the KMA as we open the aforementioned exhibition Electricity for All on May 15th, and then welcome the heat (for real this time!) with our Beverly Hills Hotel-inspired party Summer Soiree on May 17th. I welcome you to join us, sip on a technicolor drink, chat with new friends, and find inspiration in the art all around us.
All my very best,
| 
