Art
The Cheekwood Collection
The Cheek family collected and carefully displayed a collection comprised of decorative arts, paintings, furniture, textiles, silver and books. Today, The Cheekwood Collection encompasses the Cheek family collection and archival materials, as well as paintings, works on paper, sculpture, decorative arts and niche collections amassed since the opening of Cheekwood to the public in 1960. Masterpieces include the largest collection of William Edmondson sculptures, Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth’s portraits of each other, fine examples by American impressionists Childe Hassam, John White Alexander and William Merritt Chase, as well as paintings and works on paper by The Eight, an early twentieth-century artist collective in New York City.
William Glackens (American, 1870-1938). Village on the Seine No. 2, 1925. Oil on canvas. Gift of an anonymous donor in honor of the 2004 Collectors Group
Cheekwood is currently conducting a Foundation for Collections Access project that has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project and on this website, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Outdoor Sculpture Collection/Ann & Monroe Carell Jr. Family Sculpture Trail
Cheekwood offers a unique environment in which to experience outdoor contemporary sculpture. The permanent collection features a diverse range of artworks—many commissioned specifically for the institution—created by regionally, nationally, and internationally recognized artists from Germany, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and installed across the institution’s 55-acre estate.
Siah Armajani (American, born Iran, 1939). The Glass Bridge for Nashville, 2003. Glass, steel on concrete foundation. Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Irvin Small. 2003.1.
Martin Shallenberger Artist-in-Residence Program
The Cheekwood Martin Shallenberger Artist-in-Residence program brings national and international artists to Nashville to create and exhibit site-specific works at Cheekwood, while allowing artists the opportunity to interact with staff, visitors, and the arts community throughout the creative process. With its renowned museum and gardens, Cheekwood offers the Martin Shallenberger Artist-in-Residence a unique resource which broadly reflects nature and sustainability within a global art practice. The residency program provides living arrangements for the artist while he or she are in residency. Mr. Shallenberger’s connection with Cheekwood has great length and significance. In June 1971, Shallenberger, the artist, exhibited 40 paintings at Cheekwood. Visitors who attended this exhibition were afforded a worldly experience with Shallenberger’s renderings of New York, Paris, Florence, Amsterdam, and Cologne. As a citizen of the world, he enjoyed experiencing and capturing the many sites he visited on canvas. Shallenberger knew the world of art had and would continue to expand without borders. The residence program is made possible with the generous support of a private foundation.
Current Exhibitions
Chihuly at Cheekwood
July 18, 2020 – January 10, 2021
Chihuly at Cheekwood celebrates the 10th anniversary of Chihuly’s 2010 blockbuster success at Cheekwood while also commemorating the 60th anniversary of Cheekwood as a public institution.
Chihuly at Cheekwood features large-scale installations in the gardens of the historic estate as well as pedestal works presented in the art galleries. Outdoor installations include two pieces on the newly-accessible Ann & Monroe Carell Jr. Family Sculpture Trail, as well as two new, site-specific works created for this exhibition. A monumental sculpture is on view in the Frist Learning Center Great Hall.
Visitors may view the exhibition during the daytime as well as well as during evening hours on select Thursdays through Sundays.
Dale Chihuly, Fiori Boat, 2018 © Chihuly Studio
En Plein Air
July 18 – September 6, 2020
Painting en plein air, meaning “in the open air”, was a core practice for artists in Europe in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century. In America, beginning with the Hudson River School, to the American impressionists, painting in the outdoors became an integral part of art education. Intrepid painters—developing the ability to quickly capture effects of light—made sometimes arduous journeys to study landscapes at magnificent sites. In this spirit of traditional plein air painting, Cheekwood invites distinguished Nashville artists to gather across the grounds as a public display of painterly talent and nature appreciation, creating original work for a juried exhibition entitled En Plein Air. Drawing on the reopening of Cheekwood’s fifty-five acres, this exhibition of work made outdoors across the estate explores the variety of inventive ways in which enraptured artists record their moments in nature.
En Plein Air features works by Stacy Beam, Richard Bowers, Kristen Condurelis, Kimberly Daniel, Carol Demumbrum, Dale Finley, Michael Griffin, Megan Lightell, Brian Proud, Jessica Lewis, Renée Rosati, Seth Tummins and Dawn Whitelaw.
En Plein Air is organized by Campbell Mobley, Curator of Paintings and Works on Paper, Cheekwood. En Plein Air is juried by Mobley, James W. Tottis, VP of Museum Affairs, and Katelyn Bennett, Curator of Furniture, Decorative Arts and Architecture.
@home
July 22 – September 20, 2020
@home invites visitors to reflect upon the past, observe the present, and hope for the future through the work of three Nashville artists, Nuveen Barwari, Alex Blau, Paul Collins and KJ Schumacher, as they encountered what Collins refers to as The Great Pause. In times of a global pandemic, art can save us. It can enlighten, inspire, and empower. When Cheekwood reopens its indoor spaces for the first time in over four months, visitors will be welcomed with open arms through the power of art. The exhibition will feature new, original work created by the artists during the period of isolation, this pause, this temporary stop, a moment to linger a little longer in the present.
@home is organized by Campbell Mobley, Curator of Paintings and Works on Paper, Cheekwood.
Nuveen Barwari is a Kurdish American multidisciplinary artist. Barwari’s art is influenced by her family histories, being born in the United States in 1995, and spending her adolescent years in Duhok, Kurdistan. She received a BS in Studio Art from Tennessee State University in 2019 and is a 2022 MFA candidate at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
Alex Blau is an artist and educator living in Nashville, TN. Blau has had solo shows at several venues, including Firecat Projects in Chicago, Gallery Seomi in Seoul, Mark Moore Gallery in Santa Monica, Kevin Bruk Gallery in Miami, Barbara Davis Gallery in Houston and the New Britain Museum of American Art. Blau is a member of the COOP Curatorial Collective and teaches at Vanderbilt University and Austin Peay State University.
Paul Collins is an artist and teacher in Nashville, TN. Paul has an MFA from Yale University and has been a resident at Skowhegan, the MacDowell Colony, the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Hambidge Center and the Vermont Studio Center. Paul teaches at Austin Peay State University.
KJ Schumacher lives and works in Nashville, TN. He studied Art History, Fine Arts and Painting at Parsons School of Design in Paris and the George Washington University in Washington D.C., where earned the Presidential Arts Scholarship, graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts and received his Master’s of Fine Arts in 2016 from the Transart Institute in New York and Berlin. Schumacher’s work is included in prominent collections throughout the Southeast and has been exhibited in solo and groups shows in Nashville, Los Angeles, London, New York, Berlin, and Miami.
KJ Schumacher. c034, 2020. Collage.
Cheekwood’s Riverview Gardens and Art Installation at Riverfront Park
Since 2015, Cheekwood has been partnering with the Metropolitan Government to present a garden and art installation at Riverfront Park. Cheekwood contributes to the overall care and oversight of the garden, maintaining the perennial plants and regularly installing annual plants that mirror the coinciding displays at Cheekwood. For example, in spring, Riverview Gardens features thousands of tulips reflecting the 150,000 blooming bulbs at Cheekwood.
© Jaume Plensa, Courtesy Galerie LeLong, New York