Arts in the Airport 20th Exhibition
Statement of Purpose
For the past ten years, the Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville and the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority (McGhee Tyson Airport) have partnered to present a biannual exhibition entitled “Arts in the Airport”. This juried exhibition was developed to allow regional artists to compete and display work in the most visited site in the area. The selected art features contemporary 2- and 3-dimensional artwork and will be displayed October 25, 2018 – April 17, 2019.
Juror Jordan Ahlers, owner and director of Momentum Gallery in Asheville, NC, provided this statement about the exhibition:
The breadth of the work submitted for the Arts in the Airport exhibition was impressive – it is incredible testament to the talent and creativity present in East Tennessee. Narrowing the exhibition down to 48 proved the most challenging. I originally selected multiple works by a number of the featured artists, to add greater interest and context to the collection shown. Ultimately, the available space dictates the number of works, so this selection is a representation of the artists that created them.
Art is highly subjective, and I chose works I have a personal response to: nature-based or works with environmental commentary, figurative works that convey narrative and personality of their subjects, abstractions with strong compositions and satisfying surfaces, and works that depict a slice of nostalgia and/or history, ever present in this area. I like the intricate detailing and whimsy I find in some of these works as well as the intensity and pathos in others. Overall, the collection represents the beauty that can be captured through visual expression, and I hope everyone who views this collection can take away some sense of inspiration and shared experience.
The following artists’ works are on display: Lynda Best, Alan Brock, Sharon Buck, Yvonne Dalschen, Nick DeFord, Karen Ann Hummel DuGuay, Katharine Emlen, Robert Felker, Alan Finch, Diane H. Fox, Elena Ganusova, Carl Gombert, Giles R. Hammat, Clay Hardwick, David A. Johnson, Gary R. Johnson, Mari Cardwell Jones, Judith Kinzy, Doug Lawrence, Iryna Lialko, Bill Long, Alyssa Nealon, Tom Owens, Hei Park, Tatiana Potts, Gunnar Quist, Julie L. Rabun, Lennie Robertson, Caitlin Ryan, Betsy Spooner, Robert H. Thompson, Bill Timm, Rick Whitehead, Brandon Woods, Rodney Yardley, Conny Zhao, and Steve Zigler.
