OPEN gallery, the first local art gallery run by university students, is a step toward making a stamp in the art world for Lipscomb’s art department.
The gallery will showcase more than Lipscomb students’ art.
Students are going beyond Lipscomb and Nashville to find artists. Mariel Bolton, a senior studio art major, said they are looking “anywhere we can find someone that we really appreciate their work.”
Bolton and six other art majors serve on the student board that operate OPEN gallery.
She said the board’s goal is “to find work that is new and innovative that Nashville is not used to seeing.”
The first exhibition on Sept. 1 was called “The Rehearsal” and featured artist Joel Parsons, whose work includes sculpture, installation and performance.
Parsons performed a piece from his Ballet Projects.
Associate Professor Rocky Horton said he thinks the gallery will help Lipscomb art students compete on a higher level in the Nashville art scene. But that’s not all.
“OPEN will allow Lipscomb art students to gain valuable experience in the business side of the art world,” Horton said, adding that it “will allow students to gain experience curating exhibits, selecting artists and acting as managers and operators.”
The gallery is located in the Arcade, which is on 5th Avenue North in downtown Nashville.
You can visit OPEN gallery in the Arcade during every Art Crawl–an event in which local artists and companies open their doors at the Arcade for the public to browse their work and even buy a piece. Art Crawl happens on the first Saturday of every month and is free to the public.
During the next Art Crawl on Oct. 6, OPEN will have artist Jen Delos Reyes, an artist originally from Canada. The show will have her conceptual work.
To follow and learn more information about OPEN, you can like the gallery’s Facebook page and follow them on Twitter.