Exhibition Introduction

The Artist's Voice : An exhibition featuring Tennessee artists with disabilities presents paintings, prints, sculptures, digital art, and documentary film created by emerging and professional Tennessee artists who are living with disabilities. The exhibition recognizes the need for these artists to give voice to their experiences, while celebrating the aesthetic quality of their works as well as the ideas and emotions they represent.

The works in this exhibition have an expressive force and sense of beauty that transcend any limitations that might be imposed by their makers' disabilities. At the same time, however, the works, and in many instances the artists' choice of media, are informed by their circumstances. Some directly or indirectly explore the artists' daily struggles of living with a disability. Other works convey a positive outlook rich with vitality and raw energy; often, this is achieved through the employment of bright, bold color. Intertwining themes of strength, resilience, fragility, contentment, and endurance can be seen throughout this exhibition. Though each work stands on its own artistic merit, the individual stories of their creators make the art even more engaging and awe inspiring.

The participating artists' backgrounds are diverse. Some hold degrees in the fine arts, while others are self-taught or participate in art classes in guided therapeutic environments. The honesty, power, and spirit of their art, however, are the qualities they have in common.

Susie Elder