General Dennis L. Via to Speak at Nashville Rotary

The Nashville Rotary will have a special Rotary Veterans Day celebration honoring men and women who served in the military. The program will include a special recognition of Rotary member veterans, a presentation of colors by Vanderbilt NROTC Color Guard & a baritone soloist will deliver the national anthem. Additionally, we will honor guest WWII African-American veterans (now in their 90’s) who recently received medals for their heroic service in segregated units in WWII.

The special speaker for the Nashville Rotary on November 3, 2014, will be speaker, GEN Dennis L. Via, who became the 18th Commanding General of the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) August 7, 2012. AMC is the Army’s premier provider of materiel readiness to ensure dominant land force capability for the U.S. Warfighters and our allies.

General Dennis L. Via

General Via’s prior assignment was as AMC’s Deputy Commanding General. He deployed to Southwest Asia in October 2011 as the Commander, AMC Responsible Reset Task Force with the mission of leading the strategic integration of the Materiel Enterprise for the Retrograde of equipment and materiel out of Iraq at the conclusion of Operation New Dawn. Prior to that, he served as Director for Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems, J-6, The Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

USMC Mark McCann, Sr.(WWII Congressional Gold Medal Recipient), Mark McCann, Jr.(Iraq) and Bert Watkins (Vietnam Purple Heart)

Mr. Henry Shaw (WWII)

Along with WWII Veterans, other special Veterans in attendance to hear General Via will be the Triple Nickels, the first Black Paratroopers in the U. S. Army; Bert Watkins, USMC Purple Heart Recipient who fought courageously in the Operation Swift; Don McCasland, Army Veteran from Desert Storm, OIF, OEF, and co-founder of SAFE (Soldiers and Families Embraced) along with Co-founder, Veteran Rev. Jodi McCullah; Rick DelaHaya, Air Force Veteran who assisted communications for President Clinton and President Bush during 9-11.

 

It is worth noting that many of the guest veterans were hosts to thousands active duty members of the military, veterans, and their families who visited the Steve Mumford's War Journals 2003-2013 exhibition at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. They gave moral support and counseling while sharing their experiences with others.

Genma Holmes To Speak at Inaugural Art Camp Nashville

I am super honored to share how to help passionate volunteers find their purpose with non-profits. Music City is filled with many hearts who want to serve with their time and talents to help meet the needs of the community and individuals.

With the Middle Tennessee Region being one of the most philanthropic areas of the country, many non-profits look for ways to attract and keep engaged volunteers. Creative volunteers who are servant leaders are often looking for a purpose and do not want to be a "body for a day".

So how do we match non profits' needs with the gifts and talents of strong volunteers? Join me at the Inaugural Art Camp Nashville to hear me share from my treasure chest of ideas that worked and did not work for me as a volunteer. Also hear what I look for in a cause or non-profit to donate too and the various ways I have raised funds for several organizations.

This is going to be a "different" session but very special. I hope to see you. My session is from 2:15-3:20 at Nossi College of Art.

Follow me:
Twitter 
Facebook
#Livingtogivenow

Jennifer Cole and Rebecca Berrios on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes will celebrate Artober Nashville throughout the month of October with the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and the Metro Arts Commission. Tune in as we shine the spotlight on art, culture, history, and community.

On Saturday, October 6, 2012 join us to hear Jennifer Cole and Rebbecca Berrios of the Metropolitan Arts Commission. Hear them share how Artober Nashville has grown by leaps and bounds in less than two years and how the city of Nashville's growing art scene helps us to embrace the rich, diverse, cultural growth of our region. Jennifer and Rebecca will give us an overview of the month and share how art the art community "inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways".  Artober Nashville is a one stop portal to finding events in theater, music, art, and dance from October 1-31in Music City.
  
Living Your Best Life, radio that empowers, inspires, and motivates you to live your BEST life, is heard on 760AM in the Middle Tennessee Region, the Inspirational Network, military bases and live streamed at Ustream.TV from 9-10AM CST.

More About Jennifer Cole and Rebecca Berrios

Jennifer Cole stepped into the role of Executive Director of the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission in 2009. After success at the helm of numerous high-profile national projects with Points of Light Institute and Hands On Network, she brings a unique skill set to public art in Nashville. Cole recently released the Creative Vitality Index Report—a survey that put the creative character of this city into tangible terms. Through hard data, Cole uses this survey to tell the story of the centrality of the arts in Nashville. Gifted with a vision for the future and grounded by a sense of responsibility to Nashville’s roots, Cole is taking public art in the Music City to the next level.
Excerpt from Nashville Arts Magazine

Rebecca Berrios  is the Community Events Manager for the Metropolitian Nashville Arts. Rebecca joined Metro Arts in July 2011. Her role as community project coordinator includes managing the Gallery and the Artist Registry, coordinating Artober Nashville and leading various initiatives to expand and support the arts in Nashville.
 

 More About Artober Nashville

Artober Nashville is a month-long celebration of arts and culture in Nashville, designed to inform and inspire the community’s awareness of and participation in the array of activities during the month of October. It is held in conjunction with National Arts and Humanities Month, designated by Americans for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. The goal for Artober Nashville is for every Nashvillian to experience the arts. The Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and NowPlayingNashville partner with dozens of arts and cultural organizations throughout Nashville to highlight the depth and breadth of arts activities with official Artober Nashville events. The celebration includes all arts and cultural activities, including visual and performing arts, music, craft, film and commercial businesses that may present arts activities. Enjoy an Artober Nashville signature event during the month. Purchase an Artober VIP Pass. Find out more about the Yelp Check-In Challenge. Connect with Artober Nashville on Facebook and Twitter to share updates and events with friends and family!

History
In recognition of National Arts and Humanities Month, the Metro Nashville Arts Commission and NowPlayingNashville.com hosted the first Artober Nashville celebration in October 2011. They partnered with more than 160 arts and cultural organizations to highlight the depth and breadth of arts activities with official Artober Nashville events. More than 660 events were posted through NowPlayingNashville.com on the Artober Nashville website.

Partnering organizations included: the Nashville Symphony, Ballet, Opera; TPAC; Tennessee Repertory Theatre; Frist Center for the Visual Arts; Film Nashville; Nashville Shakespeare Festival; Street Theatre; Watkins College of Art, Design & Film; NECAT; Jazz Workshop; Southern Word; Global Education Center; Nashville Public Library; Belcourt Theatre; Arts & Business Council; Actor’s Bridge Ensemble; the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; the International Black Film Festival; Fifth Avenue of the Arts; Nashville in Harmony and Vanderbilt University.

National Arts and Humanities Month

 Every day we celebrate the arts, but October is the month to commemorate the arts in a big way. It is National Arts and Humanities Month—the largest annual celebration for the arts and humanities in the nation! National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM) is a coast-to-coast collective recognition of the importance of culture in America. It is designed to encourage all Americans to explore new facets of the arts and humanities in their lives, and to begin a lifelong habit of active participation in the arts and humanities. From hosting a Creative Conversation or arts center open house to securing a mayoral proclamation or better newspaper coverage of the arts, people in every community across the United States can celebrate NAHM by helping recognize the contributions of cultural organizations in their region.

Text INSPIRE to 99000 to win a VIP Pass
Text INSPIRE to 99000 to win a membership the Frist Center

Photo credit: Jennifer Cole/Nashville Arts Magazine
                      In Studio shots/Genma Holmes

Heritage, History, Quilts, and My Grandmother

Where did my summer go? The time flew by quickly but I am basking with the memories that I made with my grandmother over the summer. My initial summer plans were drastically altered after the Frist Center for the Visual Arts opened the Creation Story: Gee’s Bend Quilts and the Art of Thornton Dial. I went to media day with the expectation of seeing another great exhibit by the museum that I love dearly.

I had not expected to experience, at the media preview, the tidal wave of emotions that overcame me when I walked into the exhibit. Seeing the proud work of the women of Gee’s Bend hung throughout the Ingram Gallery, watching Mr. Dial sit quietly with his family, and reading the stories that accompanied the work of Bill Traylor left me in awe and grateful to the organizers of the exhibit. Each piece of art work spoke to my heritage of being raised and influenced by strong willed women in Mississippi who made a way out of no way; who saw beauty when others saw thrash or garbage; and who pushed the importance of reading as if your life depended on it. Many times, it did. By the time I made it through the colorful historical quits, Thornton Dial’s huge pieces, and the drawings of Bill Traylor, my eyes fought and lost the battle with tears. My face was revealing my internal conflict.

My tears flowed freely for people who are hidden away in rural communities all over the South. My tears were for those who created masterpieces with no formal art training, even less education. My tears were for the stories that were being told through art that embraced history and culture with abandonment. All of the art made me proud of being born and raised in the rural South. But there was a special bonding with the quilts that happened instantly. The quilts whispered my name as I stood in front of them admiring the delicate but strong workmanship. At one point, I closed my eyes tightly and visualized my grandmother sitting in her favorite chair stitching fabric together chatting away as she blocked out the world that could be cruel to a group of people tucked away in the middle of nowhere.

The exhibits awaken in me a deep longing to see my grandmother immediately. I called home several times after the media preview discussing the exhibition to my grandmother. I could hear the smile in her voice as I described the quilts to her. My grandmother added to my excitement by sharing about her grandmother who quilted also. My grandmother’s grandmother, named Big Mama, was dearly loved by our family. Her long snowy white braided hair was as famous as she. Big Mama had lived with much notoriety being one of the oldest Mississippian living for several years. She lived to the ripe young age of 109! One of Big Mama's quilts is at the Smithsonian Institute. The story of my grandmother's grandmother and my grandmother's mother history of quilting is written about in the book A Communion of Spirits by Roland L. Freeman.

My grandmother, her mother, Ma Dear; and her grandmother, Big Mama; were known quilters in our small community. My grandmother shared with me how Big Mama taught her to quilt and Ma Dear taught one of my aunts to sew. My grandmother tells me that every time we are together. But each time, I listen as if I heard it for the first time. The more my grandmother talked about her grandmother, the more I prepared for a trip home to visit my grandmother. It was two weeks from the opening of the Frist Center's Creation Story until I laid eyes on my precious grandmother.

When I walked into the nursing home where my grandmother resides, she was sitting with her back to me in the dining hall. I sneaked up behind her and whispered in her ear, “surprised!” She looked up at me and said with conviction, “I knew you were coming home!” Giving her a big hug, I realized that not only are we alike in many ways, but we have a wireless connector that speak the unspoken between the two of us. “I could hear it in your voice,” she said with a smirk. My visit home was timed perfectly to celebrate her birthday.

I spent the next few days tending to my grandmother’s every whim, spoken and unspoken. Nails manicured, new clothes, pearls, and a new do were all on the list of fun things to do with my grandmother. We celebrated her birthday in style. I invited everyone in town to come, and it felt like all they showed up. My grandmother loved the attention and was glowing from the kind words shared by many at her birthday extravaganza.

Over the next few days, we discussed quilting, “po’ people luxury items”, politics, and other colorful topics that keep me writing for years to come. She shared Ma Dear and Big Mama stories as well. Town gossip was not left off the list. We laughed at the unrepeatable and shucked and jive like two hens. My days with my grandmother came to an end much too quickly.

As my attention turned to the long goodbye, my grandmother told me, “Take what is yours back to Nashville.” Yours was a Grandfather clock that my grandmother had promised me throughout my childhood. She had mentioned the clock to me on several occasions over the years but I usually declined stating that I would get it when “that” happened. Thinking about losing my grandmother and gaining a clock was not something I found easy to talk about. The clock was not a material possession for me but a reminder of the precious time spent with my grandparents over the years and the quality of time they invested in their grandchildren, not one, but all of us.

After seeing the Gee's Bend exhibit at the Frist Center, this visit home was different. The Gee Bend’s Quilts reminded me of the importance of cultural heritage and an appreciation of family keepsakes. I called my aunts to discuss the clock going back with me and to my joy all cheered that I was finally taking possession of the clock. As I kissed my grandmother good-bye and hugged her not wanting to let go, I told her I was getting the clock. She smiled brightly and said “Don’t forget to grab you a quilt from the closet.”

As I entered my grandparents’ home on the way out of town, memories of my grandfather and grandmother came flooding back. I sat in my grandfather's chair remembering him and choked back tears at the thought of facing life without my grandmother. My aunts had cleaned and neatly organized my grandmother’s treasures. I walked over and touched the clock. The power of years of patriarchal and matriarchal love permeated me. I went into my grandmother’s bedroom and in the corner were hats that she had worn over the decades in decorative hat boxes with my name on them. Some were hats that I had given her as gifts over the years. Along with my grandmother's hats were my grandfather's fedoras he had worn daily. The boxes of hats left me stunned. I cried as I loaded the items into my truck. The priceless clock was wrapped tightly and secured. The hat boxes and bins covered the entire back cab.

My grandmother words to me before I left the nursing came to mind. I ran back into the house and opened one of her closets filled with clothes and coats. At the top of the crowded space were blankets, quilts, and comforters. I smiled to myself as I thought about my grandmother being a woman of meager means but was known for having “nice things”. I slowly unfolded a quilt from the shelf. Volunteering at the Frist made me instinctively looked around for a pair of white gloves as I handled a masterpiece. What a priceless gift I was given, a much used and very faded quilt from my grandmother.

I was deep in thought as I made my way back to Nashville. I was mentally planning another visit to my grandmother sooner than usual. I wanted to spend as much time listening to her stories and laughing about the unrepeatable. My truck was loaded with treasure rich with family history. I could not wait to get them home to start telling stories and gathering family keepsakes to pass along to my children's children.

The grandfather clock represented precious commodity call time, it's priceless value, and how everyone’s life is measured. The hats showed me how my grandparents were still giving me their best even though one is no longer with me. My grandmother’s quilt gave me a sense of responsibility to document the history and culture of my family and my community.

When I returned home, I saw the Creation Story exhibit again (and again and again). Each time I left the show, I was reminded of the power of God and how he created the women in my life who are unique and wonderfully made. My great-great grandmother, great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and aunts all made a way out of the no way and have given me spoken and unspoken directions all of my life. Like the Gee's Bend Quilts on display at the Frist Center, the women in my family are truly works of art.

The Creation Story: Gee's Bend Quitls and the Art of Thornton Dial and Bill Traylor
Drawings from the Collections of the High Museum of Art and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts

May 24-September 3


For More Info on the Folk Art Exhibit at the Frist Center click here and here.

Photo Credits: Genma Holmes

Fran Zinder, Joy Mckenzie, and Charlotta Janssen on Living Your Best Life Radio Show

Living Your Best Life Radio Show with Genma Holmes celebrates Artober Nashville with the Frist Center. Tune in as we shine the spotlight on art, culture, community and the Frist Center’s leadership that "inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways." Each week, we will hear from individuals who will share how the Frist Center carries out its mission to present and originate high quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach that have been recognized throughout Middle Tennessee, nationally, and around the world.

Living Your Best Life Radio Show can be heard on 880 AM from 10am-12noon CST in the Nashville-Middle Tennessee Area or on UStream.TV worldwide.







Join us Saturday, October 29, 2011 as we meet two fascinating and adventurous teachers, Fran Zinder and Joy McKenzie, who spent part of their summer vacation teaching students enrolled in SMART Moves (Skills Mastery and Resistance Training), a six-week summer program for kids at risk, designed to broaden their experiences and to help them in decision-making. Fran Zinder, an art teacher at Apollo Junior High School, and Joy McKenzie, a Professor at Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film, will share about their summer adventure with Apollo's teens that included a trip to the Frist Center to examine the work of photographer Vesna Pavlovic'. To learn more about their collaborative work with the teens click here.

Charlotta Janssen

We will also hear from artist Charlotta Janssen. Ms. Janssen's, Threads of a Story: History Inspiring Art, opened in Nashville on June 18, 2011 at the Nashville Public Library. Hear how the Freedom Riders mug shots (normally a sign of shame and criminality) inspired Janssen to work for a year and a half to tell their story of epic courage with paint, rust, and collages. Jannseen work has received great reviews in Nashville and is featured on Oprah.com.



To purchase copies of prints or giclees from this exhibit go here.

On Saturday, November 5, 2011, the Nashville chapter of the NAACP will host its annual Freedom Fund Gala fundraiser. This year, 11 Freedom Riders from the Nashville area will be honored by the NAACP for their bravery and enduring hardships that paved the way for desegregated travel in America.

Five other influential individuals from this time period are also being honored; Mr. George Barrett, Justice A. A. Birch, Jr. (posthumously), Rev. Dr. James Lawson, Mr. John Seigenthaler, Sr., Rev. Dr. Kelly Miller Smith, Sr. (posthumously). For more information about the event, contact 615-414-0618.

Michael McBride and Michael Brechner on Living Your Best Life Radio Show

Living Your Best Life Show with Genma Holmes celebrates Artober Nashville with the Frist Center. Tune in as we shine the spotlight on art, culture, community and the Frist Center’s leadership that "inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways." Each week, we will hear from individuals who will share how the Frist Center carries out its mission to present and originate high quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach that have been recognized throughout Middle Tennessee, nationally, and around the world.

On Saturday, October 22, 2011 we will be joined by renown artist, educator, and a member of the Frist Center Board of Trustees, Michael McBride and Director of Design & Operations for the Frist Center, Michael Brechner. Michael McBride will share how his background as an artist and an educator help guides the vision and mission of the Frist Center. Michael Brechner will take us behind the scenes and share about the implementation of an exhibit at the Frist Center. He will share details about the Frist Center exhibits that are not found in the pages of an exhibition guide.

In the Nashville-Middle Tennessee region, Living Your Best Life Radio can be heard live on 880AM and on Ustream.TV worldwide from 10am-12pm CST.


Michael McBride




Michael J. McBride, a native Tennessean, earned his undergraduate degree in art, from Tennessee State University and his graduate degree in painting from Illinois State University, where he credits Dr. Harold Gregor with providing a world class artistic mentorship. Currently, he is an instructor of art at Tennessee State University. McBride has also taught at Watkins College of Art and Design and Film school. McBride's commitment to the Nashville art world's future has always been at the forefront of his own career.

McBride has been the lead artist on many community-based projects in Nashville like the Sister Cities Mural Projects as well as Nashville International Airport's Arts in the Airport program. In addition to serving as a Trustee for the Frist Center, McBride also serves on the Board of Family and Children Services.

McBride's work was featured in Visions of My People: Sixty-years of African American art in Tennessee, an exhibit organized by the Tennessee State Museum. One of his pieces is part of their permanent collection. He was one of twelve Nashville artists selected by The Tennessean newspaper for inclusion in the Millennium 2000 Collection, a signal honor. McBride was was also chosen for Side by Side Sister Cities exhibition with Belfast, Northern Ireland. This exhibition featured 17 artists from Nashville and 17 artists from Ireland. In the summer of 2005, McBride completed a ten weeks artist in residence program in Bermuda with the Master Works Museum of Bermuda Art. His current body of work titled “Too Black Too Fast” is a traveling exhibition of art about African-American jockeys and trainers. McBride’s work is included in both private and corporate collections in the US and abroad. His work has been featured on television sitcoms, such as "Living Single", "The Wayans Bros. Show", and "The Jamie Foxx Show". McBride has also illustrated children's books and book covers for several publishing groups. To see more of Michael McBride's work click here and here .

Michael Brechner



Michael Brechner is the Director of Design & Operations at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. Mr. Brechner joined the Frist Center staff in 2004 as the Exhibition Designer. He has over 30 years of museum exhibition design experience. Before coming to Nashville, he was employed as the Chief Designer of the Cincinnati Art Museum. He has also served as the head of the design and installation departments at The Speed Art Museum (Louisville, KY), and the University of Kentucky Art Museum (Lexington, KY).


A Divine Light: Northern Renaissance Paintings from Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery; Tracey Snelling: Woman on the Run; Maria Magdalena Compos-Pons: Journeys; The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt; Lyrical Traditions: Chinese Paintings from the Papp Collection; and The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957 are among the many exhibitions that Mr. Brechner has designed for the Frist Center.

Photo Credits: Frist Center for Visual Arts, Michael McBride and Genma Holmes

Other stories and radio interviews:
Dr. Tommy Frist, Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville and Professor William Luis

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Neil Leonard, and Emily Harper Beard

Dr. Susan Edwards Knighted By Consul General of France

Susan Edwards

My Very Special Frist Center Adventure

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Neil Leonard, and Emily Haper Beard on Living Your Best Life Radio Show

Living Your Best Life Radio Show with Genma Holmes celebrates Artober Nashville with the Frist Center. Tune in as we continue to shine the spotlight on art, culture, community and the Frist Center’s leadership that "inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways."




On Saturday, October 15, 2011 we will be joined by world renown artist, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, one of the most significant artists to emerge from the Cuban post-revolutionary era, and her husband, Neil Leonard, an internationally recognized composer. The powerful artistic team and founders of G.A.S.P Gallery of Boston will share about their week-long residency at Vanderbilt which has included dual exhibits of Campos-Pons work at the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, panel discussions, receptions, and a family collaborate intimate performance art piece. The individual lectures by the artistic duo and residency are sponsored by the Vanderbilt University Department of Art, Center for Latin American Studies, Department of History of Art, Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, Program in African American and Diaspora Studies, Atlantic World Seminar, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, Neil Leonard, and the College of Arts and Science.

We will also hear from the Frist Center’s go too, hands on, out and about, Community Relations Manager, Emily Harper Beard. Emily will share how she and the Frist Center’s Education outreach team, Shaun Giles and Rosemary Swain Brunton, take the vision and mission of the Frist Center beyond its Broadway address to classrooms, non-profits, groups and organizations, and to various events throughout the Middle Tennessee region.

Living Your Best Life Radio Show can be heard on 880 AM in the Nashville-Middle Tennessee area and on Ustream.TV worldwide from 10am-12pm CST.

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons


Born in 1959, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons was raised in the Cuban province of Matanzas. Campos-Pons was educated in Cuba at the National School of Art (1976-1979) and Instituto Superior de Arte (1980-1985). She graduated from Massachusetts College of Art in 1988 and now lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with her husband, Neil Leonard and their son.

Campos-Pons creates photographs, video, and multimedia installations that tell the story of the survival of African cultures by evoking rites, myths, and narratives that have evolved through generations. Her work symbolically follows the history of the slave trade from her family’s origin in Nigeria to Cuba, where they worked in the sugar industry, to present-day Boston, where Campos-Pons now works and teaches.

Her works have been exhibited in the United States, Canada, Japan, Norway, France, Italy, and Cuba. She was represented in the Johannesburg Biennial and has had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Campos-Pons’ powerful attachment to her cultural African heritage is one that she has never experienced directly but its presence in the rites and myths of her childhood make her a Cuban transplanted in the United States, an exile twice over.

Most recently, the Guangzhou Triennial in China hosted her work. A 20-year retrospective of Campos-Pons’ work, Everything is Separated by Water: María Magdalena Campos-Pons, opened in Indianapolis in 2006 and traveled to the Bass Museum in Miami.

During her life, she has received many awards and recognitions like the "Mention of Honor", in 1986 in the XVIIIème Festival International de la Peinture, Château Musée, Cagnes Sur Mer, Francia. In 1990 Painting Fellowship, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada, in 1992 Foreign Visiting Artist Grant, Media Arts, Canada Council, Canada, in 1994 Bunting Fellowship. Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute, Radcliffe Research and Study Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A and in 1995 Art Reach 95 Award, National Congress of Art & Design, Salt Lake City, Utah, EE.UU.

While in Nashville, the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce recognized Campos-Pons for her contributions to international cultural with an award for "Outstanding Hispanic Professional Achievement Award in Art" at its 7th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration and Awards Ceremony held on Thursday, October 13, 2011.

For more info on her dual exhibits at the Frist Center and Vanderbilt go here. A list of exhibitions can be found here.

Neil Leonard


Leonard is one of the most inventive and adventuresome artist in new music today. Leonard's work has ranged from traditional jazz performance, solo concerts for saxophone and electronics, collaborations with top Cuban musicians, works for orchestra as well as sound and music for dance, theater, performance and installation.

Leonard's collaborative work with visual artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons was featured by the 49th Venice Biennial, Museum of Modern Art (NYC), purchased by the National Gallery of Canada and presented by the U.S. State Department at Dakar Biennial. Leonard composed the music for Relatives, by Tony Oursler and Constance DeJong that was featured by the Whitney Biennial and the ICA (Boston).

His ensemble and collective projects featured Marshall Allen, Bruce Barth, Don Byron, Uri Caine, Kenwood Dennard, Robin Eubanks, Frank Lacy, Oriente Lopez, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Badal Roy, Jamaaladeen Tacuma. Leonard’s "Dreaming of an Island", (for orchestra, electronics and live-video) was premiered by the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Leonard's composition Totems was premiered at Carnegie Hall by Byron and Caine. Leonard's "Echoes and Footsteps" was featured by the Tel Aviv Biennial for New Music, Issue Project Room (NYC) and the Auditorium di Roma. To learn more about the composer click here and here.

Emily Harper Beard



Emily Harper Beard, formerly Communications Coordinator at the Frist Center, recently moved into the Community Relations Manager position where she works with a variety of community groups and audiences to help promote the Frist Center’s mission. Prior to working at the Frist Center, she received her B.A. in graphic design from Middle Tennessee State University and worked at Animax Design—a puppet shop in Nashville which creates characters for live shows, film, and television. She continues to be an active artist in and supporter of Nashville’s growing arts scene.

To learn more about community partners, educational programs, and affinity days at the Frist Center click here and here.

Photos: Neil Leonard,Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Susan Edwards, and Katie Delmez;Joesph Mella and Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons; and Emily Harper Beard courtesy of Genma Holmes

CD cover, art, and photo of Campos-Pons and Leonard courtesy of Campos-Pons and Leonard

Article written by: Chuck Beard
Chuck Beard is an active volunteer in the Nashville community. He works tirelessly to bring attention to those in need by bringing the music and art community together to raise funds and awareness to causes near and dear to his heart.

Dr. Tommy Frist, Chinese Arts Alliance Nashville, and Professor William Luis on Living Your Best Life Radio Show

Living Your Best Life Show with Genma Holmes celebrates Artober Nashville with the Frist Center. Tune in as we shine the spotlight on art, culture, community and the Frist Center’s leadership that "inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways." Each week, we will hear from individuals who will share how the Frist Center carries out its mission to present and originate high quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach that have been recognized throughout Middle Tennessee, nationally, and around the world.

On Saturday, October 8, 2011, we will be joined by Dr. Tommy Frist, Jr., Chairman of the boards for The Frist Center and The Frist Foundation and Chairman Emeritus of Hospital Corporation of America; Jen-Jen Lin, Director of Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville; and Dr. William Luis Professor of Spanish at Vanderbilt University and Editor of Afro Hispanic Review. In the Nashville-Middle Tennessee region, Living Your Best Life Radio can be heard live on 880AM and on Ustream.TV worldwide from 10am-12pm CST.

Dr. Tommy Frist, Jr.

Dr. Tommy Frist will share from the annals of Nashville’s history about the Frist Center's early years. Hear how his family and the Frist Foundation embarked on a venture to transform an old post office into an art museum that started in the 1990s. They implemented an interesting public/private venture between the Frist Foundation, the U.S. Postal Service, and the city of Nashville. The Frist Center opened its doors as a non-collecting museum to the public in April, 2001.

Chinese Arts Alliance Nashville, Director Jen-Jen Lin


The Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville (CAAN), a Frist Center community partner organization, was organized to promote the awareness, understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of Chinese visual arts and performing arts by presenting fine Chinese visual arts, crafts, performing artists and culture to the public. Their activities include seminars, art exhibitions, classroom teaching, educational workshops, and public programs for children and adults.

Jen-Jen will share about her involvement with the Frist Center’s Connecting Cultures Exhibit and the upcoming show at the Nashville Public Library, We Are One. We Are One celebrates the diverse ethnic groups in Chinese culture with various dances. This presentation includes dances representing Han people, Manchu people, Mogols, Chinese Muslims, and Tibetans.

To learn more about CAAN click here


Afro-Cuban Chinese Heritage

William Luis is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Spanish at Vanderbilt University. He has held teaching positions at Dartmouth College, Yale University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Binghamton University. Luis has published thirteen books and more than one hundred articles. His authored books include Literary Bondage: Slavery in Cuban Narrative (1990), Dance Between Two Cultures: Latino Caribbean Literature Written in the United States (1997), Culture and Customs of Cuba (2001), Lunes de Revolución: Literatura y cultura en los primeros años de la Revolución Cubana (2003), Juan Francisco Manzano: Autobiografía del esclavo poeta y otros escritos (2007), and Bibliografía y antología crítica de las vanguardias del Caribe: Cuba, Puerto Rico y República Dominicana (2010). Also, Luis is Editor of the Afro-Hispanic Review. Born and raised in New York City of a Chinese father and a Cuban mother, Luis is widely regarded as a leading authority on Latin American, Caribbean, Afro-Hispanic, and Latino U.S. literatures.
Read William Luis Curriculum VITe here

Photo Credits: Dr.Tommy Frist with Genma Holmes and Terriance Moody, CEO of Dream Systems, LLC courtesy of the Frist Center
We Are One-CAAN
Professor William Luis and Mayor Karl Dean-Vanderbilt Press

Dr. Susan Edwards Knighted By Consul General of France

The Frist Center's Executive Director, Dr. Susan H. Edwards, was decorated as a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters) in a ceremony at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. The medal was presented by the Consul General of France, Pascal Le Deunff.

Dr. Edwards was recognized for her significant contributions to the art and the culture of France.

Consul General Pascal Le Deunff remarks to Dr. Susan Edwards at Chevalier Award ceremony held at the Frist Center on September 23, 2011:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,
Dear Susan,

It is both a pleasure and a privilege to be here in Nashville with you today to honor a truly exceptional woman, visionary, ambassador of the arts, and precious friend of France, Dr. Susan Edwards.

Susan, your passion for art has been a driving force in every step of your professional career, which is clearly reflected on your curriculum vitae, but even more so in your community. Before arriving in Nashville, you spent a considerable amount of time in New York where you received your PhD in Art History from City University of New York in 1995. During your time as Curator at Hunter College of the City University of New York from 1987 to 1998, your drive and artistic vision was exemplified by the over twenty art exhibitions that you originated, and was affirmed in 1997 when you were named a Founding Fellow at the Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanities in Genoa, Italy.

You further honed your skills as Executive Director of the Katonah Museum in Katonah, New York from 1998 to 2004. But of course, your exemplary commitment to the arts spread far beyond the walls of museums. In addition to your book, Ben Shahn and the Task of Photography in Thirties America, you have also published numerous articles on modern and contemporary artists, material, culture, and photography-- of which you are a specialist -- as well as several exhibition catalogues, further establishing yourself as a known expert in the world of visual arts in the United States. You have also brought your knowledge and expertise to many schools and universities, including New York University, Queens College/CUNY, School of Visual Arts, New York, and Vanderbilt, where you are currently Adjunct Associate Professor.

As a recognized member of the art community, you continue to make contributions, serving on the advisory boards of the Bogliasco Foundation, Harvard University Art Museums and Collection Committee, and the Stephen Taller Archive at Harvard University. And all of these eminent accomplishments and contributions to the art community are only the half of it.

Your work at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts here in Nashville, Tennessee has been in a league of its own. From the very onset of your career as Executive Director in 2004, you’ve offered Nashville and beyond an ambitious, diverse, and multicultural program that has truly lived up to the vision of the Frist Center of “inspiring people through art to look at the world in new ways.” In addition to the spectacular array of art exhibited, your programming has demonstrated and reinforced an exceptional friendship with France. In only six years, you’ve consecrated more than ten expositions to French culture and artists. From “Les Chemins de l’Impressionisme, paysages français et américains du Worchester Art Museum” to Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris Masterpieces from the Baltimore Museum of Art, Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession, sculpture from the Iris and B Gerald Cantor Foundation to Twilight Visions : Surrealisme, Photography and Paris”, your high, your high quality exhibitions have been both multi-disciplinary and extremely tangible, offering educational programs and community outreach activities that have brought French culture closer to the Southeast.

Most recently, it is thanks to your efforts that the Frist Center became one of only two institutions in the United States – making Nashville one of three cities in the world to present the exhibition "The Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay”. Displaying 100 paintings from the permanent collection of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, you’ve provided the Southeast with an unparalleled cultural experience. This further demonstrates your excellent intuition and entrepreneurial sensitivity. Indeed, the echoes from exhibitions and events have reached far beyond the boundaries of Nashville and Tennessee. Your leadership has brought the Frist Center to new heights, giving it national visibility and recognition and turning it into one of the premier art centers in the Southeast.

Your remarkable contributions to advancing cultural relations between France and the United States are commendable and worthy of the distinction that you are receiving today. It is a great honour partnering with you and we look forward to strengthening this relationship with you and with the Frist Center for the Arts in the years and projects to come.

Dear Susan, to render homage to your commitment to artistic efforts and actions, au nom de la République, nous vous faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.




Dr.Susan Edwards Acceptance Speech



"Consul General Pascal Le Deunff, Honorarie Consul Madame Amelie De Gaulle, Madame Chevalier Hazel Joyner-Smith, et invités distingués. C'est mon honeur d’ accepter la medaille de Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et lettres de le part du comité administrateur et du personnel du Frist Center. Merci beaucoup. Maintenant, je voudrais continuer in anglais, s’il vous plait"

Consul General Le Deunff, Honorary Consul Amelie De Gaulle, fellow Chevalier Hazel Joyner-Smith and distinguished guests, I am deeply honored to accept the medal of the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters on behalf of the Board of Trustees and the staff of the Frist Center. I am grateful to M. Frederic Mitterrand, the French Minister of Culture and Communication and the people of France. I thank Consul General Le Deunff and Carole Scipion, the French Cultural Attache in Atlanta, for placing my name in nomination, and Ellen Pryor and Angela Butler for keeping my nomination secret -- even from me – for the past year.

I am pleased to receive a Chevalier at this point in my life and career, after youthful arrogance has mellowed. It is not false modesty to acknowledge the role of many others in this award. Great accomplishments are rarely the result of one person’s endeavors, rather they come about through the combined efforts of visionaries such as Tommy Frist, the relentless promotion of a Ken Roberts, the steady direction and leadership of Billy Frist, as well as the assistance and professionalism of colleagues, co-workers, and friends.

The Chevalier acknowledges my passion for all things French and a twenty-year history of working on exhibitions, film series, and literary projects that promote French arts and culture. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that the pinnacle of my visibility was our 2010 exhibition "The Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay."

I am grateful to Guy Cogeval, President of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, for allowing their extraordinary 19th-century paintings to be presented in Nashville. The exhibition would not have come to Nashville without the support of Tommy and Trish Frist, Janet and Jim Ayers and Marlene and Spencer Hays, who made the lead gifts that gave us the courage to move forward with the project. Mark Scala, Chief Curator at the Frist Center, worked closely with Stéfane Guegan at the Musée d’Orsay to refine the checklist for our venue. For considerable efforts on « The Birth of Impressionism » and their devotion to our mission, I remain eternally grateful to our founders, trustees, members of our advisory councils, and the entire staff at the Frist Center.

For assistance on previous projects devoted to French culture, I should like to acknowledge colleagues and collaborators here at the Frist Center and from New York: Thérèse Lichtenstein, Jane Roos, Catherine Bernard, Laura Schor, Alice Zimet, Annette Blaugrund, Jeanine Plottel, Philippe Lalliot and Annie Cohen-Solal.

I want to thank Ellen Pryor, Kathy Demonbreun, Angela Butler, Brandon Gnetz, and Karen Gwaltney for planning this day for us. Thank you for being here. Please stay and join us for some refreshments.

Once again, I thank Cultural Attache Carole Scipion, Consul General Pascal Le Deunff, and the French government for this great honor.