Red Arrow Gallery celebrates local contemporary artists with Parthenon exhibit

Before heading upstairs to ogle the 42-foot-tall Athena statue, Nashville Parthenon visitors will see what one of the city’s premier art galleries is all about.

“Show Up,” on view in the museum’s East Gallery through June 5, features a variety of work by 24 contemporary artists, many of them Nashville-based, represented by Red Arrow Gallery in East Nashville. The exhibition celebrates Red Arrow’s eighth anniversary and offers visitors a look into how a small gallery off the beaten path can be a big champion for the contemporary art world in Nashville and beyond.

“The title embodies our mission and values,” says Katie Shaw, owner of Red Arrow Gallery. “To ‘show up’ is to bear witness to another's joy, sorrow, and emotion. ‘Showing up’ solidifies relationships and creates community.”

Curated by the Parthenon’s previous curator, Mark Medley, “Show Up” signals the museum’s interest in highlighting contemporary art, especially work by local artists, alongside its permanent collection of historic artifacts, photography, and 19th and 20th century American art. As a vestige of when Nashville was considered the “Athens of the South,” and as one of the most heavily trafficked landmarks in Nashville, the Parthenon is an ideal place to promote the city’s deep yet often overlooked relationship to visual art, both past and present.

“Nashville is collecting like never before,” Shaw says. “I’m tired of the narrative that Nashville doesn’t collect, because it’s not true.”

California transplant

Red Arrow Gallery was originally founded by one of Shaw’s friends in 2007 in Joshua Tree, California. When that friend moved to Spain, Shaw took over and ran the high desert art space for several years before bringing the concept to Nashville in 2014. Over the past eight years, she and her all-female team have turned the gallery into an esteemed staple of the Nashville art scene, presenting, as its mission statement reads, “museum-caliber exhibitions by significant contemporary artists” in a way that is both “risk-taking” and “welcoming” to artists, collectors and art-appreciators.

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“We strive to always show up for our artists, for each other, our collectors, and the wider community,” Shaw says. “We also show up in an area of town that historically hasn’t had access to museum quality contemporary art.”

While most of Nashville’s contemporary art galleries are concentrated in Wedgewood Houston and downtown Nashville, Red Arrow is the only contemporary art gallery in East Nashville. Shaw admits that being set apart from the city’s art districts has been a challenge at times, but it hasn’t kept her and her team from accomplishing ambitious goals.

“The goals and sales metrics that we have now are just unbelievable to me. We struggled for so long, but have come so far,” she says. “I think what has helped us the most is maintaining our core principles of being accessible and passionately positive about what we’re doing and where we’re going.”

“I would love for more people to know that Nashville has a thriving contemporary art scene that is not only influencing the city and the South, but the broader contemporary art world as well,” adds Ashley Layendecker, director of collector and artistic relations at Red Arrow Gallery. “There is a lot happening under the radar here that I would love to showcase for our artists as well as other artists and galleries.”

“Show Up” features paintings, photography and sculpture by both emerging and established artists, a blend that Shaw says is integral to Red Arrow’s mission to expand their collector base while also helping artists advance in their careers.

“We work hard for our artists. We’re not just like ‘the one month you have a show is when you matter.’ Our artists matter all year round,” she says. “We’re always talking about you and trying to sell your work, whether you’re just starting out or higher profile. The artists we work with, and our collectors as well, are like family to us.”

Artists in the exhibition include Aaron Worley, Annie Brito-Hodgin, Ashanté Kindle, Bethany Carlson-Coffin, Dana Oldfather, Daniel Holland, Danielle Winger, Desmond Lewis, Duncan McDaniel, Emily Weiner, Georganna Greene, Johnson Ocheja, John Paul Kesling, Julian Rogers, Lauren Gregory, Lindsy Davis, Matt Christy, Marcus Maddox, Marlos E’van, Nuveen Barwari, Pam Marlene-Taylor, Paul Collins, Reneesha McCoy and Ripley Whiteside.

A closing reception for “Show Up” will be held at 6 p.m. May 26 in the Parthenon’s East Gallery. Admission is free.

Be sure to also check out Red Arrow Gallery’s other exhibition on view this month: “Mundus Inversus,” up through May 29 at the East Nashville location at 919 Gallatin Ave. Guest-curated by Emily Weiner, the show features sculptures, paintings, and installations by five America-based artists: Donté Hayes, Kimia Kline, Sara Mejia Kriendler, Linda Lopez and Weiner herself. The show explores the relationship between the mundane and prevailing notions of material value and symbolic forms. The show was organized with support from a Tri Star Arts 2021 Current Art Fund Grant.

If you go

What: “Show Up”

When: through June 5

Where: Nashville Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave.

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Sunday 12:30-4:30 p.m.

Admission: $10; $8 for youth ages 4-17 and seniors 62+; free for members and kids under 4.

More information: www.theredarrowgallery.com or www.nashvilleparthenon.com/exhibits

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Red Arrow Gallery exhibits local contemporary art at Parthenon