Oh the places you'll go...

One of my favorite things about Union is its location - close to both Memphis and Nashville, both cities with lots of fun events to offer for a bunch of college students wanting to get away and have an adventure. My friend Kelsey, a fellow art major, found out about the First Saturday Gallery Crawl that happens on (duh) every first Saturday of the month in downtown Nashville. All the galleries open up new exhibits and host little receptions, and since most of them are clustered on this one street, you can visit a whole bunch in one night. So, that's exactly what we did!

I drove - I DROVE - a group of 5 of us art majors over to Nashville, and two other girls met us there later. In case you hadn't caught that, I don't do the driving very often. But it was great! I was totally in control and calm...I played car mom and made sure all the little kiddies were being good and took a rest stop (which by the way Quanns, made me feel like I was at the clinic...only I was the one waiting outside to make sure everyone survived the bathroom okay...that was a strange experience :) Plus with navigator Kelsey and some fun Art History studying, we had a great little drive. I even successfully navigated Nashville's downtown! I was pretty proud of myself, if I do say so er, myself. :)

We started off at the Farmer's Market. Nashville is so awesome that they have a Farmer's Market that is open EVERY DAY almost all day. We all wandered around, taking pictures of all the crazy fun fruits and vegetables. We even bought a watermelon and ate it later in the park! That was so fun. There was a flea market too, but it was a little disappointing since instead of interesting, antique-type trinkets it was...bad perfume and shoes and bags from questionable sources. Oh Nasvhille.

Then the gallery hopping began. Oh man. I have never had so much fun at an art event! There were some really incredible pieces there, especially at The Rymer Gallery. If you're interested, I highly encourage you to check it out. The art there was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I could effuse for a very long time, but to keep this to a decent length, I will just post some pictures from the exhibits I like the most, and include the artist's name. Go to the Rymer Gallery site to find out more about them and their technique! It's really quite fascinating. Click on the images to see the artist and the medium (what it's made on and with what material).

This one is my favorite favorite favorite. PLEASE. Do yourself a favor, take a closer look, and see how he makes these pieces because it was seriously the most beautiful thing I think I have ever seen. Definitely in the gallery anyway.

He paints on scraps of rusted metal collaged together

This is an encaustic, which means it has a lot of layers and textures. There were even words scratched into the surface. He used lots of wax and tar and a collage of mixed media. Beautiful depth.

This one I did not see at the gallery, but it was similar to one I really loved of Africa. Similar horizon line. It was HUGE and captivating.

Pieces of metal "quilted" together

Take a closer look. Do you know what these are?
He had more pieces with this medium covering 3 dimensional items which I enjoyed more, but alas, no pictures.

Lots and lots of paper and cutting. My friend Caleb was astounded by the detail and patience it took to make. I was less impressed by the sloppiness of his visible pencil lines. Caleb said "no one is that much of a perfectionist." I just looked at him and let him think about that one...

And this one just made me chuckle. The title is "Smug Love." oh pop culture.

We were also able to visit the gallery where some Union grads work and display their work. That was neat to see what they're doing post-school. I think we're planning on going back next month too. I can't wait! Art is so great :)