THE FOCUS

"A sewing needle pierces through threads, creating holes and separating material. This activity straddles the line between construction and deconstruction. The pulling apart and separation of threads is necessary in the creation of new forms." Virginia Griswold, Studio Visit, 2019. (photo: Tracy Treadwell) "My work incorporates and appropriates objects and artifacts. I remain attentive to the gap between the previous existence of an object or material versus how it exists presently, even posing the question of what it could become." Virginia...

Look for the emblematic lawn chair, a banner that hangs outside the unassuming brick duplex. Near Plaza Artist Materials and next door to the storefront for Third Man Records, you’ll find Unrequited Leisure. Pie Town’s new artist-run gallery, which opened in January, addresses Nashville’s appetite for experimental, outward-facing programming. Unrequited Leisure, Gallery Visit featuring work by Judy Rushin, 2019. Photo: Elysia Mann. It’s worth the mile-plus trek from the arcade where the First Saturday Art Crawl concentrates. An outli...

Emily Bivens was raised in southern Louisiana. Her childhood bedroom was set apart from her family on the far side of an old house under which a large colony of armadillos would root and cavort all night. Emily Bivens, Studio Visit, June 2019 (photo: Tracy Treadwell) Emily Bivens, Studio Visit, June 2019 (photo: Tracy Treadwell) Bivens studied biology, later switching to art when she realized that there are limits to what science can explain. Bivens has had exhibitions and performances...