Emerging Voices in East TN: Knoxville Museum of Art, student art exhibition 2024

Three hundred and eighty-eight artworks plaster the walls of the Knoxville Museum of Art in a gloriously chaotic salon style arrangement. Ceramic soda cans, illusionistic sculpture, surreal portraiture, and a plethora of mixed media pieces make up the East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition 2024.

Curatorially, the show may have benefited from an arrangement that allowed each work space to breathe, emerging forth with an individualized energy and vitality––grouped by concept or theme. But with the museum’s mission to include at least one artwork from all schools in 32 East TN counties, it is understandable that space was an issue.

Overall the works trend towards textiles and mixed media used to create depth and layers, a metaphoric comparison to the themes explored in their art. There is a raw viscerality to these pieces. Teenage works are often filled with angst, but this emotion is not to be taken for granted. The artworks reflect the global strife during which young people enter the world while coping with their personal struggles. These concurrent cacophonies result in poignant self-expression and reflection upon current events which weigh heavily on the youth consciousness.

Heavy topics of mental illness, self-doubt, death, and violence permeate the works, but also are intermingled with the bold and unapologetic self declaration.

An example of works which encapsulate both light and dark themes are those by Chloe Dodson. Her use of fabric and brilliant color palettes create visually appealing compositions, while prodding at deeper questions. 

Generations, Mixed Media: Color pencil, oil pastel, acrylic paint, soft pastel, and fabric, Chloe Dodson, 12th Grade, Hardin Valley Academy, Art Teacher: Benjamin Eng

Dodson’s Generations is a technicolor ode to family which honors those who came before. The use of textiles reminiscent of African wax print fabric calls to mind vibrant cultural traditions. Solemn, contemplative expressions on the two women featured signal the histories shared between the older and younger family members, those remembered and those forgotten.

In another of Dodson’s works, swaths of ballerina pink tights wrap around the portrait of a young black woman. Titled The Ivory Sea, this piece touches on a topic of equality that reaches across many different sectors–concepts of inclusion vs. exclusion, specifically here likely referring to the dance world’s ‘nude’ costume colors. For years, dancers of different skin tones have sought attire that blends with them rather than having to use the standard ‘one size fits all’, which does not in fact fit all. This use of ballet tights is a device which brings this topic to mind, then leads to conclusions of all the ways a person might be boxed into societal norms which don’t represent them.

A soft and fleshy form, beaten and bruised, The Men by Merkesia Kichele, is kissed by a single golden butterfly which alights a bleeding wound. Woven in some sections, painted in others– the hodgepodge of materials evokes the sense that this man has pieced himself together with spare parts. Though tattered and worn, the expression is almost one of peace, looking down on the delicate creature which kisses his face.

The men, Mixed Media-Charcoal and Thread, Merkesia Kichele, 11th Grade, West High School, Art Teacher: Kati Bowden

Binging Blind by Heather Reynolds is a feast for the eyes, so much for the eyes that they are filled with drips of coconut blueberry yogurt. A clear statement on eating disorders, this piece may also refer to the overconsumption which is easy to fall into when we have everything we could ever want at the tips of our fingers. Grocery stores carry hundreds of brands with flashy new packaging, drawing us in with promises of health or delight or a sense of belonging.

Many of the foods in this painting are health foods, which shifts the perspective of what might be considered a binge and leads viewers to the reminder that any sort of overconsumption is not good for you, not even something that purports to be for one’s benefit. Too much sleep, too much social media, too much exercise all can come to the detriment of a person. This work’s skillfully rendered and crowded composition evokes the message clearly and draws the viewer into conversation with these struggles faced by people in many different forms.

Some more favorite pieces from this show include:

Zoe Blaton’s sweet and strange Starbaby sits on a handmade pillow. The cherubic ceramic face is nestled into a carefully rhinestoned star which forms a gold, blue, and black pattern. I appreciate the attention to detail and time the work likely took to complete.

Innovative techniques were employed to complete unique compositions, like the burnt edge of Robert Schidt’s Strike!, the bolt of lightning escaping the painting to physically char the canvas. I’m sure it was a nerve-wracking moment to set one’s painting aflame, unsure if the flammable materials would quickly disintegrate it or not.

Phone Call by Harper Hickman is a playful exploration of self in the digital age. The subject of the work is seen only through the lens of three old style flip phones. Though the subject is on the beach, they exist inside of the screens, which fade into pixelation representing perhaps the disintegration of the physical self into the technological world rather than engaging with the physical one.

These students who will graduate in the next couple years are the new contemporaries, leaving their extraordinary mark on the East TN art scene. This massive collection of student art is innovative, thoughtful, technically skilled, and imaginative. We hope that Knoxville will celebrate them in all their weird and whimsy, wild and wonderful, dark and stormy iterations.

“The ETRSAE showcases the strength and diversity of art education programs in East Tennessee, celebrates talented middle and high school students, and supports arts education...”

– Knoxville Museum of Art

The East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition is on display at the Knoxville Museum of Art until January 12, 2025.