Nashville Arts Magazine

Summer is almost to an end, with folks heading back to Nashville from the beach, summer breaks in Michigan, the Hamptons and North Carolina. One group that has been in town and socially working is the Bacchanalian Society—the young, upcoming social generation. Their event benefited the Adventure Science Center. Chad Blackburn, an event host, informed me that this event was a relaxed, social, bling tasting with a twist. “Some of you will take home a lot of wine,” Chad said. The tasting consists of teams of three people. Each team is responsible for three bottles of the designated wine, which was South American reds. As the teams arrive, the bottles are taken wrapped and numbered—and then the fun begins. The team that brought the top five favorite wines will take home everyone’s third unopened bottle of wine and so on. This sounds like great fun, but you certainly could not be over-served, for you would never know what is going on. This is for sure a young people’s event! Other hosts and patrons tasting with a thousand of their closest friends were Ann Stuart Banker, Grace Clayton, Reed Harrison, Lisa McWilliams, Tony Rose, Teddy Hillard, Diana Williams, Carey Floyd, Michael Oyler, Brooks McDonald, Tracey Steel, Mary Beth Stillwell, and Lyle McKinney.

The First Saturday Gallery Crawl on 5th Avenue continues to rock—if you do not know about this event, it is a must. Each first Saturday of the month, all the art galleries on 5th Avenue and in the Arcade are open for an open house. The August lineup was spectacular. The Rymer Gallery’s show titled Southern Metal (sounds like a rock band) was super—the exhibit featured Gordon Chandler, Drew Galloway, Herb Williams, and introduced Jeffrey Bertrand. Speaking of The Rymer Gallery, director Tonia Trotter informed me of the opening of Posterma, an unveiling of the newest paintings from artist Julia Martin. Julia is a native Nashvillian and has created quite a stir in the art community. Her masterful use of oil on canvas portrays the complexities of human emotion and experience with an edge. This show starts September 12.

My Magic Carpet at Tinney Contemporary featured works by Don Evans, the always-effervescent Myles Maillie (check out his new neckwear line of ties and bowties), Brandon Donahue, Keith Harmon, and Ellen Stevens. The 12th Annual Avant-Garage Sale Expo at Anne Brown’s Arts Company is always the place to be and be seen! It is so exciting to see so many Nashvillians supporting the arts and having a rocking good time doing it!

Does your car make you look fat? Well, my former SUV did, or that is what I felt driving it, the ever-so-popular vehicle that reminded me of an egg. Call it stupid, waste of time and money…whatever—here is the story. I was out in Metro Center for an audition, sent by my agent (obviously I did not get that commercial). Feeling good about the audition and knowing it was my 56th birthday (thought it was my 57th till my mother corrected me), I decided to cruise the lot at Crest Cadillac just for fun. Well, you know the rest. There it was, this sleek sculpturesque SRX. This car looks the way I wish I did. Ok, all this sleek, sculptured new car stuff leads to another story that I will share in another article. This was all preceded by an upcoming surgery by my close friend and surgeon Joe DeLozier, who was to give me a new sculptured look. (No, I am not trying to look like the statue of David, but Joe did a great job.) I cannot wait till the social season resumes, for too much spare time on my hands is a dangerous thing? Back to Crest—I have never been treated as kindly as I was by the staff. J. C. Ward met me in the lot, and after we had introduced ourselves, I mentioned it was my birthday (that’s a surprise). Guess what—his birthday was the week before, and we are the same age. That sealed that deal! It was the best birthday celebration I can remember; any dealership that has a Starbucks machine with unlimited refills is my kind of party. Those celebrating with me were General Manager Darren Palmer, Jeff Cost, John Scott, and Edith Smith. I do want to mention that Crest Group are new supporters and advertisers in Nashville Arts Magazine, and we are most proud to have them. So if you are looking for a different venue for a birthday celebration, head on over to Crest. They have great party favors (with four wheels!).

by Ted Clayton | Photos by Mark Levine