Memphis Material

Maysey Craddock has long been fascinated by ruin. The ephemeral quality so richly sewn into her paintings began with her childhood interest in searching for fossils at the edge of rivers or uncovering contents of forgotten drawers, always intent on discovering what came before – what once was. Craddock’s large-scale gouache paintings reference spaces in similar states; a landscape left to it...

Editors note: Both Maysey and I mentioned the piece The Eagle Has Landed painted by David Parrish in 1969.  It will be among the works from the permanent collection on display when the Memphis Art Museum opens in December. Maysey Craddock has long been fascinated by ruin. The ephemeral quality so richly sewn into her paintings began with her childhood interest in searching for fossils at the edge...

From Derek Fordjour’s page on the Petzel website : Derek Fordjour (b. 1974, Memphis, Tennessee) Derek Fordjour is the recipient of the 2025 Gordon Parks Foundation Artist Fellowship, the 2023 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Spirit of the Dream Award, and previously served as the Alex Katz Chair at Cooper Union. He has received public commissions for the High Line, the NYC AIDS Memorial...

Tim Andrews was born and raised in Northwest Arkansas attended Junior college in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He movee to Memphis in the mid 80s to attend Memphis College of Art.  He received his bachelor of Fine-Arts degree with emphasis in printmaking and painting. After graduation Andrews started teaching in the summer school and Saturday school programs continued that for years and returned to Memphi...

Tim Andrews was born and raised in Northwest Arkansas attended Junior college in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He movee to Memphis in the mid 80s to attend Memphis College of Art.  He received his bachelor of Fine-Arts degree with emphasis in printmaking and painting. After graduation Andrews started teaching in the summer school and Saturday school programs continued that for years and returned to Memphi...

Born and raised in a lower middle class neighborhood fixed between the Mississippi border, the Memphis city limits and the well off suburbia; Lawrence Matthews’ early life was lived in places, ignored, forgotten and in the liminal interiors of southern family homes and spaces.  His life and work exist as an extension of the southern gothic voices with whom he is aligned. He emerges as somewhat of...

Born and raised in a lower middle class neighborhood fixed between the Mississippi border, the Memphis city limits and the well off suburbia; Lawrence Matthews’ early life was lived in places, ignored, forgotten and in the liminal interiors of southern family homes and spaces.  His life and work exist as an extension of the southern gothic voices with whom he is aligned. He emerges as somewhat of...

Born and raised in a lower middle class neighborhood fixed between the Mississippi border, the Memphis city limits and the well off suburbia; Lawrence Matthews’ early life was lived in places, ignored, forgotten and in the liminal interiors of southern family homes and spaces.  His life and work exist as an extension of the southern gothic voices with whom he is aligned. He emerges as somewhat of...

Patricia Lee Daigle is Chief Curator at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (MBMA), where she leads the curatorial department and specializes in modern and contemporary art. Prior to this role, she served as MBMA Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art between 2021 and 2025. At MBMA, she has curated numerous exhibitions including Suchitra Mattai: with abundance we meet (2025), Harmonia Rosales: Master...

Patricia Lee Daigle is Chief Curator at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (MBMA), where she leads the curatorial department and specializes in modern and contemporary art. Prior to this role, she served as MBMA Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art between 2021 and 2025. At MBMA, she has curated numerous exhibitions including Suchitra Mattai: with abundance we meet (2025), Harmonia Rosales: Master...

Tracy  Lauritzen Wright is Chief Operating Officer at ARTSmemphis, a Local Arts Agency supporting the arts to strengthen the community.  She administers $3.4M+ in grants to 90 arts organizations and artists annually.  She has 25 years’ experience in museums and cultural organizations, including 14 years at the National Civil Rights Museum.  She served as Executive Director of Delta Axis, a contemp...

Tracy  Lauritzen Wright is Chief Operating Officer at ARTSmemphis, a Local Arts Agency supporting the arts to strengthen the community.  She administers $3.4M+ in grants to 90 arts organizations and artists annually.  She has 25 years’ experience in museums and cultural organizations, including 14 years at the National Civil Rights Museum.  She served as Executive Director of Delta Axis, a contemp...

From Paula Kovarik’s amazing website : Paula Kovarik creates art with stitch and fabric. Her intuitive line work travels the surface of her work as if a meditation has become solid. Inward thoughts become outwardly apparent through slow and studied attention to detail. Kovarik’s award-winning fiber art has been recognized by Quilt National, Quilts=Art=Quilts, World of Threads, and FiberArt N...

From Niles Wallace’s webiste : I was born in Western Pennsylvania in 1948.  My serious interest in Art began in high school and extended to college.  I graduated from Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania in 1970 with a degree in Art Education.  At Edinboro I became interested in Ceramics and subsequently attended graduate school at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, where I studied under Va...

From Niles Wallace’s webiste : I was born in Western Pennsylvania in 1948.  My serious interest in Art began in high school and extended to college.  I graduated from Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania in 1970 with a degree in Art Education.  At Edinboro I became interested in Ceramics and subsequently attended graduate school at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, where I studied under Va...

Fred Burton is a painter/printmaker born in Diablo Heights, Panama, Central America. His career began in the 1970s as both a working artist and educator. Travels and various artist residencies have influenced his personal vision and approach to art-making. Burton distills his life experiences into a visual diary, drawing inspiration from diverse sources including the Book of Kells in Trinity Colle...

From the amazing UrbanArt Commission’s Movable Collection site: Frank D. Robinson Jr. is a Memphis-based visual artist with a primary focus on narratives and the transformation of discarded objects from everyday life, such as packaging, cereal boxes, fast food papers, glass, and keys, into exquisite jewels for his large-scale mixed-media artworks. He holds a BFA from the University of Memphi...

From Birdcap’s amazing website : Birdcap is a myth-making muralist and comic artist whose work drifts between folklore and philosophy. With roots in street culture and a mind full of ghosts, he creates poetic narratives about impermanence, rebellion, and the strange joy of continuing on.

From Birdcap’s amazing website : Birdcap is a myth-making muralist and comic artist whose work drifts between folklore and philosophy. With roots in street culture and a mind full of ghosts, he creates poetic narratives about impermanence, rebellion, and the strange joy of continuing on.

From Paul’s amazing website : Paul Behnke (b. Memphis, Tenn.) is an American painter whose practice is grounded in contemporary abstraction, with a sustained engagement in chromatic intensity, gestural mark-making, and the formal possibilities of non-objective painting. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the Memphis College of Art. Behnke’s work has been the subject of...

From Paul’s amazing website : Paul Behnke (b. Memphis, Tenn.) is an American painter whose practice is grounded in contemporary abstraction, with a sustained engagement in chromatic intensity, gestural mark-making, and the formal possibilities of non-objective painting. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the Memphis College of Art. Behnke’s work has been the subject of...

Don Estes is known for harmonious, dimensional abstractions of the landscape of the American South. He focuses on geological formations, river bluffs, coastlines, and horizons- places where water, land, and light interact and change through the passage of time. In a range of intensities and textures, he layers dry pigment, pastel, and gesso in horizontal and vertical bands, narrow stripes, wide bl...

Don Estes is known for harmonious, dimensional abstractions of the landscape of the American South. He focuses on geological formations, river bluffs, coastlines, and horizons- places where water, land, and light interact and change through the passage of time. In a range of intensities and textures, he layers dry pigment, pastel, and gesso in horizontal and vertical bands, narrow stripes, wide bl...

From a text message from Tom Lee after I asked for a brief bio: “born somewhere in texas, i ain’t sayin, moved a bit with preacher dad, sweetest mom, too many sibs to admit to, some strangers to me and mine, texas education, say what you will, understand you’re being a skeptic, i do, higher ed tho, land of grizzlies, bozeman and all, lotta nice and smart folks, artists all, highest ed,...

From a text message from Tom Lee after I asked for a brief bio: “born somewhere in texas, i ain’t sayin, moved a bit with preacher dad, sweetest mom, too many sibs to admit to, some strangers to me and mine, texas education, say what you will, understand you’re being a skeptic, i do, higher ed tho, land of grizzlies, bozeman and all, lotta nice and smart folks, artists all, highest ed,...