Our Mission

• To enrich the lives of artists and the community as a cultural center, educational facility and art gallery,
  
• To encourage and promote the visual arts through changing exhibitions, workshops, classes and community outreach programs and
• To introduce art to non-artists, to excite them in their first experience of creating and exhibiting art and to encourage them in continuing and developing their artistic talent in a process of self-discovery.

Brief History of TAL
A small group of distinguished local artists founded the Tennessee Art League on June 17, 1954 to provide an organization for artists in Middle Tennessee to publicly exhibit their artwork.

Initially, without a place of their own, these artists found temporary space between 3rd and 4th Avenues in Nashville’s Art Alley, then in the Parthenon which they helped renovate and, eventually, at Belmont College. In 1975, the Tennessee Art League purchased its first permanent headquarters, a residential building at 3011 Poston Avenue in Nashville, for exhibition and educational purposes. The League remained in that location until 2005, when it joined the movement to revitalize downtown Nashville by purchasing and moving into its present three-floor facility at 808 Broadway in the heart of the historical and cultural corridor.

Today, with its nearly 300 member-artists and community volunteers, the Tennessee Art League, a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational institution, enriches the lives of hundreds of Tennessee artists. The League is the only organization in Middle Tennessee that is open to everyone who has an interest in the visual arts and desires to exhibit their artwork. It is open to all levels of artists from the emerging to the highly professional, providing opportunities for artists to exhibit in its galleries, to participate in classes and workshops and to network with other artists.

The League’s commitment to the community is equally important. The League provides free exhibition and meeting space to schools and community groups and conducts outreach programs through member artists that bring life-changing art experiences to at-risk youth, the elderly, correctional facility inmates and the homeless in local shelters. In all of its community-oriented programs and support to artists, the Tennessee Art League is truly the heart of the visual arts in Middle Tennessee.

Exhibitions:

Premiere Gallery – Ed Bodnar
February 4 - March 2

Ed Bodnar is a Nashville-based photographer who owns and operates his own photography business specializing in commercial, corporate, editorial and portraiture. "From a very early age when I first saw a National Geographic TV episode titled “cameramen who dared”, I have been fascinated with the idea of storytelling through visual media. By the time I was 16 I was shooting portraits and photographing weddings, and started working at one of thelargest photo studios in my home state of West Virginia by 17.

"After high school I worked my way through college first as a public relations photographer at Davis and Elkins College in WV, then at Lipscomb University in Nashville. While at Lipscomb I was offered the opportunity to photograph my first magazine cover for a professional trade journal, shoot campus concerts of little known artists such as Tim McGraw, and even some of the more well known artists such as Doug Stone.

"We as humans have this tendency or need even to put things into a box so that we can label it and thus keep our lives organized. Many of my friends, colleagues and even acquaintances tend to tell me that I think outside of those boxes. For me I have difficulty even seeing those boxes because I don’t look at things the way most people do.

"Beauty is all around us, even in the ugliest, most disheveled, or discouraging of scenes so “Vision” is just a small glimpse of how I see the world. Where some people see something ugly or horrific, I see something beautiful. Where some people are looking at the big picture and see ruin and despair, I look closer and see the potential in the little things. It is my hope that you the viewer will not just see the beauty that I have found in each of these images, but that it will inspire you to go find the beauty in that which others have boxed and labeled as ugly, horrific, or even just ordinary."

The exhibit opened in January and will run through Friday, March 2. A reception will be held Saturday, February 4, from 6 - 9 P.M. Artist's website: http://www.edwardbodnar.com.

Ethel Smith Gallery – Fran Werner Landscapes
February 4 - March 2

Fran is a member of the TAL "Art Seen" Tuesday painting group. The exhibit will open February 4 and hang through Friday, March 2. An opening reception will be held Saturday, February 4, from 6 - 9 P.M.

Members Gallery – Artworks by Tennessee Art League members
Artworks by Tennessee Art League members will debut Saturday, February 4. Many mediums will be featured - oil, pastel, watercolor, acrylics, and pen and ink. A reception will be held Saturday, February 4, from 6 - 9 P.M.; the exhibit will run through Friday, March 2.

Poston3 Gallery – YMCA artEMBRACE
February 4 - March 2

The YMCA artEMBRACE Program is a comprehensive, multi-cultural arts education program implemented in YMCA after-school programs in five counties throughout Middle TN. Currently entering into our 6th year, local professional teaching artists are hired to travel to 100+ after school programs each semester to share their talents ranging in a wide variety of visual and performing arts with hundreds of kids all over Middle Tennessee. The artEMBRACE mission: To use art education to positively affect the lives of students, improving their chances to lead constructive and successful lives by developing creativity, improving learning skills and building self-confidence.

The artEMBRACE Kid’s Exhibit will consist of mixed media including: acrylic paintings on canvas; matted & framed prints; framed self-portrait drawings; and hand sculpted clay creations. A reception will be held Saturday, February 4, from 6 - 9 P.M.; the presentation will run through March 2.