APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts Annual Ovation Awards Ceremony set for March 2nd

Clarksville, TN – In 2010, Dr. Joseph B. Trahern Jr. donated a couple of crude, limestone statues to Austin Peay State University.

The pieces, which had belonged to his late mother, were sculpted by the prominent folk artist William Edmondson, the first African-American artist to have a solo show of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Those donated works, worth tens of thousands of dollars, helped jump-start the University’s burgeoning folk art collection, and they have made the entire community a destination for art enthusiasts.

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Austin Peay State University to exhibit newly donated folk art collection

Clarksville, TN – In a small storage room in the basement of Austin Peay State University’s Harned Hall, Marilyn Monroe is making things a bit awkward for President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie.

First off, the president and first lady are dressed formally, while Marilyn has opted to wear a red polka dot bikini. Then there’s that big smile of hers, which seems to mock the uncomfortable expression on Jackie’s face.

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Generous donation gives APSU three famed William Edmondson Sculptures

Clarksville, TN – William Edmondson, a humble stone carver and the son of slaves, died quietly after years of declining health. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Nashville.

It was an ironic fate, given that Edmondson spent years carving elaborate headstones for cemeteries around middle Tennessee. The eccentric artist believed that God commanded him to sculpt the shapes out of limestone, and after a few years, he began adding statues of biblical characters, people and animals to his body of work. His sculptures caught the eyes of several prominent art critics and in 1937, Edmondson became the first African-American artist to have a solo show of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

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