APSU students discover work from two major artists in University’s collection
February 21, 2019
Austin Peay State University (APSU)
Clarksville, TN – As Austin Peay State University (APSU) freshman Sarah Potter combed through the University’s art collection in early February, she came across a photo of a man sitting on a rock, his back to the camera.
“I was looking for personality, for stories,” Potter, who’s curating an exhibit for the walls of Human Resources in the Browning Administration Building, said. “I liked it, so I set it aside with the other photographs.”
APSU purchases adjacent, 10-acre Jenkins and Wynne property
January 27, 2016
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University, which turns 90 next year, recently experienced a late growth spurt. Earlier this week, the campus grew by about 10 acres when the school finally closed on property previously owned by the Jenkins and Wynne auto dealership.
The $8.8 million purchase marks one of the largest expansions in the University’s history, and it now connects the 182-acre College Street campus with downtown Clarksville.
APSU Folk Art Collection gets donation from Karen Parr-Moody
August 22, 2014
Clarksville, TN – While visiting Austin, Texas, in 2013, Karen Parr-Moody came across a painting by the renowned folk artist Jimmy Lee Sudduth. The dusty image was of a girl in a swimsuit, and it evoked strong childhood memories for Parr-Moody.
“I really identified with going to my grandfather’s fishing camp every weekend on the Tennessee River,” she said. “It’s rustic and beautiful down there. The ‘Bikini Girl’ just reminded me of growing up and being a little girl.”
APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts Annual Ovation Awards Ceremony set for March 2nd
February 17, 2014
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.
Austin Peay State University to exhibit newly donated folk art collection
March 7, 2013
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.
Ned and Jacqueline Crouch donate folk art collection to APSU
September 5, 2012
Clarksville, TN – The artist, a Civil War veteran and 19th century dentist, carved the peculiar little figurines out of wood. He placed the musicians with their instruments in the back row, and up front, connected to metal wires, stand the dancing couples. Other macabre figures, such as a thin man playing bones and a woman spanking a baby, populate the dioramic scene.
When a crank is turned, a series of pulleys cause the pieces to move and dance in an awkward, dreamlike manner.
Portraits of Famed Meriwether Family Donated to APSU
June 4, 2011
Clarksville, TN – In its heyday, the Woodstock Plantation, where the famed advice-columnist Dorothy Dix was born and raised, was a sprawling 5,000-acre farm that stretched from Montgomery County on up into Todd County, KY. The Meriwethers, a prominent 19th century farming family, owned the enormous estate, and their influence lingers in the area with roads and neighborhoods still bearing their name.
“They’re a very important family in this area,” Christopher Burawa, executive director of the Austin Peay State University Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, said.
Generous donation gives APSU three famed William Edmondson Sculptures
January 13, 2011
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.