Nashville’s iconic Frist Art Museum is a wonderful place to visit for the holidays, and now is the time to see several magnificent exhibitions before they leave in early January. Two unforgettable exhibitions which end their run on January 5 are “María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold” and “LaJuné McMillian: The Portal’s Keeper—Origins.” Continuing through Feb 16, 2025 in the Upper-Level Galleries is “Journey through Japan: Myths to Manga,” which celebrates the spirit of playfulness and imagination at the heart of Japanese culture.
Our partners at the Frist also are welcoming new members to their corps of amazing volunteers with a training session set for February 8, 2025.
“María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold” in the main level Ingram Gallery includes over three decades of the artist’s work in photography, installation, video, painting, and performance. Hauntingly beautiful and emotionally charged, “Behold” shows how Campos-Pons’s layered identity as a Cuban woman with ancestral roots in the Yoruba culture of West Africa as well as in Spain and China inform her multimedia, sensorial artworks. Evoking the history of diaspora, displacement, and migration, as well as labor and race, and motherhood and spirituality, Behold invites us to join with the artist in the vital search for meaning and connectivity.
In the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery, New York–based multidisciplinary artist LaJuné McMillian combines extended reality software and mediums including movement and sound to provide an exuberant visual critique of oppressive systems that commodify bodies and otherwise limit free expressions. Working with motion capture (witnessing) software, their work often translates the movements of Black people, seen as both individual and cultural identifiers, into dizzying rhythms and explosive patterns and sounds.
Integrating movement, sound, and prayer, “The Portal’s Keeper—Origins” features the three-part installation “Spirit and Child,” a series of prayers of healing and gratitude between avatars called the Child and the Spirit Guide, created using motion-capture and 3D-modeling software. As the two avatars share philosophies and prayers seeking to help “Black children trying to find their way home,” they confirm that home lies within themselves—the children are already there.
Please consider the benefits of volunteering at the Frist. They are currently looking for people of all ages to help in Guest Services, the gift shop, and Martin ArtQuest. Volunteers enjoy FREE access to all Frist exhibitions, free parking, discounts in the gift shop, and more. Each year, hundreds of volunteers of all abilities inspire people to look at their world in new ways. When you contribute your time and skills to the Frist Art Museum, you not only support the arts in our community, but also get to meet interesting people (like you!). The Frist Art Museum is certified in Excellence in Volunteer Engagement (EVE), which recognizes nonprofits with high-quality volunteer management practices.
Learn more about volunteer opportunities on their website: fristartmuseum.org/volunteer . More information is available, including those for individuals who require reasonable accommodations. Feel free to contact their Guest Services Director at volunteer@FristArtMuseum.org or by phone at 615.744.3329. The registration form give complete details and is available now at: https://www.volgistics.com/appform/1337181206 .
