Kindred Spirits: Intergenerational Forms of Expression, 1966–1999 explores the legacy and influence of Fisk University’s Art Department, which David C. Driskell led from 1966 to 1976, at Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery, Fisk University. 1966 marked the centennial year of Fisk University, the oldest institution for higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee. It also represented a moment of transition after the retirement of Aaron Douglas, founding chair of Fisk’s Art Department and a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance.
“Kindred Spirits offers a critical retelling of a movement, an institution, and its impact in Nashville, centered on the contributions of artists, teachers, and students,” says Co-Curator Jamaal B. Sheats, Associate Provost, and Director, Fisk University Galleries. “This exhibition brings forward both new and continued scholarship… My hope is that through this exhibition, we will inspire our visitors — a new generation of thinkers and intellectuals — to contextualize and recontextualize the contributions of these artists.”
The appointment of David C. Driskell as Douglas’s successor ushered in a broadening view of the African diasporic arts through instructional innovation and the expansion of the university’s collections, artist residency programs, and exhibitions. This vision was shared and further realized by faculty members like Robert Hall, Earl J. Hooks, Stephanie Pogue, LiFran Fort, and Greg Ridley, among others.
Kindred Spirits frames a critical timeline linking Driskell’s tenure (1966 – 76) with the tenure of one of his preeminent colleagues, professor Earl J. Hooks (1969 – 99). Co-organized by Fisk University Galleries and the Frist Art Museum, this exhibition features more than 50 objects, including archival images and interview documentation, and acts as a companion exhibition to David C. Driskell and Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship, on view concurrently at the Frist Art Museum.
Illuminating the interplay between individual and institutional artistic contributions, this exhibition underscores Fisk University’s role in shaping a global cultural discourse. Artistic networks and geographies, in the context of art historicism, give rise to movements or schools of thought that become canonized or framed many times in retrospect. This exhibition examines how mobility, cultural exchange, and sociopolitical climates shaped the artistic expressions and consciousness of the artists whose works are on view, placing them within the context of broader artistic movements and art canons while also exploring their influences and highlighting their unique visual languages and schools of thought.
Kindred Spirits was organized by the Frist Art Museum and Fisk University Galleries, and co-curated by Michael Ewing, Frist Art Museum associate curator, and Jamaal B. Sheats, Fisk University Galleries director and curator. Both exhibitions run through June 1, 2025. Due to Fisk University Spring Break, the Kindred Spirits portion at their Van Vechten Galleries opens on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
Kindred Spirits celebrates the profound interpersonal and artistic relationships between students and faculty, colleagues and peers, and the greater Nashville community. These connections form a lineage of kinship, homage, and mutual respect, mapping the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next.
Mark your calendars now for the next Frist Friday, May 2, which celebrates local legends and the start of summer with David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship and Kindred Spirits: Intergenerational Forms of Expression, 1966–1999.
