Artists, friends and city officials crowd into the library’s mezzanine gallery for an opening reception of the newly expanded Metro Arts Lending Library. Lining the walls are 53 brand-new paintings, drawings, photos and collages in a rainbow of colors.
Artist Ember Tharpe’s piece, “Nest,” is a self-portrait.
“I turned 25 at the beginning of the year,” she said. “And I just didn’t really have a whole lot of direction, but the walls were kind of closing in.”
The piece shows Tharpe falling out of a tree. She’s surrounded by symbols of the stress and excitement that comes with being in your 20s.
“(The piece is) about what happens when your brain grows and you mature. And even though you’re experiencing that outer pressure, you also have the opportunity to observe and understand more symbols in the world — more color, more beauty, more of those small details,” she said.
The Lending Library began in 2021 to support Nashville artists who lost work during the pandemic. It’s a partnership between Metro Arts and the Nashville Public Library. This summer, the program doubled its collection and expanded to five more library branches: East Nashville, Green Hills, Hermitage, Old Hickory and the new branch in Donelson. The Madison and Southeast branches will keep their existing collections.
Artworks were chosen by a selection panel of community volunteers appointed by Metro Arts. The artists who were selected ranged from talented amateurs to seasoned pros.
For Tharpe, it felt meaningful to be included in the collection as an early career artist.
“It really makes me feel like I’m truly part of the Nashville community,” she said. “This opportunity with Metro Arts, you know, the leader in publicly-funded art — it was such an honor.”
Jodi Hays has lived and worked as an artist in East Nashville for 19 years. Her piece in the collection, “Bouquet,” is a multi-colored, mixed-media collage.
Char Daston WPLN NewsThe Metro Arts Library added 53 new works in July 2024. These pieces are on display in the Main Library’s mezzanine gallery until Aug. 16.
“If you could run your fingers over it, it would be bumpy,” she said. “You could kind of feel the texture of the cardboard lifting off of different parts of the textiles.”
Hays hopes the Lending Library will allow people of all income brackets to add art to their homes.
“This feels like, a really important step for art to be accessible to anyone — no matter what they are making, what kind of job situation they’re in. That feels really important to me,” she said.
The new works will be on display at the main library until Aug. 16. After that, they’ll be sent to the five branch libraries, where people can borrow them.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM