The Janet Levine March Gallery will feature the work of John Knox and Beth Bernard. Knox was born in Munich (West) Germany two days before the Eagle landed in 1969. As the child of a career Army father, he travelled some before his father retired in North Carolina and spent most of his formative years growing up in a suburban environment across from a small forest. From this, came his interest in the outdoors, drawing nature along with hobbies like rock collecting, hiking and camping. His interest in art came from his secondary education art teachers that took notice of his natural ability to render and encouraged him to pursue it.
Knox earned his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in 1991. He later completed a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the Savannah College of Art & Design in 1997.
He began his academic career in 2000 in Fayetteville, North Carolina as an adjunct teacher at a community college. From 2000 to 2005, he was an instructor at Middle Tennessee State University. Since 2007, he has been a faculty member at Nashville State Community College, teaching Painting, Drawing, Introduction to Art, and Design Studio. He retains the title of Associate Professor.
Knox is best known for his large-scale oil paintings of clouds. His body of work also includes figurative pieces, still-life compositions and landscapes using oil, acrylic and gouache. He works actively as a commissioned artist in the Nashville area. His artworks are part of corporate gallery and private collections along the East Coast and in private collections in Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina, and New York.
Beth Bernard is a lifetime career psychotherapist. She started sculpting on a whim at 63 years of age and hasn’t looked back. She creates portrait and figurative sculptures working with both water-based clay to create ceramic sculptures and with Plastalina Clay that requires mold making and casting in either resin with crushed marble or with bronze. She has been featured in an episode of Tennessee Crossroads. Her pieces have been featured in multiple galleries and shows and are currently exhibited in the Church Street gallery in Murfreesboro.
The JLMG2 Gallery will feature the work of Lorna Graff, who grew up in Champaign, Illinois and has always enjoyed drawing in elementary school. When she was in high school her art teacher selected her and several other students for extracurricular oil painting classes. At the University of Illinois, she studied art history. When she worked in downtown Chicago she took sketching classes at the art institute. Since then, she has painted on a regular basis studying with Rhonda Wernick. These classes have enriched her life and that of the Jewish Community Center.
The Sig Held Gallery will feature the Jake Wells. Over more than 20 years of making art, Jake’s work has evolved to incorporate a variety of media, often reuse materials. His love of ecology and passion for education and the visual arts found their harmonious match at Turnip Green Creative Reuse in Nashville, TN, where he’s been able to give back to the community as a teaching artist and board member since 2011. Wells grew up in Missouri, but moved to Tennessee in 2009, shortly after earning an MFA in Painting from Southern Illinois University of Carbondale.
Since 2010, Wells been an adjunct art professor at various institutions, including: Pellissippi, Volunteer & Nashville State Community Colleges, and O’More College of Design. He’s also been a community educator, leading art and reuse workshops at schools, public and private businesses, art co-ops, parks, community centers, and Nashville Public Library branches. Jake has shown nationally at galleries in Nashville, TN, Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, Houston, TX, and New York City.
The Senior Lounge will feature the work of Pamela Dove.
The House gallery will feature the Under One Roof collaborative exhibit.
The Exhibition Dates are May 2 -30th. The Artist reception will be held on May 14th from 6-8 pm and feature music by DJ Joseph Harris, pop up jewelry by Chandler Dezigns and Henna by Seemi.
The exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information, contact the GJCC at 615.354-1699, Curator Carrie Mills at carrie@nashvillejcc.org, or go to www.nashvillejcc.org.
The Jewish Observer is published by The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville and made possible by funds raised in the Jewish Federation Annual Campaign. Become a supporter today.
