Exhibitions

Higher Ground is the first permanent exhibition devoted to East Tennessee’s artistic achievements. It includes objects from the KMA collection supplemented by important works borrowed from public and private collections. Many of the featured artists spent their entire lives and careers in the area, while some moved away to follow their creative ambitions. Others were drawn to the region by its natural beauty, as the wealth of landscape imagery in this exhibition attests. Together, these artists’ works form the basis of a visual arts legacy in East Tennessee that is both compelling and largely unheralded. Higher Ground allows viewers to follow the history of artistic activity in the region over roughly a century of development and learn about the many exceptionally gifted individuals who have helped shape the area’s visual arts tradition.

Facets of Modern and Contemporary Glass is an ongoing exhibition featuring the KMA’s growing collection of modern and contemporary glass, supplemented periodically by works on loan. Facets encourages museum visitors to consider Richard Jolley’s Cycle of Life within a larger context. It also reflects the KMA’s progress in building a focused collection of sculptures in glass by international artists who share Jolley’s interest in new technical and conceptual approaches to this ancient medium.

Cycle of Life: Within the Power of Dreams and the Wonder of Infinity is one of the largest figurative glass-and-steel assemblages in the world. Commissioned in 2009 especially for the Knoxville Museum of Art, it is a game-changer for the KMA in a number of important ways.