We are now accepting submissions for the 2021 Awards Deadline: Thursday, December 10, 2020, 10:59 PM CST The Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards is an annual juried student exhibition presented by your Brooks Museum and the Brooks Museum League. The Awards honors regional students, in grades 7 through 12, for exemplary artworks by recognizing their outstanding achievements in a competitive annual exhibition. Students are invited to submit their work in over 28 categories, including:... Read More

Jack Mitchell, American (1925 – 2013), Portrait of Sculptor Marisol Escobar at Work on “The Family” Sculpture, 1969, Photograph, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN; purchase with funds provided by Marina Pacini and David McCarthy in honor of Mimi Trujillo Ruthizer, 2013             In recent years, a peculiar thing has begun in Memphis, Tennessee: Marisol (1930 – 2016), the bright star of sixties Pop Art who all but... Read More

A Journey Towards Self-Definition: African American Artists in the Permanent Collection Installation of the exhibition featuring a sculpture by William Edmundson. Upon my arrival at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art last August, our now former chief curator tasked me with planning an exhibition in our Chandler Gallery, a space historically reserved for photography, and typically featuring the work of famed Southern artists William Eggleston and Ernest Withers. Fairly unfamiliar... Read More

At a time when technology is invading every aspect of modern life, educators in cultural institutions are being asked an important question: How can we use technology to craft effective and meaningful experiences that inspire present and future museum audiences? Now, more than ever, Brooks’ education team remains committed to providing learning opportunities that allow individuals of every age to discover, create, and share content related to the museum’s collection of... Read More

This blog post will be the first in a series that examines the relationship between museums and archives. In this series, we will look at who the archives gatekeepers are, how the Brooks is diversifying and re-examining our own archives, and most importantly, how we steward forgotten or overlooked histories. When a museum staff member thinks of the word stewardship, we often think of our donors and members. Stewardship is a word I am constantly reflecting on as the museum’s Donor... Read More

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is fortunate to have a fantastic team of docent volunteers who lead the museum’s school tours, guiding students in grades pre-Kindergarten through twelve through the museum’s galleries to engage with art and build 21 st century skills. These dedicated volunteers participate in seven months of in-depth training to get started as a docent, meeting twice a week for two-and-a-half hours a day to learn about the history and processes of art, tour... Read More

While we've all been practicing social distancing and staying "safer at home," many of us have also picked up or expanded our creative practices – from trying new recipes in the kitchen, to planting a new garden, to writing and making art.  The ability to explore those creative practices is perhaps one of the silver linings in this storm of change and uncertainty.  Perhaps those practices are also things that we should continue to make time and space for, even as... Read More

In Loving Memory Last week, the Decorative Arts Trust and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art lost one of its dearest friends, Dr. Walter Robert Brown, or "Bob" as he was known to everyone fortunate enough to make his acquaintance. Bob Brown was one of the most distinguished, beloved, and admired citizens of Memphis: unfailingly gallant and gentlemanly; truly generous and kind; a connoisseur of the decorative arts, especially those of Jacobean and Stuart England; a... Read More