I was interviewed recently by Jennie Everett Caissie for Blank Newspaper. You can view the story here on their website or read it below. Such an honor to be considered a Knoxville Girl!

Knoxville Girl: Beth Meadows

Salvaging Knoxville’s Art Scene 

KG: So, Knoxville Girl, are you originally from Knoxville?

Beth: No. I am from Memphis and I came to Knoxville in 2002 to study art at UT. When I graduated in May of 2007 most people I knew were moving but I decided to stay because I love the mountains and I had really started enjoying Knoxville. I remember the first time I went to First Friday. I was in college and I borrowed a bike and rode from campus to downtown and it was an exhilarating experience. I decided to do it every month. I felt like the Knoxville arts scene was really just starting to get going and I really wanted to be a part of it.

KG: A lot of kids like to draw and paint when they are young but lose that creative spark as they get older. What made you decide to study art in college?

Beth: When I was young I drew all of the time. I didn’t really know what it meant to be a professional artist but I knew I wanted to go to art school. But I did try to change my major several times in college because it scared me too much. I think mentally I wasn’t prepared to make the kind of work I really wanted to make. I just felt I wasn’t ready yet, if that makes sense. It takes a lot to be confident in your work.

KG: What is the oldest piece of your art your parents have on display at their house?

Beth: My parents are really sweet and they bought a lot of my artwork when I was in college. I am sure they have boxes and boxes of my art from over the years. My parents do have a painting hanging up that I made in high school. My dad took a photograph of a mountain landscape that I painted.

KG: You are quite an active blogger, from writing for The Sunsphere is Not a Wigshop to your own blog WithBearHands. How did you get involved as a blogger?

Beth: I was invited to be a writer for the Sunsphere is not a Wigshop blog not too long after I graduated. It was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. I wasn’t a big blog reader, but I loved writing and I eventually started writing way more than the other writers. There were seven other writers but I felt like I was the most active. We even won Best of Knoxville for two years. Our perspective for that blog was to pretend that we were tourists in Knoxville and that made me love Knoxville even more because I could look at it from the standpoint of what is new here, what have I not seen, and what can I go find out and share with other people. Then I started my own blog, WithBearHands, which now is a blog mostly about what I am creating right now. I really want to use my blog to promote art in Knoxville.

KG: A lot of artists have poor web presence but yours is pretty impressive. Do you have any formal training in web design?

Beth: I have a great friend named Luke who built my website in college. He is a genius. He taught me how to update it myself using code and really set me up for success. I also learned a lot from just being on etsy. The reason I started my own blog was that people on etsy have their blog and then move to Facebook. Anyone can do etsy and blogs but it just takes time.

KG: You also helped to start in the 17th Street Studios at Redeemer Church. Tell us about that.

Beth: I go to church at Redeemer Church in Fort Sanders and they weren’t using the second story of this wing of the church. Pastor Eddie Young, who does a lot with young people, said he didn’t know what to do with the space and I suggested artist studios. So in May 2010 I wrote a proposal with two other people and we submitted to the church and now we have about 13 artists working up there. It is really cool. Each artist has their own studio and there are common spaces too. Artists just apply to me, then there is an interview process, and it’s only $40 to $50 a month. But there is not any heat or air or running water on the floor. It’s kind of basic, but it is a great space to work.

KG: I started Knoxville Girl to introduce the un-sung heroes who do so much to make this community great. Do you ever do any volunteer work or donate your talents, art or time?

Beth: Recently I started in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and I just got matched so in a couple of months I will have my new Little Sister who is in sixth grade. I wanted to do it because I needed a challenge and this will definitely be a challenge! In college I did a lot of volunteer work but I mostly jumped from organization to organization. I even organized a play group at KARM. But my favorite experience was after I studied abroad I came back and decided to give rides to international students. It had been so awesome when people gave us rides over there. So I decided to do it at UT. My friend said it’d be creepy but I made flyers and put them up all over campus and I said if you are an international student I will give you a ride anywhere, just call me. I tried to organize other drivers but it ended up just being me. So I would take students to get their driver’s license or to the store and they started inviting me to parties and giving me gifts from their countries. And I still keep in touch with some of them from China and Macedonia and Romania… all over the world. I’ve never seen more appreciative people.

After college I started working for Knox Heritage as a volunteer. I was living in Maplehurst at the time and the buildings were falling apart and it just led me to Knox Heritage. They eventually hired me as their administrative assistant and then they hired me full-time to work in their salvage program, which was a dream come true because I love working with my hands and working with materials. I realized that so much of that needed to be recycled because people may not necessarily see the value in them so I started making artwork using materials from the salvage. I curate the “Salvage Show” for Knox Heritage, which has happened twice now. About 20 Knoxville artists make furniture and art out of the salvaged and donated materials and proceeds are shared by the artist and Knox Heritage.

KG: Knoxville has so much going on all of the time. What are some of your favorite things to do in Knoxville?

Beth: I’ve really started doing a lot of new things lately. The other night I went with a couple of friends to the Bearden Beer Market and we did their 5K where you run with a group of people then you drink beer afterwards. It was hard but I would love to keep doing it. I also have a friend who coordinates square dances at The Laurel Theater and it is so much fun. Of course I also still do First Fridays but right now I am in my studio a lot. Plus I love music but as an artist I am on a very limited budget so I love that Knoxville has so many amazing free art and cultural things to do. Basically, if it is free and cultural, I am there. Especially if there is beer! But really, anymore, I am up for whatever.

KG: This ought to be fun. Tell a little-known fact about you.

Beth: A little known fact about me is that I had open heart surgery in high school. But on a lighter note, I like some of Michael Bolton songs. The video for “Said I loved you... but I lied” has fire, flames and stallions, and a lady on the beach. I do like some cheesy music like that. That should be embarrassing enough.

KG: What would you like to see happen in Knoxville over the next five years?

Beth: I think the Knoxville art scene is on a good path, but we have not arrived. It needs a lot of work and the only way that will happen is if good artists can find the means to stay and work here. I stayed in Knoxville to help with that any way I can. I want to see higher standards of art and venues that display art in Knoxville and want to see more people in Knoxville buy artwork.

KG: Where can readers learn more about your art and upcoming projects?

Beth: I have a booth at the new Nostalgia on McCalla and I will have a show at Bliss Home in July, but mostly I am in my studio doing a lot of custom work so I don’t have a lot of shows planned right now. I also have a picture hanging in Bistro at the Bijou or you can also go visit Chyna Brackeen or Peggy Hambright. They have some of my art. But the very best way to visit my Facebook or blog WithBearHands or visit WithBearHands.com

KG: There are so many inspirational women in this town making a difference and changing peoples’ lives for the better. Who would you say is your “Knoxville Girl”?

Beth: Peg Hambright who owns Magpies Bakery. She is a baker and artist but she is an awesome business woman too. She does so well in communicating her product, her color-schemes, her designs, and how they sell themselves; she just does such a great job. She really inspires me.

This is the first painting I made for this series of black and gold paintings of pools.

Beth Meadows Pool I acrylic and varnish on canvas 18x24" 2012

I have this memory from childhood of walking out to a parking lot with my family and family friends at night after swimming at a public pool. My hair is wet, I have a towel wrapped around me, and my chlorine infused eyes blur the parking lot lights. 

The memory itself doesn't seem significant. There's also a chance it never even happened. I could have dreamed it or concocted it from reading books or watching TV.

Either way, it is now a painting.

I want to congratulate Dottie Byrd for winning the Mason Jar Painting Giveaway via Button Bird Designs. Her response to the question, "What do you like best about mason jars?" was my favorite.

Mason jars were part of my educational experience, My mother and my five aunts gathered to harvest and can or freeze the fresh produce from my grandparent’s farm. They made it into a party for themselves, and I found the laughter, the camaraderie, the female gossip, and their fun irresistible. I was constantly hanging around, snooping when necessary, outright joining in if permitted. I learned everything a girl could want to know and probably some things I shouldn’t have known at that age from that crew of wonderful women. So, in addition to the delicious contents of those old mason jars, I got myself some delicious womanly knowledge. I have a few of those old Ball jars in my kitchen and the sight always reminds me of those good times.

I like how she talks about learning "womanly knowledge" as a little girl through her mother and aunts. As a kid, I think that's the best way to learn, through experiencing something and not just being told something.

It also made me think about how much fun I have when I'm with my sisters. We've never canned together, but we cook and bake together at our parent's house for Christmas. A lot of laughter and yelling usually occurs over things like trying to interpret tattered recipes from 1945 or trying to find our way around our mom's cryptically organized kitchen.

It's not the type of behavior a young girl could probably gain any amount of growth from, as in Dottie's case, but we have fun at least.

Congrats, Dottie, for winning, for taking me on a trip down memory lane, and also for having one of the best names I've ever heard. Your mason jar painting is on its way.


P.S. You can have your very own for only $35!

On our family vacations, when we'd pass a field of cows, my dad would always yell, "Look! Horses!"

I feel like this explains something.

 

***

 

 

You know how when someone's grandparent dies, people tend to ask, "Were they close?"

I've never thought too much about it, but this question has always made me feel weird.

In many ways, it feels like an unnecessary question, or an insensitive one. I know they don't mean it this way, but it's as if the person saying it is really asking, "How sorry should I be for this situation?"

Also, even if they weren't close, there could still be a lot of emotions to deal with in a situation like that. It's still a grandparent, the person that created the mother and father of the person. There can be a connection there emotionally even if there wasn't a tangible, physical one, right?

I guess another reason I feel like it's weird is because I grew up around my grandparents; I saw them all of the time, but did I feel close to them? Once I went to college, I saw them a couple of times a year and we never talked on the phone. I still felt very connected to them, but realized we knew very little about one another.

I'd long to be able to come home and sit next to them and hear them talk about when they were younger, but somehow, in the group dynamic of my family, those conversations rarely happened, and for whatever reason, I never made myself available to make it happen either- a great example of how my misgivings have kept my desires from becoming reality.

***

This past weekend, I sat on the edge of a hospital bed in Memphis and talked to my grandfather for an hour, just the two of us. I touched his hands and talked about boys and how I'm trying so hard to make my life work, to make art and buy food.

He told me about graduating from UT (he was the president of his class) and starting out as a milkman in Chicago. He later went on to manage and bring success to several dairies in the Southeast. He was an incredibly savvy businessman.

***

I'm an artist, and that is a longshot from managing a large national dairy, but I feel connected to him in this way, that we both forged/are forging an unknown and risky path, we both wanted/want something big, and we both started small.

I hope I have some amount of his business skill in my blood, buried deep down, waiting to be uncovered.

***

"Hold your chin up and count to ten," he told me before I kissed him goodbye and left the room.

I should be able to count to 1,000 now.

When I was little, I used to laugh when a small segment of my mom's hair would stand up straight and do a little dance when the sunroof was open.

Ha! Whose hair does that?

Yep, mine does.

I didn't write last week (breaking one of my two rules) because I was in Memphis for an opening Thursday evening. I apologize for my indiscretion.



I was pretty nervous about having my first show in Memphis. It helped that Otherlands is a laid back atmosphere, but I don't know, anything new makes me flustered; I morph into a deer in headlights.

But everything went well and lots of people came, even people I hadn't seen in over a decade! It was great. There was lots of wine and great food my sweet mother brought.

Sidenote: Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I usually have pretty awesome food at my openings; it's just not something worth missing if you're ever in the same city. Maybe word has spread because I think a couple of people just came for the food. Boy, were they happy.

Anyway, openings are exhausting and strange, but I've warmed up to them over time. They used to put me in a strange place, pushing me into hyper-reclusive mode for a few days after. I would also become really sensitive after shows.

Now, when the end comes, I say, "Let's go have a beer," and typically feel happy, relieved. Maybe I'm becoming less introverted, it's hard to tell.



This show in Memphis is a step in the right direction. I've been wanting to have a show in a city other than Knoxville for a long time, and it finally happened. It's been hard to make contacts or nail down dates in other cities. Nashville is giving me fits. People won't tell me yes or no, or some say yes, but nothing is set in stone.

I did just find out I've been accepted to show work at the Tomato Head in Market Square and Maryville sometime between July and January. I'm also so excited that 17th Street Studios (the studios I co-manage) is having our first group show on May 4th at the Fluorescent Gallery in Knoxville. Mark your calendars.

So I have some deadlines to get my blood flowing a little faster.



I'd like to share my artist statement from my show at Otherlands. I used a short statement from my show in November and built on it.

It's hard to write about my work in such detail. I've gotten used to being incredibly concise, but elaborating on what I'm doing is helping me learn why it is I'm making what I'm making, something that has been cloudy for a while.

Golden Friends

So here it is, imperfect in it's ability to convey everything I'd like, but close enough for now:

I think about my childhood a lot, especially when I'm driving around at night. I am intrigued by how strongly we are connected to memories from our past. I think about the similarities between being young and being an adult, how we are subject to struggles outside of our control no matter how old we are, and how there is never a time where we are free from pain or heartache.

These paintings are imagined narratives based on personal experience. Many are inspired by people I know or places I've seen, and most were made to cope with difficult situations I've encountered. I use setting, space, and figures to convey a somber and quiet emotional state. Some are empty and some show a degree of pain or discomfort.

There are elements that run in and out of each painting that are a result of being fascinated with certain things- women's fashion, modern design, historic architecture, children’s books. I am also inspired by certain music and films and really (really) like animals. I integrate these mild obsessions into my paintings to add humor, beauty, even innocence.

As a whole, most of these paintings are both lighthearted and heavy to reflect the pain and joy we experience simultaneously throughout a lifetime.

It took me some Thanksgiving vacation time to finally finish it, but here it is: the painting of my parents' house.



I wrote about it at the beginning of August, when I started painting it, and now, a mere four-ish months later, I am finished. (I'm being sarcastic. It shouldn't have taken me this long to complete, but... c'est la vie.)

Happy very belated anniversh, mother and father.