Cress Gallery of Art at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, in partnership with Chattanooga’s AIM Center Inc., opens the new exhibit, “Fearless & Resilient,” for a three-week show featuring the work of Ken Grimes, Laura Craig McNellis and Dan Miller.
A second show is mounted in Gallery II at UTC. It is a selection of work curated by Roger Ricco that features 12 emerging artists from AIM Center’s arts program. The AIM Center provides education, employment, housing, wellness and socialization opportunities for adults in recovery from serious mental illness.
“The adjectives employed to title this exhibition, ‘fearless’ and ‘resilient,’ refer to traits any artist should cultivate,” says Ruth Grover, gallery curator. “Yet for this group of artists, their fearlessness of making in the face of disadvantage, and their resilience to strongly continue, are both remarkable and inspirational.”
The Cress Gallery show kicks off with a lecture by Ricco tonight, Nov. 16, at 5:30 p.m. in Derthick Hall, Room 201, 624 Vine St.
The artist and author will discuss his research and experiences with Grimes, McNellis, Miller and other artists with disabilities. Following his talk, an opening reception will be held in the lobby of the Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St.