Frist Center for the Visual Arts

Frist Center for the Visual Arts

Nashville's Art-Deco style Frist Center was originally the city's main post office building
Established 2001
Location 919 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37203 (United States)
Type Art Center, Art museum [1]
Visitors 200,000[2]
Director Susan H. Edwards[3]
Website Frist Center for the Visual Arts
US Post Office
Location 901 Broadway, Nashville, Tennessee
Coordinates 36°9′28″N 86°47′2″W / 36.15778°N 86.78389°W / 36.15778; -86.78389Coordinates: 36°9′28″N 86°47′2″W / 36.15778°N 86.78389°W / 36.15778; -86.78389
Area 2.5 acres (1.0 ha)
Built 1932
Architect Marr & Holman
Architectural style Moderne, Art Deco
MPS Marr and Holman Buildings in Downtown Nashville TR (AD)
NRHP Reference # 84000580[4]
Added to NRHP November 15, 1984

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is an art museum in Nashville, Tennessee, housed in the city's historic U.S. Post Office building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

The museum is housed in a white marble building that was built in the 1930s to serve as Nashville's main post office. Designed by Marr & Holman Architects, it was built in 1933-34. Its location near Union Station was convenient for mail distribution, since most mail at that time was moved by train.[5]

By the 1980s, downtown was no longer a good location for postal distribution. When a new main post office was built near the airport in 1986, the historic old facility became a downtown branch using only a small portion of one floor.[5]

In the early 1990s Thomas F. Frist, Jr., and his family, through the charitable Frist Foundation, identified the post office building, an example of Art Deco and Stripped Classicism style,[6] as a good location for a proposed downtown art museum. The Foundation implemented a public-private venture between the foundation, the U.S. Postal Service, and the city of Nashville. In 1999 the City of Nashville acquired the building from the U.S. Postal Service for the purpose of creating the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, paying $4.4 million. The city contributed $15 million toward renovation of the building, and the Frist Foundation and Frist family contributed $25 million for the renovation and to start an endowment for the art museum. The city owns the building, but granted the Frist Center a 99-year lease for $1 per year. A renovated post office branch was opened in the basement in 1999.[5]

Frist Center for the Visual Arts

The museum opened in April 2001. The art center consists of approximately 24,000 square feet (2,200 m2) of gallery space, used to present visual art from local, state and regional artists, as well as major U.S. and international exhibitions.[1]

Exhibition and Program Information

As a non-collecting museum, the Frist Center does not have a permanent collection; rather, the museum focuses on creating exhibitions as well as securing traveling exhibitions from around the country and the world.

Information regarding past, current and future exhibitions is found on the Frist Center's website: http://fristcenter.org/ Each exhibition page contains detailed information about exhibition-related programs and an array of resources, including gallery guides, audio guides, videos and additional information from varying sources.

Fristkids.org is a family-friendly Frist Center site that contains a wealth of information for families and young artists. Included on this site is a series of videos produced in conjunction with Nashville Public Television. Art is All Around You is an Emmy Award-winning series that invites young artists to learn about art as they move through and look at their own worlds. Each video introduces and explores an art idea -- movement, shape, shadow, public art, pattern, color, visiting a museum. Details for a related art activity are included with every video, so young artists and their families can learn more about art as they share an art-making experience.

References

  1. 1 2 "Frist Center for the Visual Arts: About". ARTINFO. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  2. ↑ Giving Matters, Frist Center for the Visual Arts
  3. ↑ Frist Center: From the Director
  4. ↑ National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  5. 1 2 3 Christine Kreyling; Sudip Bose; Eric Wills; Jonathan Marx; Dwight Young. "Nashville: Sites and Sounds". Preservation. National Trust for Historic Preservation.
  6. ↑ Moyer, John C. (September 2016). "HAPPY PLACE: With Nashville, Tennessee, once is never enough.". AAA World. p. 31. The museum curates all its own shows and has no permanent exhibits, so there's always something new to see.
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