After 10 years, the Fogelman Executive Center, which has quietly housed one successful art exhibition after another, has lost some of its flare.
The Artists’ Link Visions Exhibition is the last to grace the walls of the Fogelman Executive Center’s bottom two floors. The Wilson Conference Center Group, who now oversees the Center, has decided to stop exhibitions from being displayed at the Center. No longer will those in the local art community have a place as unique as the Center to display their work.
On display now are 23 pieces of various mediums by 22 local artists. The compositions run the gamut from breathtaking, like Joan Bernard’s “Spirit Rock,” to just plain strange, like Omnese Campbell’s collage “Muscle Beach Party.”
Kathleen Kondilas Franks, the Fogelman Executive Center’s former curator, said Artists’ Link, a local artists’ support group, chose the Center because of its high visibility.
“They have seen other shows come through here for the past ten years, and they’ve been here to a lot of receptions,” Franks said. “They really wanted to come to a place that they know a lot of people would see their work.”
Just as the fire was beginning to spread, the flames have now been extinguished.
Franks said the Jan. 18 opening reception was the most successful one ever.
“We had more people here than have ever come to any of the receptions before,” Franks said.
Prices for the artwork range from $150 for a photograph by Jean Moss to $4,000 for Marty McKee’s lifelike “Holy Cow.” Unlike most art galleries, the Fogelman Executive Center received no commission on the sale of these pieces, but The U of M had benefited in other ways. Franks said the exhibition had brought visitors to The University who normally would never see the campus.
“It has led to people inquiring about classes and inquiring about programs here,” Franks said. “It has been a really good PR job for The University to get more people over here to see what The University is about.”
The new management has left many people disappointed, and left Franks unemployed.
“I feel it is very important for The University to continue something like this,” Franks said. “There aren’t many places in Memphis for artists to show their work.”
Sue Miller, founder of Artists’ Link, said she is dumbfounded as to why the new managers of the Fogelman Executive Center decided to end the exhibitions.
“The Center has good wall space, and lots of people come through there,” Miller said. “Now, the walls will just be black. It doesn’t make any sense.”
The current, and final, exhibition runs through March 17.
