For the 26th year, the Cooper-Young Art Invitational will kickoff for the iconic Cooper-Young Festival and offer Memphians an opportunity to discover up-and-coming local artists. The event will be held on Sept. 11 at the Jay Etkin Gallery at 942 South Cooper Street.
The curator of the event, Jay Etkin, 65, displayed his enthusiasm for the art invitational. He handpicked the local artists to be showcased.
“I haven’t seen any of the art that’s coming in,” Etkin said. “But I don’t need to.”
The theme of Etkin’s galleries is ethnographic art—or art produced by America’s Native American population. At his second gallery in Santa Fe, N.M., Etkin displays art by the native people of the area.
“My goal was to bing a little bit of Memphis to Santa Fe,” Etkin said. “But I brought a little bit of Santa Fe to Memphis. There is history in this area of Native culture, but there’s a little more in Santa Fe. I like to bring things like that into cities.”
Executive Director of the Cooper Young Business Association, Tamara Cook believes that the free Cooper Young Art Invitational is a day to showcase local talent who wouldn’t usually get the opportunity to display their work in a gallery.
“Normally when you go into a gallery you have to pay a submission, but at this art invitational we set it all up, we do all the press, we have food and drink and invite everybody and it’s totally to benefit the artists in the area,” Cook said.
The showcase has been running annually since 1988, and 2014 will be the first year it will be at Jay Etkin. In 2013, it was held at David Perry Smith Gallery on Cox Street.
“It’s nice to see the camaraderie of everybody,” Cook said. “People normally don’t see each other that often, so this is one night where there’s lots of artists from Cooper Young and they all get together and talk about it.”
Originally, the event was held at Fran Doggrell’s, a photographer’s gallery that was in the building that now houses Sweetgrass. Cook reminisced about the early days of the event.
“It used to be more of a party than an art show back in 1988,” Cook said.
The event’s musical accompaniment will come care of local solo artist Davy Ray Bennett. Cook described Bennett’s style.
“I’d say he’s kind of bluesy, light rick,” Cook said. “A John Mayer kind of guy.”
Artists on display will be abstract artist Mary Long, Darla Linrode, specializing in pressed glass pieces and Dan Spector, who focuses on sculptures of female anatomy. Also at this show will be Jason Miller, Jeanne Seagle, Jimpsie Ayers, Fletcher Golden and Carol Sams, who will be doing watercolor pictures of horses.
All the pieces at the invitational are for sale, and all proceeds go back to the artists. The original 2014 Cooper Young Festival poster artwork by Jan Hankins will be on display and sold during a silent auction as well. Wine and beer will be complimentary at the event.
